I Am A Man

Prakriti was married for two years now. She was married to Parikshit, a business person. Her husband was a share trader in the share market. Their marriage was a sexless marriage. The couple had not established any physical relationship between themselves. Prakriti wanted a physical relation however; her husband was averse to it. Whenever Prakriti talked about having sex on any particular night, he excused himself saying that he had to attend to an important business call. In this way, they spent two years without entering into a relationship. Prakriti had spent each day of this two-year period in fear. She feared that her husband would give her a divorce anytime because they had not consummated their marriage.

Parikshit, on his part did not seem to have any such plans. However, he was not very emotionally open towards his wife. He did not display any emotional connect with her. Moreover, he hardly shared his feelings with his wife. Whenever Prakriti pestered him to share his life with her, Parikshit would get aggressive. He preferred to remain an enigma for her. Two years had passed; Prakriti still did not know the address of his office. Whenever she insisted in visiting his office, he would change the subject of the conversation. This would put paid to Prakriti's efforts of trying to know his office location.

They were living like two friends who had just started a friendship. Each of them did not interfere in the other's life. Prakriti, being a wife, tried to get close to him by trying to arrange his wardrobe or prepare his food for him or giving him his tiffin. However, each time she did this, Parikshit would get angry. Therefore, Prakriti had stopped trying to get close. She was afraid that if she pestered too much, he would ask for divorce. Matters came to such a head that Parikshit was planning to get another bedroom made for him. Although, he slept in the same bedroom as Prakriti, he did not sleep on the same bed.

Prakriti slept on the double bed while Parikshit took rest on the floor. Parikshit's parents did not know about this because every time they tried to enter their bedroom, they were shooed away by Parikshit. When Parikshit was away, Prakriti would do the same. Therefore, the condition of their relationship was unknown to Parikshit's parents. Moreover, they believed that once a man marries, the parents should not interfere into his personal life. Therefore, they did not probe too much into his life. However, Prakriti was forever insecure that her husband would break off with her because he was not emotionally connected to her.

She lived an insecure life until her 32nd birthday. The day was 29 February 2012 and it being a leap year, Prakriti's birthday was occurring in that year. Prakriti was one of those people who were born in a leap year, on 29 February. This means, her birthday came in every fourth year. As a kid, her parents celebrated her birthday on 28 February. Until she was 18 years old, they celebrated each birthday. However, once she was 18, they stopped. From the age of 18 to the time she got married, they were depositing money every year, in a bank account, in her name.

They planned to give that amount to her husband when she got married. They did this because they could not afford to give her a fat dowry. Prakriti did not know about this fact. Her parents also deliberately kept it a secret from her. When she got married, they told her husband to give her the money after she had spent seven years with him in marriage. Her parents did this because they feared that Prakriti would not stick to her marriage. While in college, Prakriti had fallen in love with a boy who belonged to the scheduled caste. She wanted to marry him but her parents did not allow her to do so.

She was still nursing the hurt of that denial in her heart. The incident had happened when she was in her 18th year. When her parents denied her love, she dropped out from college leaving her studies half way. She was a bright student but as she was not allowed to marry someone she loved, she did not complete her studies. Since the time her love was denied, she had not completed any activity she had taken up. She used to start something and then get bored midway and drop out of it. When she dropped out of college, her father recommended her to one of his friend's office for a job as an office assistant.

She started the job, did it for six months and then left it without reason. When her father inquired with his friend about the reason for her leaving the job, he came to know that she had tried to break some company rules and that is why she was asked to leave. After leaving this job, she took up work with an NGO working with street children. Prakriti was very fond of children and more so if they were poor. She had a soft corner for street children and therefore she decided to join an NGO that helped street children. However, she did not continue with this engagement for long because she had to travel a lot to work for this NGO.

However, her liking for children was there and it continued even after her marriage. She wanted very much to bear Parikshit's child and bring it up. However, he was not yielding. However, on her 32nd birthday, he gave Prakriti a surprise. He returned to her the money that her parents had given Parikshit when they got married. Her parents had taken a promise from him, at that time that he would not tell anything about the money to Prakriti until she has spent seven years in the marriage with Parikshit. On her 32nd birthday, Prakriti got the surprise of her life, when she received a birthday gift from her husband, a government bond for ten years.

These bonds were purchased from the money accumulated by the deposits made by Prakriti's parents and her husband. After they got married, Parikshit continued the job that her parents had started. He continued depositing the same amount of money in the same account that her parents had started. This entire amount had accumulated to Rs 10 lakh and her husband had purchased government bonds from the money, in her name. The bonds were her birthday gift for her 32nd birthday. They were a consolation for all the insults that Parikshit had inflicted on her, in good faith. That night Parikshit threw a big party to celebrate his wife's birthday. He was going to make her his wife that night.

He had waited for this day, for the last seven years. Today night, he would assert his manhood on Prakriti. That night, when all the guests had gone, Parikshit called his wife to their bedroom. She was already overwhelmed with many surprises that her husband had given her until now and did not want any more. When Prakriti entered their bedroom, Parikshit pounced on her and started touching her private parts. He first put his hand around her navel. She had worn a sari on that day so her navel was exposed. When Parikshit put his hand around her navel, she shivered at his intimate touch.

She had not expected this behavior from Parikshit. When he extended his hand to take off her sari pallu from her breasts and expose her cleavage, Prakriti could not tolerate it and she started screaming. She tried to tell Parikshit that she was not ready for sex that night. However, he was in no mood to hear it. He was constantly finding out ways and means to touch her flesh if not with his hands, then with his lips. With each touch of his, on her flesh, she would experience a shiver in her body. With each shiver came a fear that she was being raped.

She did not want sex that night. She was tired and wanted to rest after a tough day. However, Parikshit was in no mood to listen. He had waited for seven long years to consummate their marriage and today he wanted to. Prakriti was trying ways to say no because Parikshit was not ready to listen to her verbal denials. He kept on saying I AM A MAN……..I am a man………….I cannot take no for an answer. The behavior of his had finished all the respect and admiration Prakriti had developed for him in the seven years that they were together.

She began to hate him. She felt like a whore who was being asked for sex after being given the gift of a ten-year government bond. All the love and respect that she had accumulated in her heart, for Parikshit had died down. She thought that HE WAS A MAN and was like any other man, who was desperate for sex.