Go, shamshad, go, work can wait

There is much wrong with this world. There is much right with this world. What the Dickens are we going on about? Well, when we lesser mortals have a spat at home with our spouses or partners, neither do we make it official knowledge nor do we seek leave from work to rectify the rupture. But Kanpur government clerk Shamshad Ahmed wrote a letter to his boss, the block development officer (BDO), on August 2, asking for a 3-day emergency leave so that he could fetch his wife from her mother’s village house where she had left in a huff with the couple’s three kids.

In ‘mardangi’-driven Uttar Pradesh, for a man to reveal he is anguished by his wife’s departure after a conjugal fight takes guts. So, chances of Ahmed cooking up this excuse are slim. The leave application even mentioned that the fight was over some ‘pyar-mohabbat ki baat’, which, even under the circumstances being discussed, means love is still alive – unless one is to surmise that the discussion between pati and patni was about a third-party ‘wo’. No matter. What matters now is Ahmed pursuing after his wife. But what warms the cockles of our heart is that his BDO boss granted him leave till August 6. We’re keeping all our fingers and toes crossed for Mr and Mrs Ahmed‘s reconciliation and congratulate the BDO for having a heart even in the heartland.