My Wanderings - 53. Short Story - 34. Purchasing of a Family Car

                      Anita after completing all the household chores and preparing herself in  her formal dress was ready to leave for office. She was however, depressed to see her husband  Arvind  still in undergarments   near  verandah  cleaning   and oiling his old scooter  , which she despised so much. Many times she had told him to dispose off his old scooter and purchase a new car which would  have  eased their life so much.  But today she did not utter a word as she was not in talking terms with her husband for the last few days. Actually she was married to Arvind for the last twenty years after  courting  him for two and half years. The scooter was purchased by Arvind within the first year of their marriage. Therefore , it was witness to all the randevous and romance in their life which existed between the two for several years. But with the passage of time vagaries of life and circumstances had stolen  all the charm and romance  of the relation. They were living like strangers under the same roof with the common Intrest in their only son , who was studying at Pune. The cracks in the relation began to appear when they became so  critical of each other and reached to culmination after their being indifferent to themselves.
After reaching his office Anita was shocked to learn  that it was a public holiday thatday. Now she could guess that why her  husband was leisurely looking after his scooter. She was furious with anger towards her Husband who did not confide her about the holiday. She decided to visit a cinema  instead of going to her home so  early. As she reached near cinema hall, she witnessed a huge rush as it happened to be a very first day of some  popular cinema being displayed there. In the meantime she saw her Boss in his long chauffer driven car along with  his wife. She was astonished to see the beauty of his wife. She was looking like a model of some  advertising agency selling woman accessories . As her Boss alighted from his car , she greeted  him with folded hands. He requested her  to purchase two tickets from woman's queue  as his wife was not used to stand in queues.  Anita proceeded towards ticket windows to  obey the instructions  of her boss  with out a question. She was jostled and muffled  in the huge crowd.  She could reminsce her earlier visits to the cinema hall with her husband , who would give cover to her in his strong arms and take her  out smoothly  in such huge crowd.  He would never have let her perish like this. She only purchased two tickets with much difficulty and handed over the same to her boss and left the cinema hall on some pretext. Now Anita wanted to reach her home immediately.
After reaching her home she scolded her husband gently,
" you did not stop me when I left for office as I was not aware of Holiday."
" Oh! I thought you are aware of it and you are going to cinema  with your colleague or Boss". retorted back her husband.
" Have I ever visited to cinema or Mall with out you", said Anita  displaying affection in her eyes.
"You are absolutely right, dear", "when you left I was very angry. Then I felt guilty and  also your absence very much. I thought that I am overlooking your contribution to the family. You have been working relentlessly towards the welfare of family in all fronts including  domestic as well as financial. Please forgive me for my ego which  stopped me from recognising your contribution  and offending you for a quite a long time".
A stream of tears overflowed  from the eyes of Anita voluntarily  while stopping her husband from touching her knees. Arvind also promised Anita that tomarrow he will apply for a car loan which added a gleam in the eyes of later.