– Suresh Subrahmanyan, Bengaluru-based former advertising professional There is a tendency among many of us hack writers to attribute any slick proverb to Shakespeare who came up with so many smart lines befitting any occasion, that one can be excused for giving him the credit for aphorisms he didn’t write. I diligently researched my proverb of choice for this essay to ensure it was not one of Shakespeare’s. It was William Congreve who came up with this beauty in his Restoration play The Mourning Bride, way back in 1697. The playwright is also credited for ‘Music has charms to soothe a savage breast,’ which has often been misquoted as ‘Music has charms to soothe a savage beast’. Dear reader, my apologies. I will come straight to the point. I recently came across a news byte that a woman in the city of Pune was so incensed with her 30-plus husband that she punched him in the nose so hard, the poor fellow died. Possibly of nasal asphyxiation, if there be such a term. Reportedly, it was the young lady’s birthday and she had her eyes set on a shopping trip to Dubai. When it became clear that no air or hotel bookings for Dubai had been made, and that the husband was planning to fob her off with flowers and dinner at a nearby restaurant, hell broke loose. You would not be far wrong in saying the gloves were off. The better half hauled off and delivered a vicious right hook to the unfortunate chap’s nasal bridge that would have made Mike Tyson proud. Not only did the husband see stars, he soon became one among them! The husband had reportedly promised her expensive jewellery and luxury perfumes, but nothing was forthcoming on the big day. Perhaps you can understand where the hellish fury came from. The police are now trying to piece together the unpleasant episode. The killer widow may be full of remorse and crying her eyes out. Next time, if there is a next time, she must learn to go easy on the wrist work and follow through. ‘Heat of the moment’ will be her plea to the cops and the courts. My own take is that she will not face the ultimate wrath of the law, though a verdict of manslaughter could well be on the cards. In a reversal of roles, an irate husband in Bengaluru hurled a pressure cooker full of boiling sambar at his wife, prompting severe burns and injury. I am not making this up, cross my heart and hope to die. This after not being able to push her over the balcony or finding a knife handy to stab her mortally. And the provocation? Reportedly, the family was living from hand to mouth and unable to pay the rent. The man of the house was an electrician and the distraught wife requested him to help a neighboring senior citizen with some electrical repairs, thereby earning an honest wage and keeping the…
