Marriage anniversary or Just Damn It (Final Part)!!

The story so far: Bhagwaan is my name - a middle aged IT professional trying desperately to keep my sanity with both Bhagyawaan (my wife of 12 years) and SaasuMa (my mother in law) at home. I also have two kids - Badu (my son) and Chotti (my daughter). SaasuMa has reminded me not-so-subtly about the necklace which Bhagyawaan would "prefer" for our wedding anniversary. With the proverbial wolf around the corner, I have no recourse but to depend on my friend Ganesha and hope He helps me out. Getting no response, I upped my stakes with him and also asked a friend - there was no help there. Worse, he has spread the word & now the entire world seems to know about it! Now read on..

5 days to go and no end in sight. The last time I felt like this was when I got married - apparently history repeats itself every 12 years. I then had a brain wave. Yeah yeah - I can see those winks now from all of you reading this blog and know me well - Bhagwaan and a brain wave - ha ha!! - sounds like an oxymoron almost like being happily married. Anyway - I did have one not a tsunami kind of wave but like the a tepid one like the tea I get when Bhagyawaan is angry.

And that's when SHE walked in - Bhagyawaan I mean. Think of the dev.. oops..forget what I was about to say. My brain wave was simple - subtly ask Bhagyawaan what SHE wants. Simple and cunning, eh? So here is how the conversation went

ME: Heh Heh Bhagyawaan - wazzup?
SHE: You are watching too many American movies - what is this "whats up" stuff?
ME: Would you like to go out today?
SHE (with one eyebrow raised): What? Are you OK? Have a fever? You never ask if we can go out..
ME: I'm fine - thought we can drive around Necklace Road today (for the uninitiated Necklace Road is a favourite hangout in Hyderabad for people and mosquitoes with the latter usually winning)
SHE (eyes all lit up): Absolutely!! I would like to go to Necklace (significant pause) Road (in a sotto voce).
ME:

My goose was cooked!! She was expecting it...Ganesha Ganesha - where art thou?!!!!

Suddenly, this mouse brushed my leg and ran away.I was so startled that I almost and upset all the things on my table including a desktop calendar. As I was keeping the stuff back, my eyes fell on the calendar - there were two circles - one for Feb 14th and the other one for Feb 12th.

I knew the one for 14th (my anniversary) but what was 12th? Then it hit me - it was SaasuMa's birthday!! How could I have been such a big fool!! That is when I had my second wave - I ordered a big cake and flowers to be delivered to her on her birthday. I also shopped for a shawl which I knew SaasuMa always wanted. You should have seen the look on her face when she got those gifts - she was in heaven!! More importantly, Bhagyawaan was ecstatic - she could not hide her glee!!

That's when I took a big risk and casually told her "You know what - I know you wanted that necklace but I don't think I can afford it right now".

She replied "You big oaf!! Do you think I wanted a necklace? Is that why you were going around like a hunted rat(sic!) all these days? I would rather see my mother happy than have a necklace. I was actually worried that you would forget Ma's birthday like last year!!".

I felt like what Edison must have felt when his bulb actually burned!! I was so relieved - I took her in my arms and agreed with what the guru says "The best way to a woman's heart is thru her mother". Amen to that!!

And Bhagwaan lived for another day!!

Concluded
PS: I did give Ganesha His Rs 201/- . I mean a deal is a deal and I am sure he sent that mouse to my house...