“Hello, rajiv mittal speaking.” “is your wife’s name manisha?” asked a female voice. “yes,” i said suspiciously, “what is this about?” “i just wanted to warn you that your wife is going to have an affair.” “what? Who is this? Is this some kind of a joke because it isn’t funny,” i said. “you are free to take it as you want …but i warned you” she said, before setting down the phone.
This had to be some kind of a joke but who and why would anyone do anything thing like this to me? I wondered if the caller knew it was a joke or was she just doing something she was asked to do by someone else?
I got back to work for a meeting at 2 o’clock and the problems brought to light during the meeting kept me busy the rest of the afternoon. However i could not help thinking about the anonymous call as i drove home that evening. I intended to tell manisha about the call but i decided that was not the best course of action. I had first to figure out if it was a joke and who was behind it.
There was also the fact that some time back manisha asked me whether i had ever thought of having an affair. During the evening i kept wondering whether these two pieces of information were related. As it turned out i did not have much opportunity to talk with manisha that night. After dinner i got a call from one of our project managers and while i was talking to him, manisha came into my office and whispered that she was tired and was going up to bed. By the time i got off the phone, manisha was already asleep.
The following day i had to tackle a few urgent issues and had to put the call out of my mind and it just faded into the background. I didn’t think about it again until a few days later when i was going over a project with my partner shekhar. When my phone rang, i picked it up without lifting my head from the computer screen and answered, “rajiv mittal here.”
“you didn’t pay attention to what i told you, did you?” came the familiar voice. “shekhar, i have to take this call, do you mind,” i immediately said. “no problem,” shekhar said as he went out and closed the door behind him. Trying to remain calm, i asked, “so, who are you?” “it doesn’t matter …just pay more attention to your wife,” the voice said. A thought flashed through my mind, if i could to keep her talking some more, maybe i cold find where the call was coming from. “is there something else i should know?” i asked. “yes …but it’s up to you decide if you want to keep your wife,” she said.My stomach muscles tighten involuntarily. “why do you say that?” i said.
A thousand things were going on in my mind at that time and it took me a few seconds to realize that the caller had hung up without answering my question. Now was the time to find out from where the call came and i knew only richa, our secretary could tell me. I immediately rushed to the reception room, but richa was nowhere to be seen. Just then i heard giggling in one of the cubicles nearby and knew it had to be her. I wanted to tell her off for not doing her work but knew right away that was not the best approach if i wanted her to help me.
“richa,” i said, walking up to her, “i need our help in retracing a call i just had.” “of course, sir,” she said, not the least affected by the fact that i’d just caught her fooling around with her friend, instead of working. I accompanied her to her desk and waited patiently for her to take her seat. “but, sir, did you get the call directly?” She asked. “yes,” i said. “then, i can’t say which call it is.” “why that?” “because we have received 10 calls over the last 5 minutes,” she said, “and it is impossible to say which call was transferred to your extension.”
I now had to think out a solution fast. I told her “richa, can you please print out the list of all these 10 or more calls …” she looked at me and said, “but, sir, it is confidential …” “richa, please … i need to contact a major client who intends to invest millions of rupees in our company, and you are the only one i can trust to find his number,” i said. The trick seemed to work. Richa clicked on her mouse and immediately a screen capture of all incoming calls came out of the printer next to her. It was that simple. I immediately thought of something else. “richa, do one more thing, this same client phoned me on wednesday at around 1.30 …can you find a list of incoming calls in your archive.“ “yes, sir, it’s right here.” Richa was now taken up in her role and was willing to do everything in her power to help.“thanks dear, the boss will be proud of you,” i said as i collected the second printed sheet and went to my office.
I knew that if i could find a phone number that was common on both sheets, this would probably be the one i was looking for. Unfortunately i found there were 3 numbers common on both sheets. These were from our regular batch of clients who must be calling the office every day. However i looked again and this time i recognized one of the numbers and … It was the number from my wife’s office.
So, the caller was one of manisha’s colleagues. Who would that be? Why would she play such a joke on me and manisha? That brought me back to the basic problem. The caller was either telling the truth or she wasn’t. If she was lying, why did she do it? But now there was a serious possibility that she was telling the truth, which would mean that my wife was in touch with rohit sinha again. The last time i met him, he told me the board was about to decide on his case and i had assumed that he would be fired. Could it be that his suspension had been cancelled and he was back at the office and back courting my wife?
The caller had told me that my wife was going to have an affair, meaning that they had not yet been at it. It could be she was one of manisha’s colleague who had seen them flirting and thought i should be told about it before it is too late. I knew i needed to find the truth and fast.
One option was to ask manisha some questions. I was going to have to do that in such a way that it would not make manisha suspicious. If she was innocent, chances are she would be hurt to think that i don’t trust her. On the other hand, if the caller was telling the truth and manisha became suspicious about me questioning her she might figure out that i knew something. If that happened i would never find out the truth. It might stop manisha from having an affair but i would never know if she had actually considered having one or not.
The other option was to go back to the coffee shop and meet rohit sinha and find what he was up to. I decided that this was still the safer option.
At five, that very evening, i went back to the coffee room, parked my car on the other side of the road and entered my old haunt. I quickly scanned the room but rohit was nowhere to be seen. I began to think i got it all wrong, still i decided to wait. About fifteen minutes later, rohit came in.
“hey mate,“ he said as he saw me. “hi,” i replied, unsure i was to treat him as a friend or foe since i could not tell whether he was having an affair with my wife or not. “what brings you here, my friend,“ he went on. “i was just passing by and thought i would drop to say hello and find out what you are up to. So, it seems you are back to work, right?” “no dear, told you i have been suspended from work.”I was taken aback. This was not what i was expecting. “but you said the board was to review your suspension, right?” “sort of, in fact they were to decide on my punishment …and in the end, i have been fired …” “oh …so what are you doing these days …for a living” i managed to ask. “right now i am helping my cousin with his shop. Hopefully i will get a new job sooner or later.”
That night after manisha fell asleep i lay awake thinking about the phone calls. I was obvious that my initial assumptions had been all wrong. Rohit sinha was well out of the picture and obviously had no mean to keep an ongoing affair with my wife. Yet the seed of doubt had been planted in my brain and as hard as i tried, i could not keep it from growing.
I again thought about telling manisha about the phone calls but decided against it. It occurred to me that if i told her about the calls it could easily start a chain of events that would prevent me from ever finding out what this was all about. Then there was that small possibility that the caller was telling the truth. I needed to know. I couldn’t let it end there. I had to know the truth.
Thursday was difficult for me. Every time the phone rang i wondered if it is was my caller again but the only calls i received that day were business related. One of these was for an urgent meeting with our client ritesh sen. The last time we met, i was deeply stressed as i was certain manisha was going to sleep with rohit sinha the very same day. This time again i was not much better off.
“i notice that you were in quite a mood the other day. So what did upset you so much you could not even talk about it?” i said, “i just wanted to get home quickly that day.” “can i ask you, as a friend, why that made you so tense? It might help you to talk about it.” “i am a little nervous about leaving my wife home alone,” i said. “why? Are you two still having the issues about the rohit guy?” he asked. I said, “well, you might say that.” “why don’t you tell me about it?”
Subconsciously i must have really wanted to talk to somebody about manisha, because once i started talking i went on not stop right through the whole series of events. “what are you going to do about it?” ritesh asked. I said, “i wish i knew.” the waiter had just brought the check and ritesh insisted on paying it. “let me see if i can help bring things into focus for you,” ritesh suggested.
“i’d appreciate that,” i said. “i think your wife appears to have developed an unconscious interest in sex. It started when she had become extremely aroused by rohit sinha and then was not able to get the sexual release she needed. Most of the time she is in control and can push those feelings out of her mind. But from time to time she does feel the need to know more. ” “what can i do to snap her out of it?” i asked. “that’s the problem. There’s no simple answer here. I can’t tell you what to do to snap her out of it. The problem will most likely persist until she ends up sleeping with some guy or the other. ““but i am concerned about you. What you are putting yourself through now is like death by a thousand cuts. You are tense all the time, constantly worried about what your wife is doing, and also about something that hasn’t happened yet. This is not healthiest way to live your life.”
I can’t say that ritesh’s assessment of my marriage made me feel good but at least it gave me some perspective that i couldn’t get for myself.
“just keep in mind that you will have to accept is that this isn’t about you, it’s about her. You can’t fix it, only she can. I cannot advise you strongly enough to keep your emotions under control.“ “you certainly have given me a lot to think about,” i said, “and i do appreciate your input. I can promise you that i will think about what you said.” ritesh took a long look at me as he sipped his drink. “i know this is not what you wanted to hear but i thought i had to be honest with you.” ritesh picked up his glass and draink it and then suggested that it was time to leave.