“My wedding anniversary is next week. I don’t know what to get Siya,” Rohan confessed.
“What did you get her for your first anniversary?” inquired Vicky, his best friend.
“Roses and a red velvet cake.”
“And?”
“Siya’s allergies flared up that day. I had to throw the roses away because they made her sneeze. Additionally, she was dieting that week. Ultimately, I ate most of the cake. And humble pie too! “
“Why?”
“She thought the gifts were impersonal, and I didn’t put any effort into them. Back then, I bobbed my head up and down like a toy, demonstrating my remorse. I thought I had all the time in the world to redeem myself. One year later, I am still at square one!”
Vicky commiserated with Rohan.
“The second anniversary is called Cotton Anniversary. Do you think she would like something in cotton, like casual wear?”
Rohan considered this for a moment. It was tricky, buying clothes for his better half. Buy a size bigger, and the accusations would come through, fast and furious. Do I look fat? Buy a size smaller, and all hell would break loose. Do you expect me to fit into that?
Rohan brightened. “Perhaps something for the household, like cotton tablecloths?”
“Not unless you want to get divorced! What does Siya like?”
“Books and poetry.”
“Oh, then I have the perfect solution! Write a poem for her.”
Rohan shook his head in exasperation.
“I can rhyme ‘cat’ with ‘rat’. That’s about it.”
Vicky skimmed through his phone and found what he was searching for.
“There is a website called RhymeWeaves. You can send them the details of your spouse. They compose a poem and etch it in the material corresponding to your anniversary. For the first anniversary, they print the poem on paper, for the second they embroider it on cotton, for the third they sew it on leather, so on and so forth. They print your name at the bottom. And for Rs. 99.99, they throw in a frame too!”
“Are the poems personalized?”
“Absolutely! She will think you composed it for her. Expect her to melt into rivulets of adulation. Thank me later!”
***
The parcel arrived, and it exceeded Rohan’s expectations. The poem was embroidered in cursive style, on a colourful cotton cloth. It looked sophisticated in its ornate frame. Rohan felt that the composition was exquisite. He chanced upon the word iridescent. He wondered what it meant. Who cared? It looked fancy enough.
“Siya, I got you our anniversary gift! You will be happy to know that I took your feedback seriously. Tell me what you think.”
Siya was pleasantly surprised. Her nimble fingers ripped off the wrapping. She gasped.
My dearest Siya,
You are the undisputed Queen of my heart,
My oasis in the desert, my end, and my start.
My salvation is in your iridescent brown eyes,
Your enchanting smile is my cherished prize.
Two beautiful years since the beginning of our fairy tale,
May our eternal love ever prevail!
Your soulmate,
Rohan.
Siya teared up.
“This is so beautiful! Did you write this?”
Rohan nodded, keeping his fingers crossed behind his back. Siya threw herself at him.
“You are the best husband in the whole world! I love this thoughtful gift. Wait till I show you yours! But first, let me take a few selfies.”
***
Rohan was on cloud nine. This project had exceeded his expectations by a mile.RhymeWeaves ought to be given a prize for fostering marital peace if there were such an award.
Alas, his moment of marital bliss was short-lived. Siya barged in, fuming. Uh-Oh! Not a good sign. She showed him her Facebook page.
“Rohan, I uploaded a picture of ‘your’ poem. Why is it that at least three women have come forward with similar poems, with a word or two interchanged here and there? Did you lift this off the internet?”
Rohan went pale. The game was up. That confounded site! He would leave them a strongly-worded review. Wait, would that be an admission of guilt?
Abandoning his discontent with E-commerce for later, he came clean to his wife. He confessed that he had availed of the worldwide web’s assistance and was now tangled in his web of deceit.
Siya burst into rage-filled tears.
“I asked you to try for once, and you couldn’t! Leave me alone!”
She barged back into their bedroom and slammed the door.
Rohan was flummoxed. There was only one way out of this sticky situation. He grabbed pen and paper. Visions of his fifth-grade English teacher flooded through his mind.
“Rohan! Poetry is beautiful. Feel it! Experience it!”
If poetry were the language of the soul, his was one black hole.
***
Siya heard a knocking on the door, and a note was slid under it.
Siya,
When you cry, I feel sad.
I tried to do good but was bad.
I don’t do words and rhymes,
I wrote this after trying many times.
Won’t you forgive me, please?
I ordered spa vouchers for thousand rupees.
Happy anniversary sweetheart,
You are always in my heart!
Yours,
Rohan
She smiled through her tears. The poor guy had tried. You had to give brownie points for that. She decided to absolve him of his guilt.
“Rohan, don’t ever lie to me again. And in the future, let’s ask each other what we want. Surprises are overrated.”
Rohan hugged her with relief. All was well.
***
The next day, Vicky texted Rohan to check if Siya loved her gift.
“Totally!” Rohan replied. Too bad WhatsApp didn’t have a sarcasm mode.
“You lucky dog! It’s my anniversary next month. I should sign up with RhymeWeaves too. The wife will be tickled pink, reading ‘my’ poetry!”
“You won’t regret it at all!” Rohan smiled deviously as he remembered that Vicky’s wife and Siya were Facebook friends.
Oh well, it must be a rite of passage for some couples to experience surprises, twice upon an anniversary.
***
This was superbly hilarious, and prompt adherence was spot on.
9/10 from me for the humour.
Haha, the woes of the anniversary celebrations with poetry thrown in – good, enjoyable. Seriously getting gifts for the other half is a confounding problem.
I totally and absolutely LOVED this one!!
The prompt was incorporated so cleverly n effectively, giving a perfect reason for what was special this second year!
Humour, on point! Simple effective expressions that made me smile, grin and chuckle!
A lot of evocative narration, relatable emotions and action, a contemporary and believable premise, and oh yes, didn’t we all have a favourite English teacher back in school who we adored?!!
Sending a hug to Rohan and a big shout out to the author!
Rating this lovely piece a 9•5 .
Loved it.
My rating 9/10
Hahaha, that was hilarious indeed. But Rohan should have known that with a tech-savvy wife like Siya, who was active in social media, his lie would be caught soon. That was expected to happen, but you ended it on a sweet note with the young couple sorting out their issues with a cute poem. Waiting to read what happened to dear Vicky, brickbats or something more.7.5/10
What a hoot ! And totally relatable too. I can totally relate with Siya. Rohan seems a popular name in this event.
8/10
Such a cute and funny one! Enjoyed reading the story and could relate to it. Can I say — I loved the second poem more than the first :)) Brownie points for the title.
Rating: 8/10
Such a real life anecdote of gifting each other on anniversaries. I have never been good at gifts. Neither is the better half. So we are on the same boat
An enjoyable read. Love the simple poem more than the one framed.
Rating 8
What a predicament. Hilarious tale. Loved it.
Also, got an idea as to what I might want for my next anniversary. Hmmm. I better give him some clues right now
My rating 8.5/10
Read it again, and loved it even more this time. Just want to compliment the author on the clever title, beautiful and effortless narration, and the amazing ending.
Hahaha! Love the ending, avenging oneself is not gender-specific.
A simple plot put together very well !
7/10
Your story has done full justice to the prompt – the second anniversary is not just something mentioned in passing, but the whole story is woven around it. This is a difficult prompt, so kudos for pulling this off.
Loved the story, it had humour, twists, and loved the wicked sweet vengeance in the end. Many stories are written well, but struggle with a logical ending that provides closure – your story did all that and with élan!
The language was simple and flowed smoothly, a little bit of polish here and there will make it better, but that did not take away from the reading experience.
The biggest challenge for any writer is to get his reader to relate with the situations and characters in the story – I could fully relate to the characters [every husband has at one time or the other fumbled with gifts!] and the situation. I even googled Rhymeweave to see if it exists – your story was that much steeped in reality. Wonderful story.
Rate this 8/10.
beautiful and tickling tale instigating laughter. My rating – 8/10
I really liked the story. It was very simple and a pleasure to read. It reminds me of the saying – simplicity is beauty. This story is simple and sweet. It had a lovely and relatable concern (Men wondering what to gift their wives). I liked the ending too. Overall 8/10.
A hilarious story… it was fun reading it… no one can be duped in this tech savvy world… I agree that deciding a gift on anniversaries is a tough job indeed.. better to tell openly what one wants as a gift…my rating 8/10
Absolutely loved this one. 10/10
Very well weaved, adhered to the prompt, poems added in a short story and also a dose of humour. 8
Oh god! This was really funny and I loved the husband’s character, his earnestness to please his wife and ending up ruining everything every time. I had a feeling that after Siya reads the first poem, she will tell him that she wrote it as a freelancer on the poetry site or something. But you took the readers by surprise. The final note was so sweet. Loved it. I rate it 8/10
Heh heh! This was a fun read. This is how it actually works in life too, but the way the author has imbibed humour in an otherwise disastrous situation is commendable. My rating is 8/10
A great story that almost every reader could identify him/herself with as the difficult decision making for an anniversary gift is as old as anniversaries are. I was with Rohan all the way in the story until the I reached the end of the story; maybe I am old fashioned but I cannot forgive Rohan for playing Vicky a dirty trick by not disclosing his experience with Rhymeweave. 7.5/10