Tara’s Theory
On his way to Roopa’s place that evening, Prasad began to review his position in the waiting game he was forced to play with her.
‘Left to herself, she would let my passion remain in hibernation, wouldn’t she?’ he deliberated in desperation. ‘Oh me, it’s six months since I’ve been wooing her, and isn’t that a record of failure for me? All the same, being coy to my attentions, she makes it appear as if it’s only time, before she grants it to me. It seems she’s retaining her option for a liaison without taking my tearing passion into account. It’s as if she had put my lust in her mental loft, to retrieve it for use, just in case. But why so in spite of it all?’
‘What is it that could be holding her up even now, after all that?’ he racked his brains as he raced to her place, ‘Of course, to start with, it could be the fear of desertion that is common to all women. But didn’t I promise to make her my second wife, as and when she chooses to divorce Sathyam, it looks like her mental apathy lies in the fear of the unknown, which is common to all humans. But what is there for her to lose any more? Thanks to Sathyam’s peccadilloes, isn’t her married life in a shambles now? Perceiving herself a martyr, were it possible she’s deriving some pleasure in her suffering?’
‘Since the mental siege didn’t help to break her resolve,’ he concluded as he crossed the Secretariat, ‘is not the physical ambush the only recourse left for me. After overwhelming her, I could use subtle force to pin her down to her bed. Won’t my passion then ensure that she’s subdued in her very vitals? Of course, that would help her explode on her own in time. What a rape by consent it makes, that too in her own den! It looks like there’s no other way to gain her final favor. Why delay, let me have her right away.’
Buoyed by his resolve, he leaped up the steps, and as expected, he found Roopa alone in the sofa. As she got up to greet him when he neared her, he went down on his knees, as if in supplication. And before she could come to terms with herself, he enlaced her bottom with passion and buried his head there in hope. But as she tried to withdraw in panic, he tightened his grip with urge. While she turned dumb in fright, he declared his love with emotion, ‘I’m dying for you. If you can’t have me, kill me at least.’