Twelfth heaven

When our daughter entered class twelve last year my wife was apprehensive. Oh no, not on account of any concern for her studies, but for all the unsolicited sympathy and advice that we knew would come our way from ‘well-wishers’.

When our daughter entered class twelve last year my wife was apprehensive. Oh no, not on account of any concern for her studies, but for all the unsolicited sympathy and advice that we knew would come our way from ‘well-wishers’. But soon she learnt to turn the new situation to her advantage.

First, we could turn down unwanted visitors with a straight face. “Oh Mrs Gupta, we would have loved to have you over, but you know Kadambari is in the 12th this year,” my wife would say and, sure enough, Mrs Gupta would not trouble her for the entire year. In fact, the former would ward off other visitors too by spreading the word about our ‘daughter’s 12th’.

My wife could also easily escape attending unwanted social gatherings, particularly marriages. Attending a marriage, you would agree, isn’t a simple affair any more. From choosing a proper gift to driving to the other end of the city through peak marriage-season traffic and finding a place to park the car, to the long wait in the queue to wish the newly-weds ‘a long and happy married life’, it takes a heavy toll on your time and patience. Even your own marriage did not take that long, you realise.

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So my wife could avoid all this by making a phone call to the hostess and citing the most persuasive excuse — ‘daughter’s 12th’. And I would have to go through the ordeal all by myself.

But once, she got caught. We were recently coming out of the multiplex after watching Guru. My wife spotted Mrs… (let her remain unnamed for purposes of this column). Before we could sneak away, she was upon us with the inevitable query, “How can you come out for a movie? Isn’t your daughter in the 12th?” My wife was dumbstruck, so I jumped in, muttering, “I forced her to come.” But since that episode, we have taken to watching the new releases on DVD.

Yet, on the whole, our daughter’s 12th has meant a year of freedom for my wife. Freedom from oppressive social inanities. Alas, this break will soon end. A month from now, our daughter’s examinations would be over and it will be back to the old social grind.

Omar says he is considering becoming a party to JK statehood case in SC

India3 hr ago

Omar Abdullah, former and current CM of Jammu and Kashmir, plans to join the legal fight for restoring statehood to the UT. He believes his experience makes him best suited to understand the drawbacks of being a UT. The case, with multiple petitions from citizens, was last heard on October 10.

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