MODERN PARENTING - Mr. and Mrs. X and the Baby - The Story of a Modern Urban Couple

Mr. and Mrs. X and the Baby  

Short Fiction

The Story of a Modern Urban Couple

By

VIKRAM KARVE

From my Creative Writing Archives:

Sometime ago I visited an old Navy friend of mine who had recently become a grandfather. 

When I asked him why he and his wife were not seen at our Navy get-together meets anymore, he complained that he and his wife were stuck in the house 24/7 as they had to look after their six month old grandson since the baby’s parents, both IT Techies, were busy with their careers and the young parents did not have time to look after their own baby. 

So the grandparents had no choice but to become surrogate parents to their grandson.

I suddenly realized that a fiction story I had written 7 years ago, in the year 2007, had come true. 

Yes, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

So here is the fiction short story, purely apocryphal, for you to read.

As I look around and observe modern marriages, I feel that this parenting story is quite relevant in today’s modern times...

Mr. and Mrs. X and the BABY – Fiction Short Story by VIKRAM KARVE

(the story of a modern urban couple)

Mr. and Mrs. X desperately wanted to have a baby.  

So they tried very hard to have a baby.  

Poor Mr. and Mrs. X, they tried and tried, put in a lot of effort, but they could not have a baby.

As time flew, and the biological clock ticked away, Mr. and Mrs. X became more and more anxious.

So with resolute perseverance, they put everything at stake, made determined efforts, consulted the best doctors and fertility specialists in town, spent huge amounts of money on the best and most sophisticated infertility treatments possible, tried all sorts of things, exoteric and esoteric, left no stone unturned, struggled and struggled, with dogged persistence, till, at long last, at the age of 35, Mrs. X conceived.

Then, after a difficult, delicate, gruelling, backbreaking, anxious, harrowing pregnancy, Mrs. X overcame all sorts of complications, and finally, after enduring for nine long months, Mrs. X successfully delivered a beautiful bonny baby.

Everyone was delighted.

The parents, Mr. and Mrs. X, were proud at having proved their mettle.

The doctors boasted about the success of their treatment.

The grandparents were relieved that the family lineage was preserved.

The soothsayers, the relatives, the friends – everybody was happy that the much delayed and much awaited baby was born after so many trials and tribulations. 

Three months later I happened to be in town and decided to visit Mr. and Mrs. X and their bonny baby.  

On the way, at the jewellers, I bought a gold ornament as a present for the bonny baby.  

I found my way to their classy house in an elite residential society located in the most posh and exclusive neighbourhood of the city.  

When I reached the deluxe apartment, I felt a tinge of envy thinking about Mr. and Mrs. X, the young IT “Techie” whiz kids, who could afford such an expensive apartment and an ostentatious living style so early in life. 

The proud grandparents opened the door.  

The bonny baby, on her grandmother’s lap, looked cute.

Yes, the baby was very cute and cuddly.  

The baby’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. X, the young mother and father, were conspicuous by their absence.  

It was late evening and I had expected Mr. and Mrs. X to be at home, doting upon their adorable little baby.

In fact, the baby was so small that I thought that Mrs X would be still feeding her baby.

I was curious why Mrs. X was not at home, so I asked, “Where is the young mother?”

“At work,” the grandfather answered.

“Oh. The young mother is already back at work? She’s back to work so fast? Okay, doesn’t matter, I want to meet her, I am in no hurry so I’ll wait for her - she should be back home soon, isn’t it…?” I asked looking at the wall clock.

“No! No! She won’t be coming for at least six months now. She has gone abroad, to America, on an important project,” said the proud grandmother, cuddling and mothering the baby.

“And Mr. X, the proud father, he’ll be coming?” I asked.

“He is in Singapore. He got a fantastic job offer the day the baby was born,” said the grandfather. 

“You know, the baby has proved real lucky for them. Her mother got promoted as project leader with a hefty raise and this foreign assignment and her father got this fabulous job offer in Singapore,” said the proud grandmother, cuddling the baby, who suddenly started to cry.

“It’s her feed-time,” the grandmother said, handing over the baby to the grandfather, and she went to the kitchen to warm up the baby’s milk.

“It’s good,” the grandfather said lovingly fondling the bonny baby, “for all these years when they were trying so hard to have this baby, they had put their careers on the back-burner. Now that they have got their baby, they can focus on their careers once again.”

The grandmother came out with the milk bottle and began feeding the bonny baby while the doting grandfather lovingly looked on.

I looked at the grandparents – the “surrogate” parents. 

Then I looked at the baby.

Mr. and Mrs. X had indeed “produced” the Baby.

But it was the delighted grandparents who would enjoy the joys of parenting the baby who was now the light of their lives, their raison d’etre, their very reason for living, and certainly the source of all their present happiness. 

Busy in the pursuit of their careers, the mother in America and the father in Singapore, Mr. and Mrs. X do not know what they are missing by “outsourcing” parenting.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © 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. 
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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.

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