INTENSION
She was reclined on the sofa looking at the cupboard and at the gifts he gave her. He was sitting on the chair facing her. His feet were on the table which was lying between the chair and the sofa.
'Keep your feet down' She chided him.
'Sorry' he replied, pulling back his legs.
'I think we are not made for each other' she said. Her voice was melancholic.
'I am trying my best' he mumbled ' You see my English communication has improved'
'Hmnn.,' she said half approvingly ' But its not fluent enough. Not like those news anchors’
‘We love each other very much' he said ' We can not stay without one another'
'I know' she nodded.
'But I cannot marry you with your bad English and bad grammar' she said dilating her eyes.
She looked at him and said 'For you I have compromised so much. All I want from you is to have a good english and a confident personality'.
'What can I do? I was brought up in a different environment' he tried to gain her sympathy.
'That’s an excuse. Look at that Neeraj. He is from a village. When he joined the organization ,he was unable to utter a single sentence in correct english’. He nodded.
'And now he speaks for hours to those US clients' She paused for a while.
'You don’t want to change’ she said.
'Give me some time’ he asked sheepishly.
'You asked for two years and now it has been five years. Not much has changed.' She shot back, taking her eyes off his face to the wall on her left. He knew that she does this when she is very upset. He had been through such situation numbers of times and he knew how to react and what to say. He kept silent. She took the newspaper lying on the table and flipped through a few pages. Unable to concentrate she kept it back.
'You want to have coconut trees in our house; you like small cars and want to live in a town. You say that you will go to Himalayas after 40. How can I marry you? '
'Arre..,’ he chuckled ‘Don’t take these things seriously’.
‘I know you'll not do it.' She stopped and resumed 'even if you want, I’ll not let you do’ She emphasized by tilting her head a bit towards her right shoulder and he had to concur.
'But what do I do with your English?' She looked exasperated.
He knew that its time to make her feel guilty.
'So you'll marry someone who speaks well, who is good looking and has very good English',he said.
'I don’t know' she said and her eyes welled up. 'Probably I'll not marry anyone if I will not marry you'.
'I have never asked you to change.’ He continued ‘I have not asked you to learn cooking. You will not marry me just because I cannot speak correct English. You never loved me. You were just fooling with me.' he said with an animated emotion.She started feeling vulnerable. He expected her to cry.
'I can’t marry you, I am sorry’. She was in tears.
'How do you spell Intention' she asked in a hoarse voice.
‘Damn it’ he thought ‘So this is the problem. But how could the ms-word spell check not work?’.
'I N T E N‘he spoke with a break after every letter. Then he took a pause.
He clearly remembered that there were no red lines in the e mail he sent her.
‘S I O N’ he completed.
‘Its T I ON.’ she said furiously. ‘I felt so ashamed’
‘Ohh…but’ He stopped realizing the futility of his argument
'We are not getting married.' She said resolutely.
He knew that she was determined at least at the moment.
