Visaka's birthday party (1017)

Visaka felt honestly that her husband should have remained a bachelor and not married her at all. A good man, no doubt, Vignesh was not cut for married life. Wedded to the office and a workaholic, he spent long hours in the office and with the mobile, whenever at home talking office matters.

In these fifteen years of married life, she could remember only three occasions when Vignesh took leave from office to take her out. One was immediately after the wedding, taking her to the various temples that passed for a honeymoon and the other two, when her parents had passed away. But he gave her a lot of freedom to do what pleased her, ample money for running the household and for buying dresses and jewelry that she desired. But he never accompanied her nor did he insist she accompany him to office parties.

It is not that Visaka was not good looking or not highly educated. She was a tall and very beautiful woman with an all-India rank in professional accountancy examination teaching in a college. The problem was his world was very small and revolved around his office. Unfortunately, they had no children to provide occasions for them to be together. It is not that he did not love her. He had a warm affection and high regard for her. But he lacked the finer sensibilities of pleasing the woman and had to be reminded even about their wedding day or birthdays.

 She diverted her mind to literary pursuits and had a couple of novels to her credit. She wrote for all leading magazines and was widely read. She, however, nursed a deep hurt in her heart at the wooden nature of Vignesh despite the mechanical conjugal life they led devoid of demonstrated love.

It was 2 pm on a Saturday when the phone rang at Vignesh’s office. It was Visaka reminding him that it was her birthday and that he had promised to come earlier than usual. He looked at his watch and the note-sheets before him. With a frown on the face and affected tone of warmth he said “Visaka, I am on the verge of finalizing the report to go to the Board tomorrow. I will surely come early but maybe held up a little. Get dressed and be ready. We will have our dinner outside. Thanks, darling, for reminding me.” He took two hours to finish it and meanwhile ignored the calls from his residence. By the time he left, it was 7.30 p.m. and it was drizzling rather heavily outside.

The large parking lot in the basement was deserted as most of the people had left. It was dark when he reached his car. He fumbled for the car keys and found to his dismay that the door would not open. He tried several times and jabbed the door when he heard a voice behind him, “Hey, excuse me, you seem to have a problem.”

Startled Vignesh turned to look at the slightly aged man, big built, in a white shirt that was large for him and with three days’ bristle smiling at him in a twisted manner revealing his yellow teeth. He looked a bit unusual and a chill ran through Vignesh’s spine.

He said “Yes, the door lock is jammed. I am in a hurry to go home now as it is my wife's birthday. But I haven’t seen you here all these years”.

The man came closer and said “I have been here for a very long time. You have not seen me but I see you daily as I see others. I make myself visible only when everybody has left. You should not have stayed   this long especially on this rainy day”

Struck by fear by the uncomprehending words and his unnatural demeanour, Vignesh stood immobilized when the old man said “Move away a little. Let me open the door. Keep the keys with you.” Vignesh immediately moved away looking at this strange man placing his strong hand on the door.  He looked around and observed the parking lot was empty without a soul.

There was a sudden noise of the door ripping away from the car. He looked at the car with its front door missing and could see neither the old man nor the missing door. He had just vanished with the door in a jiffy even as he heard the sound of eerie laughter a little away. He quickly jumped into the car, started the ignition and sped away to the safety of the road. He was sweating profusely when a cold hand touched him on his shoulder.

Vignesh blabbered in fear, “Please do not harm me. My wife would be waiting for me. I have never taken her out for long. After a very long time, I have promised to take her out and make the day a memorable one. Please, I beg you to leave me unharmed.” 

As the cold hand pressed him further and shook him violently, he started howling till he heard Visaka, “Vignesh, what are you blabbering about in sleep? You have been sleeping from 3 p.m. ever since you came home. It is getting late for dinner at the hotel. Get ready soon”

He opened his eyes and saw her beautifully dressed standing before him. There was no sight of the fearful strange man or the car park. He pulled her towards him to embrace her tightly and kissed her till she pulled herself away telling her that the maid was there in the house. “Visaka, I have been a fool all along. I thought my life would be over today even before celebrating your birthday. I realize what I have missed all these days. I promise to give you lot of my time and make our lives a very happy one from this moment.”

She threw her arms over him forgetting her caution about the presence of maid and sobbed “I am so happy today. I was afraid we were moving apart. I thank your scary dream for opening your eyes at last.