That day I was returning from my duties when I remembered about the slip my wife gave me in the morning. Actually I had to buy some of the household groceries which my wife had noted down in a piece of paper as a list fearing that I might forget. I tried at 3-4 shops and gathered everything. Trying to be a good husband, I even bought something which were not mentioned in the list!!! :-)
At bedtime, my wife asked me how much I spent for the groceries that day, but I couldn't recollect. I had bought from different shops, but I didn't collect any receipt. I took out my purse, there were around 200/- rupees left, but I didn't remember how much money I had in my purse beforehand. All these time my wife was reclining on the bed watching television, but I knew it for sure that she was actually silently monitoring my activities. I acted as if I had counted something and replied,
"Pranamee, I spent 1500/- rupees today!! "
She replied sternly,
"Don't bluff!!"
It somehow reminded me of my MBBS viva examinations. I tried to liquidate the situation by a cute (!!) smile and you know, it really worked.
She smiled (anyway, a married couple can't remain angry upon each other for long!!) and said,
"It's not at all a problem Partha, but you see, this is not for the first time that you have done this. But if you can maintain the daily expenditure list, we can actually plan for the month and accordingly we can plan for our savings and other activities!!"
I totally agreed. I don't know about others, but when I was a bachelor, rather than planning for savings, I used to calculate how much money was yet left in my bank account so that I would be able to spend it in that particular month. I am not saying that I used to have several parties and all, but I had inclination for electronic gadgets and most of my money that I could have saved was spent on these not so necessary things. May be that I was careless, which I realize now to be my avoidable mistake. But the main problem is that sometimes even now I repeat these mistakes again and again. Before marriage my mother used to remind me all these, but probably I was not that much a responsible person. Anyway, I am trying to rectify myself!!
Few days after that incident, I was casually talking to 3 of my senior colleagues at my institute. One of my senior in the discussion was unmarried. He asked me,
"Answer me one query Partha. Does expenses really increase too much after marriage?"
I answered like a wise man (!!),
"It's true that expenses increase after marriage. When one person count increases in the family, there is supposedly increase in the expenditure. Moreover during the festivals your expenses will increase to carry on the formalities. The number of your family members will actually increase by around 2 fold for whom you will become concerned. After you have your own or adopted kids, there will be again increase in your expenses. There are lot many more to mention, but you know Dada, these are inevitable changes after marriage which you will actually enjoy. But as you are unmarried till now, in response to your question, all I have to say is that marriage does increase your expenditure, but at the same time marriage teaches you to spend reasonably, marriage teaches you to spend responsibly... That's all!!!"
