Wife Obsessed with Shah Rukh Khan, Concerned Husband Seeks Help
by Rajorshi Chakraborti
“Dear Sir, thank you in advance for listening to me. My problem is actually not my own, but my wife’s, but now it has also become my own. She is obsessed with Shah Rukh Khan, Sir, even after three years of marriage with me. She tells me it’s from when she was in Class V in 1993, long before our wedding, so I should not worry, but my family was not informed of this when the arrangements were being made. And now it continues, Sir, and will you believe it if I tell you there are more photographs of him in our house than of me? Fifteen more!
“But recently I feel it has reached a new level. We went to Mumbai for four days in October because my cousin sister was getting married, and my wife of course wanted to go and see Mr Khan’s palatial residence, Mannat. Sir, out of four days, even though there were wedding preparations or ceremonies each day, at her insistence, and despite the looks on the faces of my relatives, we went to his place three times to stand on the opposite footpath. On Sunday afternoon we remained for three hours, along with a crowd of dozens. No other sightseeing outside Bandra was possible for us on this trip. My wife was simply not interested.
“All this showed me a new side to her that has disturbed me greatly. I thought it was just a case of loving Mr Khan’s films, but now Sir, I feel greatly concerned and also saddened, after the way I saw her behave in Mumbai. Will you believe what I dreamed last night, which for me was the last straw, and so I’m sitting here in office today writing to you in the first hour itself! It is about ten-thirty at night, and I have come to pick up my wife from Mannat, because she works there looking after Mr Khan’s infant son, until Mr Khan or Mrs Gauri Khan comes home. We are leaving for the bus stop, which is just outside his residence, but Mr Khan who has returned by now suggests that we should all go for a walk on Carter Road despite the late hour. My wife is of course so pleased about this that she cannot speak, but I have grave reservations and reply politely that maybe another day would be better, since neither of us has even taken dinner yet. But Mr Khan insists, and says he will come in his car personally to drop us home afterwards, and I know from my wife’s silence that she will never forgive me if I refuse this opportunity.
“So we are walking together on the sea-facing footpath of Carter Road, Mr Khan, myself and my Mrs, and Mr Khan is talking freely to my wife, and suddenly I feel it is like a scene in one of his films and she is his heroine whom he is courting. He is trying to make her laugh by making jokes. We are walking next to the seawall, and Mr Khan keeps jumping on and off the seawall to show how fit he is, and my wife is still so happy that she cannot speak. But, Sir, in the dream, I’m repeatedly saying to Mr Khan that he should go home now. By now it is past eleven. In any case, my feeling is that in the night after work, for the one hour or so that we are awake, she is my wife again, not his employee. This is our time together. He should now go home instead of using our precious time to make her laugh. She is not his heroine. She is with her husband. I want to say all this to my wife and to Mr Khan and to tell him to kindly leave us alone, but I know my wife will not support me, and this is what makes me feel so helpless when I wake up.
“I didn’t tell her about my dream this morning, but it’s still so clear for me as I am writing to you. Please advise me, Sir. I want my wife to feel like this about me. She is no longer a teenager, and now we have duties to each other.”
Concerned Husband,
Santoshpur.
An extract from my novel-in-progress. The narrator runs an (anonymous) advice column in a tabloid in Kolkata. He usually answers two or three people at a time, but occasionally, when the story moves him strongly, he shares one long letter for the day.
Rajorshi Chakraborti was born in 1977 in Kolkata and grew up there and in Mumbai. He is the author of the novels Or the Day Seizes You, Derangements (also published as Shadow Play), Balloonists and Mumbai Rollercoaster, as well as the short fiction collection, Lost Men. Two of his novels have been nominated in different categories of the Crossword Book Award. At present, Rajorshi lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand. You can find out more about his work at www.rajorshichakraborti.com.