I am upset with Rekha. Terribly upset.
In our house, there are different sets of rules for both of us. There is one good set of rules for her, and one bad set for me. And they keep changing without prior notice.
Here, I let you decide who is wrong…Rekha or I.
On Nov 18, I was leaving for Pegasus Institute, Bangalore on a two-day Outbound Learning Program and was concerned about Rekha. How would she stay alone in my absence?
To say the least, our sprawling 32-bedroom house is more than enough for the two of us… and she would really be lost without me.
So I ask her to look around and get some friend of hers to stay with her in my absence. The smart (and selfish) girl that Rekha is, she convinces her colleague Meena to stay in our house in my absence.
I know Meena. She is a nice and helpful girl. Always goes out of her way to help a needy soul.
When I return from Bangalore on Sunday, I am happy to see Rekha in one piece. She had survived two days without me. And that was a big achievement, considering the amount of anger she needs to let go in a day just to breathe easy.
Rekha tells me how she felt real bad when she thought of me, and how Meena`s presence helped. It made ample sense to me.
Now, I am a guy who plans his future well in advance. I know Rekha would be going for a two-day training in December. So I tell her, “Rekha, you would also be off on such a tour in December.”
She says: ” Yes dearie.” She is yet to get over the excitement of hugging me after 48 hours.
“Could we ask Meena to come and stay in the house, when you are gone for the two-day program?” I enquire.
“What?” she asks. I had to repeat my question again. But this time around my wife gets angry and pulls her away from me. She is yet to speak to me after that incident.
I wonder where I went wrong. I was only applying the rule that was right for her…. call a friend in when the spouse was not at home. And going by Rekha`s dictate “treat all of my friends as your own” Meena was supposed to be my friend too!