Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve: THE MAN OF HER DREAMS

THE MAN OF HER DREAMS

HER ROLE MODEL HUSBAND

Short Fiction - A Love Story

VIKRAM KARVE

From my Creative Writing Archives:

A love story I wrote a few months ago under the Title: ROLE MODEL HUSBAND updated and abridged

Disclaimer

This story is a work of fiction. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

NB:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

THE MAN OF HER DREAMS - HER ROLE MODEL HUSBAND - flash fiction - a love story by Vikram Karve

Pooja walked out of her marriage because her husband was boring.

She packed her bags, took a taxi and went straight to her brother-in-law’s house.

Pooja loved her brother-in-law.

He was the man of her dreams.

Yes, for Pooja, her brother-in-law was her role model husband.

Actually, for Pooja, he was a double brother-in-law – he was her husband’s elder brother – and he was also Pooja’s sister’s husband.

It was a case of two sisters married to two brothers.

After seeing her elder sister married so happily to such a wonderful husband, Pooja had readily agreed to marry his younger brother when her sister had brought the proposal.

And what a big mistake she had made!

How could two brothers be so different?

Pooja’s husband turned out to be a most dull, dreary and uninspiring person – in short, he was a big bore.

And her brother-in-law was so much fun – he was the type of husband Pooja had wanted – a role model husband.

Pooja’s sister was pleasantly surprised when her younger sister suddenly landed up at her place unannounced.

But when Pooja told her that she had walked out on her husband forever because she found him boring, her sister got worried, so she rang up Pooja’s husband and told him that Pooja had come over.

Pooja’s husband did not betray any emotion. He just said that he would come over and pick up Pooja in the evening.

Pooja’s sister was wondering what to do – maybe she could ask her husband to talk to Pooja’s husband – after all, they were brothers and her husband was the elder brother.

Meanwhile, knowing Pooja’s temperament, it would be best to remain silent for some time.

So they just sat and watched a movie on TV.

In the evening, Pooja’s brother-in-law arrived home from work.

He seemed delighted to see Pooja.

‘What a surprise?” he said to Pooja.

Then he turned to his wife and said, “I’ve got the cruise tickets.”

He took out a colourful folder from his briefcase and gave it to Pooja’s sister, “Everything is in there – the tickets, the programme, all details about the cruise ship.”

“Wow. You two are going on a cruise ship?” Pooja said.

“Yes, this time we though we’ll take a different type of vacation,” Pooja’s brother-in-law said.

“How lucky you are,” Pooja said wistfully to her sister, “I haven’t had a single vacation since marriage – he doesn’t even take me to Mahableshwar or Goa. It’s so boring sitting at home. He doesn’t want to go anywhere – not even to a movie.”

“Hey, Pooja – why don’t you come with us?” Pooja’s brother-in-law said.

“On a cruise ship?” Pooja asked, in disbelief.

“We’ll have to ask …” Pooja’s sister said.

“I’ll tell him …” Pooja’s brother-in-law said to his wife.

“But how can we take her? You said the cruise was fully booked,” Pooja’s sister said to her husband.

“I’ll try and manage something,” Pooja’s brother-in-law said.

Then he turned to Pooja and said, “You pack your bags for a fantastic holiday.”

“Thank you so much. I wish I had a husband like you,” Pooja said to her brother-in-law.

“Oh, come on Pooja, your husband is a very nice chap – my brother is a bit serious type, but let me tell you that he is very good guy.”

And so, Pooja went for a pleasure voyage on the magnificent cruise liner.

It was the best time of her life – the fun, the food, the entertainment – this was the kind of life she wanted to live.

Her sister and brother-in-law had a deluxe ocean view stateroom on the upper deck.

Because of the last minute booking, they could only manage a single bed cabin deep down below on a lower deck for Pooja.

Her cabin was not as luxurious as the stateroom, but Pooja was happy – she spent the whole day enjoying herself on the upperdecks – swimming, sunbathing, playing games, then wining and dining, savouring exotic wines and relishing delicious food, dancing at the nightclub and then trying her luck in the casino – it was like a dream come true.

On the last evening of the cruise, there was a big entertainment event – it was truly awesome – the spectacular cabaret, the groovy dancing, the bubbly champagne flowing freely, the mindboggling array of fabulous delicacies – Pooja had never seen anything like it before.

It was almost midnight and Pooja was feeling high.

All the drinking and dancing had put Pooja in high spirits.

She felt a bit dizzy so she went and sat down on their table.

Her sister and brother-in-law were not there – they must be enjoying themselves somewhere – there were so many events going on the gigantic cruise ship.

Pooja sipped more champagne, and as she drank more and more, she began to feel woozy.

Her head felt giddy, her stomach felt queasy and she felt as if she was going to vomit.

Pooja became anxious – she was terrified that she would make a fool of herself by throwing up here in front of everyone.

So, Pooja got up and started walking unsteadily towards the alleyway.

She felt there were two persons within her as result of the baleful double personality that comes into being through drunkenness. The first acted as if without any brain at all, in a mechanical, vacant manner, and the second observed the first quite lucidly, but seemed entirely powerless to do anything.

In the alleyway, Pooja yanked open a door.

Though it was dark, Pooja could hazily make out that it was some sort of crew cabin. Hopefully, there would be a toilet where she could throw up and then freshen up.

Pooja searched for the light switch and found it near the door.

She flicked the switch and the lights came on.

The astounding scene that Pooja saw instantly shook her out of her drunkenness and shocked her so much, that she stood dumbfounded and dazed, totally stunned into a state of disbelief.

There was a woman.

She was lying naked on the bunk.

Garments of her dress were scattered all over the floor.

And there was a man.

He was half-clothed, his head buried in the naked woman’s hair, his arms around her, and they were in the throes of passion.

The man was her brother-in-law.

The woman was the cabaret dancer she had seen performing on stage in the evening.

“Don’t you have any bloody manners? How dare you barge in like this? Don’t you know that you must knock before opening a door? Now shut the light and get out. And don’t forget to close the door,” the naked woman shouted rudely at Pooja.

Pooja felt sick, very sick.

She could not believe what she saw.

Dumbstruck, Pooja looked at the sordid scene before her and felt awful – her brother-in-law – the man of her dreams – her role model, her ideal as a perfect husband – his image came crashing down – the whole thing was disgusting, nauseating.

Pooja’s head started to spin, her stomach started to churn – she threw up, retching out her insides, and collapsed in a heap, wallowing in her own filthy vomit, and then she passed out, unconscious.

Next morning, the moment they returned from the cruise, Pooja rushed home to her husband.

“Enjoyed the cruise?” Pooja’s husband asked her when she returned home.

Pooja hugged him tight and said, “I am sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry for what? In fact, I should be the one who should feel sorry for not looking after you well, for not taking you out – in fact, I will make sure we go on from vacations now on,” her husband said.

“No. No. I like you as you are. You are the man of my dreams. You are my role model husband.”

VIKRAM KARVE

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

Disclaimer:

All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

NB:

Did you like this story?

I am sure you will like the 27 short stories from my recently published anthology of Short Fiction COCKTAIL
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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and an anthology of short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional and academic research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

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Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve

Sunday, November 24, 2013

THE MAN OF HER DREAMS - HER ROLE MODEL HUSBAND

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