Intelligence Quotient

It all started with a momentary lapse in my knowledge of geography of USA. On one of our vacation trip to Hawaii ,I was doing the preparatory work .I was flummoxed . I could not get driving direction to Hawaii on map quest. It kept saying , ''Cannot find directions''.Well, I never claimed any proficiency in Geography .She caught me red handed in my moment of weakness . ''How can you get driving directions to Maui ,it is an Island '',she said.From then on began series of Agni Parikshas to prove my mettle


Everyday there was a new challenge, some were innocuous , some difficult and others mind boggling.Like the other day ,she asked me ''Do you know the meaning of my name? 'Hmm,what ? No, I don't know that '',I answered trying best to wriggle out of the question answer session. ''You don't even know know the meaning of your wife's name ''she said with the expression of shock and horror as if she had just heard her husband was Green Goblin ,the sworn enemy of Spider-man.Names having meaning is an part of Indian culture.Do the names ,Ann, Sue , Julia , any of these names have a meaning ?Coming back to my on the spot moment,I offered her my sincere apologies and told her to tell me the meaning of her name .To which she answered'' Do some research, find it yourself ''.

Then a month or two later, one evening as I was relaxing by reading my all time favorite ''The Mahabharata ''.She came to me and said''Come lets do a medium level Sudoku Quiz and see who finishes up first ''. I thought to myself ''Heavens Forbid if I lose to her,I am never seeing end to these quizzes. I have to win. I had never played Sudoku before but she had a couple of times. So one of these days ,she had taken time out from her extremely busy schedule to explain to a lesser mortal what it was all about .For those of you who are not aware of what it is . It is a fill in the blank with numbers where digits one to ten should come only once in all the line. The theme music of the movie '' Chariots of fire'' starting playing in my head as I took my seat next to her for the battle. I felt an overwhelming sense of burden of saving the grace of all husband-kind of the world. I summoned all my brain cells to start working at the fastest possible speed and beckoned all the Gods to be on my side. With a Jai Mata Di , I started filling the digits in the blank spaces.. About fifteen minutes later , I glanced at her sheet and she just was about half way done.It was a do or die situation, failure was not an option. I concentrated hard on the quiz , and made a small offer to God of $ 5 prashad. There was pin-drop silence for another twenty minutes. Just then there was a shriek piercing the tic tic of the clock,the only sound present in the house. It was the sound of triumph , my triumph.She grabbed my sheet in disbelief and checked all the numbers twice.I had beaten her fair and square.

I will be going to temple tomorrow to offer my thanks to the Almighty.

Right to be Right

Has anyone given a thought to the fact that she has the right to be right .It is not anytime, sometime but it is all the time. Looks like the wives all over the world have it as their birthright. That is the right to be right in front of their husbands

.As I remember even in childhood, Chacha Choudary whose brain was faster than the computer and Saboo his loyal big tall friend would be obeying Mrs Chachi Choudary. Whatever she said was the order of the house.Later in IIT how the day would pan out , would one get a devastatingly , deadly surprise quiz or not ,depended on the mood of the Proff. And his mood was directly proportional to the his wife having asserted her right to be right.


Later over the years this fact has become crystal clear . Any argument which I seem to be wining in round 1 , by the time it comes to round 3 , she somehow manages to win and be right. Just the other day,I put up proposal on her table for approval regarding a lap desk.I have laptop and a designated table for my work Then there are the times when I want to work sitting on the couch. Man has needs and the need of the hour was for a lap desk.I stood in front of her as she read her book, just like how a student satnds in front his teacher wanting a restroom break . I presented my case saying’’ I have to work long hours and need to be comfortable. I am learning new technology and working on a project ,I would like you to authorize a lap desk for work for me..Round 1 : I win.

She heard the argument and it seemed she was deliberating on it like a Hindi film Judge. After 5 minutes of pensive thoughts she said, ‘’there are two many of your gadgets lying on the couch , and the lap desk will also just be lying around, I think it is a waste ‘’. Round 2 :She wins.

She took a pause and then looked at me with the most serious expression and said ‘’If you want to work and have the passion to work , you can do it under any circumstances with or without lap desk. Just see the recent Olympic medal winner Boxer Vijendra .He did not have any facilities and managed to win a medal . Don't you agree with me ?

‘’Yes dear ,I agree, you are right ‘’. Round 3 and the match goes to her .Who could argue with that reasoning.Such heavy duty argument for a ten dollar lap desk.Phew!!!

Maybe it is a law of the Universe.Like the water is blue and leaves are green,and the force of gravity, and the Wife has the Right to be Right always .