If You Love Me

Rita had a cute grimace on her face as she held the bowl far away from her body and gingerly put her fingers in it, moving around the pieces of meat floating in there. She wanted to make sure the pieces were as clean as they could get before she cooked them. A shiny new recipe book on the table beside her listed exotic ingredients which she had bought from a supermarket at the other end of town, after taking the advice of the quaint old lady who lived next door. After all, she had been vegetarian all her life and had never ever touched raw meat before, let alone cook it.

She had not yet got comfortable about living with Ravi. It was only two months since they were married. It was an arranged match. She had met Ravi only a couple of times before the wedding and barely knew him. Since then, she had been working hard at growing to love him, and at earning his love.

Ravi enjoyed eating meat dishes very much. He was hugely disappointed to know Rita was vegetarian, and was trying to resign himself to the idea that he would have to feast on meat dishes away from home - with friends, at restaurants, preferably when Rita wasn't around.
Rita sensed this as an obstacle. She wanted to get Ravi to love her. She was doing reasonably well in other matters, but how could she make head-way at the dining table ? The route to his heart through his stomach had been well hammered home by her mother during the run-up to the wedding. Besides, she had begun to be very fond of Ravi, and she wanted to do all she could to make him love her too.

The shrill whistle of the pressure-cooker signalled that there was was work to do. Rita gritted her teeth as she plunged into the task of preparing the mutton dish she was attempting. The tears that flowed down her cheeks set off by the revulsion she felt at handling the meat were brushed away with the back of her hand in her desire to show her love for her man. She wanted to feed him his favourite mutton curry at dinner that night. She was buoyed by the thought of how much that would mean to Ravi, and how he would see and appreciate the extent of her love.

Ravi sat down to dinner that night, not exactly looking forward to the vegetarian fare. His face lit up with delight when Rita uncovered the steaming dish of mutton curry and shyly admitted that she had cooked it herself. Ravi barely heard her, busy as he was spooning the mutton on to his plate. As he dug into his food lustily, he turned to her and said, "Rita, you do know how much I love meat dishes. If you really loved me, you would give me company and begin to eat them too!"

Rita quickly glanced away towards the flickering images on the TV set nearby, to hide the sparkling tears that had sprung uninvited to her eyes ....