14-12-2022, 12:50 PM
At 5:30 my daily alarm rang. I reached for my phone and silenced it. It was time to put out the breakfast and relieve Pepe. As I headed to the bathroom, I sensed that Apara was also stirring. I came out of the bathroom a few minutes later and turned the light on. Apara was sitting up in bed looking at her phone. As I walked towards the bed, she got up from it and started walking towards me.*
And then I stopped and looked at the floor. There were two socks there. Apara also noticed them. Her jaw seemed to tighten.
"Whose socks are these?" I said.
"Aren't they yours?"*
"No."
"Maybe the previous guests forgot them." she said picking them up.
"I thought the maid had already cleaned the room."
"Oh you know how they can be." she shrugged and laughed. "Anyway, I'll go change and then start the coffee machine."
And she almost ran out of the room.
------------------
So you see, in certain ways, the story starts that night. At least from my perspective. It was the first time ever that I had real suspicions that my wife may be cheating on me. I had no concrete proof and of course, maybe there was some other explanation, but that's when the worm of suspicion first entered my head.
As I thought back to the almost one year before that, I realized that this change wasn't exactly overnight.
Although I am from a conventional and orthodox family, with traditional moral values, I am also a realist. I knew that I could not expect a woman who had grown up in the United States, no matter how chaste her family, to be as docile and homely as someone who grew up in India. And she had even confirmed that she was not a virgin. But I had still expected some level of decency, soberness, and even obedience.
After we got married and moved to Texas, she started showing her true colors very soon. Again, nothing extreme initially if you have a modern upper middle class mindset. But those were big changes for me. For example, in my family, all women wore saris or salwar kameez. Before the marriage, Apara had also been dressed that way. But when we moved to the hotel and started our life together, those traditional clothes became less and less frequent with each passing day.
She gradually went from wearing Indian clothes every day to wearing them every alternate day, down to almost once a week. What she started wearing wasn't scandalous by Texas standards or frankly, even Ahmedabad standards - jeans, trousers, blouses, long skirts, western dresses etc. The streets of India are full of women who dress that way. It's just not something I was used to seeing in the house. But I didn't say anything. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
As time went by, I also realized that her personality was quite dominant and assertive, at least with me. When her uncle and aunt were around, she was always very quiet and obedient. After moving to Texas, we spent the first week at their house. She was like the typical Gujarati housewife then, being silent, respectful, staying confined to house work. But after we moved to the motel, she started being more independent. Again, nothing radical. But she was a lot more involved in the decision making, even taking the lead on many decisions. One small example is that she insisted on driving most of the time, saying I was not used to American rules. In my family, none of the women drove.
And then I stopped and looked at the floor. There were two socks there. Apara also noticed them. Her jaw seemed to tighten.
"Whose socks are these?" I said.
"Aren't they yours?"*
"No."
"Maybe the previous guests forgot them." she said picking them up.
"I thought the maid had already cleaned the room."
"Oh you know how they can be." she shrugged and laughed. "Anyway, I'll go change and then start the coffee machine."
And she almost ran out of the room.
------------------
So you see, in certain ways, the story starts that night. At least from my perspective. It was the first time ever that I had real suspicions that my wife may be cheating on me. I had no concrete proof and of course, maybe there was some other explanation, but that's when the worm of suspicion first entered my head.
As I thought back to the almost one year before that, I realized that this change wasn't exactly overnight.
Although I am from a conventional and orthodox family, with traditional moral values, I am also a realist. I knew that I could not expect a woman who had grown up in the United States, no matter how chaste her family, to be as docile and homely as someone who grew up in India. And she had even confirmed that she was not a virgin. But I had still expected some level of decency, soberness, and even obedience.
After we got married and moved to Texas, she started showing her true colors very soon. Again, nothing extreme initially if you have a modern upper middle class mindset. But those were big changes for me. For example, in my family, all women wore saris or salwar kameez. Before the marriage, Apara had also been dressed that way. But when we moved to the hotel and started our life together, those traditional clothes became less and less frequent with each passing day.
She gradually went from wearing Indian clothes every day to wearing them every alternate day, down to almost once a week. What she started wearing wasn't scandalous by Texas standards or frankly, even Ahmedabad standards - jeans, trousers, blouses, long skirts, western dresses etc. The streets of India are full of women who dress that way. It's just not something I was used to seeing in the house. But I didn't say anything. When in Rome, do as the Romans.
As time went by, I also realized that her personality was quite dominant and assertive, at least with me. When her uncle and aunt were around, she was always very quiet and obedient. After moving to Texas, we spent the first week at their house. She was like the typical Gujarati housewife then, being silent, respectful, staying confined to house work. But after we moved to the motel, she started being more independent. Again, nothing radical. But she was a lot more involved in the decision making, even taking the lead on many decisions. One small example is that she insisted on driving most of the time, saying I was not used to American rules. In my family, none of the women drove.
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