Friday, November 22, 2013

THE SUCCESSFUL WIFE

THE STORY OF A SIMPLE HUSBAND and HIS SUCCESSFUL WIFE
Food for Thought 
By
VIKRAM KARVE

THE SUCCESSFUL WIFE

Once there was a happily married couple.

The highly educated husband was doing well in life. He worked in a research laboratory as an  Research Scientist.

The simple homemaker wife (a small town girl) looked up to her husband with respect and adoration.

The well meaning husband encouraged his wife to learn and enhance her educational qualifications since he wanted his wife to realize her full potential. 

He motivated his simple wife to do courses in computers, IT and software. 

Then he helped her find a good job in the IT industry.

The wife did extremely well in the IT industry which was flourishing and in a few years the tables were turned – whereas the wife’s career prospered the husband’s career stagnated

The upwardly mobile wife travelled abroad on prestigious projects, earned lots of money, got fast promotions and her career truly flourished whereas the poor luckless husband continued to slog away in his job without much reward or recognition.

Now the “successful” wife started looking down upon her husband, as if he were an embarrassment, and sometimes even belittled him. 

She had progressed but he had remained where he was and the wife now felt that she was too good for him 

Well, she was way up the ladder, breaking the glass ceiling and rocketing upwards out of his league.

The wife had conveniently forgotten that it was her husband who had initially encouraged her to learn and take up a career. 

She had totally forgotten the fact that it was her husband who had played a major role in her success.

The globe trotting successful wife now moved in cosmopolitan high society and developed much finesse and “social graces”.

She had moved way up the social ladder whereas her husband remained his simple self. 

To put it bluntly, the wife had become quite a snob as her success had gone into her head.

Once when we were dining at one of those high falutin parties, it was very awkward to see her nagging and lecturing her husband on etiquette, table manners and social graces

She went on and on, lecturing her hapless husband on etiquette and social graces till I could bear it no longer. 

I looked at the wife, a small-town-girl turned cosmopolitan-socialite, and I thought it was high time I brought her down a peg or two. 

First I wanted to give the snooty wife a lecture on etiquette.

But on second thoughts, I told her this Mulla Nasrudin Teaching Story, since I believe that a message can be driven home much more effectively through a bit of wit and humour:

SOCIAL GRACES AND ETIQUETTE
(A Story)

Mulla Nasrudin went to see a divorce lawyer and told him that he wanted to divorce his wife. 

“What grounds do you think you have for a divorce…?” the lawyer asked.

“It’s my wife’s manners,” said Nasrudin, “She is unbearable. My wife possesses no social graces and has absolutely no etiquette.  It’s disgusting – her behaviour – she has absolutely no etiquette and her table manners are so bad that she is disgracing the whole family.”

“That’s really bad,” the lawyer said.  “How long have you been married…?”

“Nine years,” said Nasrudin.

“Nine years…?” the lawyer exclaimed surprised, “If you have been able to put up with your wifes etiquette and table manners for nine long years, I can’t understand why you want to divorce her now…?”

“Well,” said Nasrudin, “I did not know anything about all this social graces, table manners and etiquette stuff before. I just bought a book on Etiquette this morning.”

Once she heard this story, I think the small-town-girl turned cosmopolitan-socialite got the message and I observed a marked change in her demeanor towards her humble husband. 

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 book review. 
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

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:
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.
Copyright © Vikram Karve (all rights reserved)

Did you like this article?
I am sure you will like the 27 short stories from my recently published anthology of Short Fiction COCKTAIL
To order your COCKTAIL please click any of the links below:
http://www.flipkart.com/cocktail-vikram-karve-short-stories-book-8191091844?affid=nme
http://www.indiaplaza.in/cocktail-vikram-karve/books/9788191091847.htm
http://www.apkpublishers.com/books/short-stories/cocktail-by-vikram-karve.html
COCKTAIL ebook
If you prefer reading ebooks on Kindle or your ebook reader, please order Cocktail E-book by clicking the links below:
AMAZON
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005MGERZ6
SMASHWORDS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/87925

Foodie Book:  Appetite for a Stroll
If your are a Foodie you will like my book of Food Adventures APPETITE FOR A STROLL. Do order a copy from FLIPKART:
http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9mr2o

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.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Vikram Karve Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/vikramkarve
Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog: http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htm
Email: vikramkarve@hotmail.com
Twitter: @vikramkarve
      
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

No comments: