Devilishly divine…..
I am a 50 year old man qualified from one of the premier institutions in India, blissfully married for 26 years and blessed with two beautiful daughters. I work in one of the most reputed companies in the country and I am at a very envious position in life. My daughters are very well educated and work in excellent companies for handsome salaries. My elder daughter recently told me that she is in love with a colleague of her’s with whom she would like to spend the rest of her life. Instead of meeting him, I threatened her that such a union would never be possible as coming from a conservative background, our glorious culture, our relatives would shun us if I ever agreed to such an alliance. At the first available opportunity I got her married to one of our community boys and showed total indifference to the sadness in my daughter’s eyes. I was more worried about the society and not once did I think of the hurt that I was inflicting on my daughter. I am an uneducated literate.
I am a 47 year old upper middle class lady. My husband and I have decent jobs which has enabled us to provide not only for ourselves but also our 27 year old son. We not only gave him the best education but inculcated the best possible manners in him. He has been working in a reputed software company in United States for many years now. My son loves me immensely and the last time he visited India, he ended up showering gold on me like never before, as he knows I am very fond of jewellery. I recently attended a wedding gleefully decked in all the gold from head to toe. There, I met my distant cousin Vijayalakshmi who is going through some extremely tough times, what with being a widow managing to raise three daughters on husbands pension is quite a daunting task. She told me that a kind family had accepted the proposal for marriage of her eldest daughter and all they wanted was a “thaali”, pair of gold bangles and a pair of gold earrings. But she was unable to buy any jewellery apart from “thaali” and was looking for help with tear filled eyes. I put my hand on her shoulder and said some inspirational words but not once did it cross my mind to give away my old pair of earrings, after all I have so many of them. One less would do me no harm but it would have certainly helped Jayalakshmi’s daughter. I am avariciously kind.
I am a 32 year old man married to the love of my life for 7 years and I have a lovely three year old daughter. Since marriage we both have been working full time and thankfully life has been extremely good to us. From the last couple of years a certain stagnation has entered my marriage and to look for some adventure I have embarked upon having affairs with other women. It creates some excitement in my otherwise dull life and I enjoy these affairs as these women make me feel special and young and they wipe out the lull in my life. Of course, I haven’t forgotten all the wonderful things that my wife has done for me. Hence, come what may I will never leave her for any other woman even if it means I am playing with the emotions of both the wife and the other woman. My wife is most important to me, but then I cannot let go of this other woman too.I am adulterously faithful.
I am a 56 year married lady. I have two sons who are happily married. My elder son and daughter in law live with us while the younger son and daughter in law live abroad. My elder daughter in law dotes on me and takes immense pains from 0500 in the morning to get everything ready from plucking flowers to preparing naivedyam for my pooja of Lalitha Sahasranamam, Soundarya Lahari which I have been doing diligently for 35 years. She also looks after all our other daily needs with utmost devotion. However, I still dont treat her with as much love and respect as my younger daughter in law who visits me for a couple of weeks every year as everytime she does so she brings many expensive gifts for me. I am materialistically spiritual.
I am a 60 year old man recently retired as the head of the department in a government job. I can say without any hiccups that I have been extremely diligent, disciplined, honest in my service of 35 years. There were many opportunities for me to take bribes and improve the situation of the less deserving ones, but not once did I falter. My subordinates have always held me in great respect for treating everyone fairly. I have one married daughter and one daughter-in- law. My daughter- in- law is a working woman but I insist that she has to complete every household chore responsibly daily before she embarks on her work. My daughter on the other hand is a housewife and her mother-in -law is a working woman, but I always tell my daughter to only be a helping hand in her house rather than take up all responsibilties. I am impartially biased.
I am a 27 year old housewife with two wonderful children aged 4 and 6. My husband works in a reputed MNC and we have a 3 bedroom plush flat with the latest amenities in the upmarket area of the city. My kids are enrolled in the best international school here. We have already started our planning to provide the best education not only here but also for future in case my children wish to study abroad. I have left no stone unturned for their education and am planning to get them to start extra classes and tuitons in near future too. To help with the daily household activities and to look after my children I have brought a 13 year old maid from our ancestral village. She has not had any education. I have never even thought of spending a couple of hours a week to teach her just basic things like reading and writing. I am conscientiously unaware.
I am a very religious 35 year old man. I go for lord’s darshan every saturday and I am held in great respect by my family and relatives for my pious activities. I get up every morning and after bath do half an hour daily ritual of mantras and that gives me immense inner peace. I have been visiting this temple now for so many years that even Pujariji remembers me by my name and always offers the special prasadams to me. Every saturday I thank the lord for giving me a doting family, a lovely house, a perfect job, the latest gadgets and I pray to him for my joys to multiply and sorrows to divide. As, I come out of the temple and wear my shoes I see many handicapped people, beggars, urchins on the steps of the lord’s abode. It does not flinch me in the minutest. I don’t give them a second glance apart from tossing a few coins their way and I proceed to my cosy shelter. I am apathetically religious.
