Bedtime story

He talked about the woman in her various roles and not about different women.

It must have been over 20 years back that my wife and I became adopted parents of a young couple for just one evening, the evening of their marriage. It, being an inter-religion marriage, the genetic parents refused to attend and we became the substitutes for them.

The young couple moved out of Bangalore to come back after two decades and invited us for their marriage anniversary. Right in the middle of the meal, the husband got up with a glass of wine in his hand and said that he needed to make a confession and it was through an open confession that he could seek retribution of his past sins.
His sin was that he changed his bedmate on each night of the week.

He was not in an inebriated state for he does not even touch a drop of alcohol. Our jaws dropped in disbelief as he said that he sleeps with his favourite lead actress on Saturdays and played the supporting actor’s role throughout the night but he was disappointed that in the world of heroes and heroines, the supporting actors got peanuts.

On Sundays, he sleeps with a trained masseur and by the time he gets up in the morning, all his aches and pains of the previous week’s aggressive workout schedule, just melt away like butter in a hot pan and he is up and ready for the next week. On Mondays, he said, he sleeps with someone who seems to act as the chef of the house who must get into the kitchen even if there are no guests to be entertained.

On Tuesdays, he sleeps with a wise woman whose library is full of spiritual books like ‘Conversation with God’ and she endows him with life changing spiritual insights which go mostly above his head but do put him into sleep. And the morning starts where the conversation was left the previous night with how one should be mindful through all our actions.

On Wednesdays, he sleeps with his mixed doubles tennis partner who makes up for his weak back hand returns and takes all the drops shots which require the body flexibility that his stiff body can’t respond to and they win their matches.

On Thursdays, he sleeps with a mother who must spend time with her three children relating as a friend with the two grownups and cuddly with the youngest. On Fridays, he sleeps with a lady who must put things in order and lay down protocol for the next week and any departure from her laid down plans may result in an abrupt goodnight and turning away to her side of the bed.

But on a few nights in a month, he sleeps with his wife and oh, that night is the most boring night of the week, he went on to declare. And then he got up and kissed his wife and said that he was talking about the woman in her various roles and not different women as we had assumed. And our dropped jaws broke into smiles.