Vimala versus Vinod
Vengrai Parthasarathy
“Did you post that letter to my mother?”, asked Vimala of her husband as he returned home after a tiring day at office.
“What letter?”, he asked as he unknotted his tie.
“I just wanted to know whether you posted the letter to my mother which I gave you”, repeated Vimala.
“Well, no”.
“What happened? My god how many times you have done this. You just forget. That’s all there is to it. Last month the letter to my brother was lying in your pocket for a whole week”. Vinod smiled – one of those enigmatic smiles which saw no point in arguing. He removed his shoes, had a wash and changed into his pajama-kurta. Vimala, still fuming, brought a cup of coffee which was as fumingly hot as she was.
She picked up the threads again. “How can you forget such a simple thing? You have a pillar box on the way to the bus terminus. You have told me that there is one just outside you office”. Vinod just stared at the ceiling fan waiting for the tempest to pass.
“Your memory is like a sieve. All you had to do was to make a mental checklist of things to be done. Or you could have kept the letter in your hand instead of in your pocket”.
Vinod kept his cool sipping his coffee. In fact he was looking around for the ‘remote’ to see what was on in his favourite channel on the TV. It appeared to Vimala that he was unmindful of her complaint. But she was not one to give up. She must have her say.
“I was very particular that this letter to mother should go today because I had asked her to send a few things through someone starting in a couple of days.
“Listen, Vimala what’s the point in your going on and on”.
“Can’t even ask you why you have not posted it. How can you be so callous and unmindful of my feelings”.
“No, Vimala, you are putting a wrong slant on the whole thing. Why don’t you put a long distance call to your mother and be done with it. Don’t tell me you never forget sometimes”, said Vinod. This infuriated Vimala further.
“Well, in your place I just would not have forgotten a simple thing like posting a letter”, said Vimala.
“But you did forget…”
“Forget what?”, asked Vimala rather heatedly.
“My dear Vimala, this morning you said you will give the letter for posting but never gave it. You, forgot, that’s all. Why don’t you check the writing desk…”
Vinod had finally trumped her after playing ‘cat and mouse’ to the hilt. Vimala checked the desk. The letter was there. All she could say was “Oh, my, Oh, my”.
It was Vinod’s day. That’s what he thought. .Vimala was on the air again
‘You could have reminded me’…She had the last word.