The art of perfect murder

It was just another day to work. My daily routine is to commute to work via bus and stare out of the window to watch the highways and fields.

And just as all stories go, I was looking out of the window, where my eyes suddenly fell upon a lady perhaps in her 60s, sitting a little tensed behind the wheel & driving a sedan like a devil possessed. And mind you, the bus in which I travel, is not less than a beast. Sometimes I think we all need two safety belts in that bus, while the driver maneuvers through every twist and turn, dodging every vehicle, animal and almost flying off the bumps. It skews perhaps all the hormonal balance in my body and I am almost tempted to tell the driver that to ram the bus for once and for all, so that his cravings for speed comes to a forever end.

As much I like to be, this story is not about me or the beastly bus. I am narcissistic by the way. This is story about Mrs.Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane, the old lady behind the wheel, driving the sedan , like she might miss the one way ticket to Noah’s Ark. And how do I know about her. Well I have a secret, sometimes just sometimes I have a insight into other people’s mind & I can see, I can hear to what they are thinking.

Here I was, beside her, like a little fly sitting quietly inside her head and watching  her life.

Mrs.Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane had committed murder of her husband, Mr.Sahane . Well, technically he died in his sleep. Oh, but the sweet road to death was paved by Mrs.Sheila. Such is the bond between husband and wife, that sometimes they cant live without each other & sometimes they want to kill each other. Well, Mrs.Sheila succeeded.

Every married woman, for once in her life has this morbid thought to bump off her life partner. Its easy to think, but so difficult to do. Mrs.Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane  had this noble thought when all her 3 daughters flew her nest and settled in their own homes.

With the only company of spouse, whole day was indeed spent in bantering, bickering & squabbles. It had been a roller coaster ride for both of them. It had been 37 years of marriage with its usual ups and down. More down recently, since Mr.Sahane retired and offered his opinion on almost everything.

His opinion, though not always welcome was always hammered on Mrs.Sahane, who used to take his useless banter from dawn to dusk. It was only when he went out for his evening walks, the house was empty  & silent. Mrs.Sahane would then switch on her radio and begin preparing for dinner.

37 years ago, when Mrs.Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane had arrived in her new home. She was demure, coy with a beautiful heart shape face without any wrinkles or crease on her forehead. With the years gone by, she had a permanent scowl expression on her face, her once lush black hair had metamorphosed into a thin plait. One thing had remained consistent was her constant complain of acidity and her petite frame. Mr.Sahane , a civil engineer by profession had married Mrs.Sheila because he liked her name and his family liked her family. During the rare initial courtship days, he would say that he found her name poetic. It was only during the latter years of their married life, where he found her name to be a common place name.

Her constant bickering and his husband’s constant taunts had marred their relationship. In the last few years, his husband had tamed down a bit but still preferred arguments over a cup of tea.

Mrs.Sahane was tired. Every argument didn’t led them anywhere. They were still trapped in their dusty homes and arguments finally made the couple tired and they went to sleep.

However as old habits, die hard, Mrs.Sahane couldn’t help but nag. She constantly prayed, hoped that her husband would pass away suddenly, run off with another woman, but such occurrences & prayers were never granted immediately.

Mrs. Sahane was an avid reader and one fine day she came across an journal, which mentioned that constant nagging, bickering and quarreling can also cause death of your spouse.  What a brilliant idea , Mrs.Sahane thought, which detective is ever going to detect that the cause of her husband’s death was due to constant bickering, which apparently stressed his heart & finally killed  him.

It was a strenuous job. Its constantly tiring to fight with someone. Even wars end. But Mrs.Sahane’s mind was fixed on her goal. All she could picture everyday was a house empty, devoid of her husband, she can play radio and go to sleep whenever she wanted to. Although, she was a pious woman, it was here where the devil befriended her and they both devised plans to quarrel with her husband.

It took years. It took, innovative new ideas from Mrs.Sahane to quarrel with her husband. she had became an evergreen waterfall of venom. But on that day, when I saw her driving her husband’s sedan, was the day she got lucky.

Mr.Sahane had quietly died in his sleep. She checked on him early morning, he was sleeping. She tried to wake him up gently, but he didn’t.  Mrs.Sahane cried a little in her solitude. She would be alone now, she will miss Mr.Sahane but finally she will be home alone after 37 years.

She went to the kitchen, had her cup of tea added 2 teaspoons of sugar extra as a part of celebration. It was still early morning though & she rushed to drive to her daughter’s place , who was married in the same city. She wanted the maid to find the body and discover his death.

She spent a quiet early morning with her daughter. The excitement was almost transparent. She knew her daughters were close to their father. But unfortunately or not, she was not close to him anymore. Mrs.Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane almost doubled at the joy, that finally all her husband’s wealth will be finally hers, including the house she was staying in & of course their vacation home in Shimla.

Finally during mid morning, her maid called and gave the news. Mrs. Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane slumped down in her chair, fainted for couple of minutes, got feverish and stared blankly at the wall. She cried , no wailed in her daughter’s bathroom. It was a masterstroke performance. Oscar worthy, if I might add.

Mother-daughter duo rushed to her marital home. They both rushed to Mrs.Sahane’s bedroom, where they found Mr.Sahane lying down quite peacefully on the bed. Everyone was informed & all her daughters came down to home by late evening.

The Sahane daughters suggested to get their father’s body to be checked once by the doctor for cause of death. They couldn’t get to the terms with the fact, that their very healthy dad passed away quietly in their sleep. Mrs.Sahane wanted to retort back, how do you wanted him to die-fighting goons and elephants. Mrs.Sahane did agree to one thing though, that even if Mr.sahane was an imperfect husband, he was a perfect father. She had to agree to that.

The doctor arrived in the afternoon .He conducted routine tests, took a blood sample and told the family that he will come with  results after 2 to 3 days.

After 3 days, when I came back to visit Mrs.Sahane’s mind again, what followed totally shocked us all & Mrs.Sahane the most.

This was mentioned in the Doctor’s report. He died of a fatal heart failure which was caused to an advanced state of untreated syphilis. It was a shocker to everyone.

Their sex life was next to nil. But she had never cast a doubt on her husband. What hurt her the most, that he didn’t die due to her constant nagging or emotional torture, but he died due to a STD, which proved that he had an affair with someone. The only advantage Mrs.Sahane could see out of this, she could seek out sympathy with everyone, if she ever wanted to.

After 15 days, once all the rituals & the family obligatory and visits were over. Mrs.Sahane was basking alone in the winter sun . Life after Mr.Sahane was dull, but it was peaceful. The only cherry to complete her rosy life , was her husband’s missing will.

Just as an actor, who is waiting for his cue, the postmaster came to Sahane Home with a thick envelope, which was Mr.Sahane’s Will.

The contents of Mr.Sahane’s will changed Mrs.Sahane’s rosy world to a grayish world forever . This was stated in the will – “In the event of my death, all my wealth, property, any disclosed or found wealth shall be in the name of Mrs.Laxmi Pratap. Without her my life & my evening walks would have been incomplete.

To my legal wife of 37 years who had mastered the art of nagging & who managed to keep me alive all these years with bitter gourd & bottle gourd, i bequeath her Rs.5000/pm for the time she is alive.

To all my 3 daughters, a lump sum amount of Rs.500000/- each.

In case of any event, where Mrs.Laxmi Pratap doesn’t claim all the property & Bank balance bequeath to her within 7 years then all the wealth & property would be transferred to my legal wife Mrs.Sheila Vaibhavi Sahane.

This was the only ray of sunshine, in the will for Mrs.Sahane. She would have to find Mrs.Laxmi & kill her. Perhaps then she would feel at peace and go & reside in their vacation home. May be this time she will not take a long route, to kill someone with nagging , which failed apparently. She will perhaps take a direct route and come up with a resourceful plan. The art of perfect murder.

And now my dear readers, if you are wondering who the narrator of the story is. Someone who has this uncanny insight into someone’s life, then my name is Mrs.Laxmi Pratap. Pleased to meet you.