Of No Avail Web of Wedlock BS Murthy Copyright@2021BS Murthy Cover image by Gopi Blurb Lured by the pitch All marriages are made in heaven but some are delayed on earth: We endeavor to hasten them all - Priya goes to Renuka Marriage Bureau. Scanning the prospects, when she spotted Venu, whom she slighted long ago, she rushes to him to bring about a dramatic encounter. What brought about Priya’s change of heart to seek her former suitor and how Venu responds to his old flame’s fresh overtures lend suspense to their romance in this eclectic novella. Dedicated to ...Read More

Soon, watching the fumes of the coffee decoction she was preparing, he envisioned the similitude of his evaporated marital with her. But equally, as her loving looks and affectionate manner began dissolving his reservations about her, he found himself genuinely warming up to her. “I never hoped to see you again,” he said taking her hand. “Sometimes I thought I could,” she said pressing his hand as if demonstrate the reality. “But what for,” he said. “That’s for the end,” she said smilingly handing him a cup of coffee with a covetous look that surged his urge. Then, sipping ...Read More

“Have you become a Socrates of sorts or what?” she said in all admiration. “It’s not like that,” he in all humility, “and simply put, life teaches us all through though we refuse to learn, but in my case, maybe, fate forced me to grasp its hardest lessons. So to say, nature devised food and sex not only to sustain life but also to make it joyous to the living and towards that end it endows the earth to cater to the former and contrives the sex ratio to ensure the latter. However, in nature’s scheme of things, and ...Read More

“Since she had nothing against you, wonder why she brought things to such a pass?” she said. “I think all started with her obsession to lead the so-called good life and a burning desire to have the goodies of life never mind they were beyond our material means,” he said ruefully. “So, when she came to know that my bribe money could be the source of her material fulfillment, it became a ‘so near and yet so far’ situation that insensibly made her insane. Then, as they say, one thing led to the other in the vicious marital cycle ...Read More

Part 2 As Priya drove him into the sprawling compound of an elite complex, Venu began to see futility of his daydreams entertained in his modest dwelling. ‘Is not our status gap too wide to fill?’ he thought as she drove the car to her duplex villa. ‘Surely she would’ve known that the moment she stepped into my apartment. What for then has she brought me to her arena than to show me my place? Didn’t she hint that I’m better open-minded? What a tease it is? Oh, how I brought it upon myself; instead of being formal, I ...Read More

“But the hour of reckoning came at the dawn of my thirtieth birthday,” she resumed her recap of the she had waded through the web of wedlock. “That’s nearly ten years after life first took me to the crossroads of marriage, and some parallel here with Chitra for it’s at that age she entered your life. By then, winning the trust and confidence of one of the bigwigs of the business world in town, I became the company secretary of his corporation of amalgamations. Early that morning, the old man came to our ladies’ hostel with a greeting card ...Read More

‘So far so good but what after I disclose that,’ she began thinking after recalling the sequence of events from that heartwarming moment of seeing his photo in the divorcee’s folder in the marriage bureau. ‘Surely he’s on track but what if he backtracks after knowing my doings. Am I not neck deep in love with him already, in a girlish way; better late than never, and what a feeling it is to fall in love. Oh, what an extraordinary man he is to have foregone the marital joys that too with a sexy dame just to uphold his ...Read More

“Have a measure of Dhaatri as well,” she said opening a new folder, “though not in nude.” “What do take me for, a compulsive voyeur or what?” he said smilingly, “but surely, she wouldn’t have been an odd woman out in your threesome.” “If I get a chance, I would convey your compliments to her,” she said coyly. “But shortly after she left, leaving those snaps behind, Rekha went to her native for the first death anniversary of her sister two years older to her. That being our first separation after our union, as I was finding it hard ...Read More