Irresistible forces

This is the latest book I have read. Yes books are impacting but this story has left me with a lot of questions in mind.

The story is about a happily married couple of 15 years. They both have busy lives; a doctor and a finance director. Their careers are very satisfying. Their busy schedule keeps them apart from each other a lot but also gives them a chance to miss each other and value their time together. Their relationship has great understanding and trust. Despite 15 years of marriage, they have a hunger for each other’s companionship and friendship. They adore and respect each other. They don’t have any friends. After long hours of work, both look forward to come home to each other and share their lives. They hardly understand each other’s profession, yet show immense support in each other’s passion. Only one thing that they both did not agree about was that the husband wanted children, but the wife wasn’t ready yet. Despite this difference in wants, they both managed it not affect the sweetness of their relation. In short their life was perfect. Perfect careers and perfect marriage.

Then one day the wife travels for a project and becomes great friends with the owner of the company she is traveling for. This guy is very impressed with her work and offers her a dream job opportunity with his company. The only hitch was that she would have to shift cities to California, which wasn’t a favorable option considering her husband was well settled in his job in New York. She didn’t feel fair to uproot him for her needs. But she was pleasantly surprised when her husband completely supported her career move by himself getting a job in California. She moved and he was going to follow in three months. She started working in her new company. It was everything she had dreamed it to be and more. However an unexpected thing happened. Her husband lost the new job he had managed in California before he could even join. Thus he was stuck in New York till he managed another job in California and she was working hard to find a foothold in her new company in California.

This whole time the wife and the owner of the new company who she had become great friends with, were getting closer as friends. They had a successful professional relationship and even better friendship. In New York her husband had no one to go home to. He thus started working extra hours and made friends at his hospital. One particular friendship with a lady put him through tough times of being alone without his wife.

They both were suffering. They missed each other. They wanted to meet each other on weekends but their busy schedule kept them apart most weekends. Slowly there was a great distance between them. The frustration was putting a strain on their relationship.
Two months into the shift from New York they slowly slipped out of the marriage and into relations with heir new friendships. They were guilty at first. They had never cheated on each other for 15 years. Then why now. Slowly the new relations changed into love. An “Irresistible force” broke their marriage.

The author of the book made this fate seem beautiful; this ending seem a happy one. But an Indian at heart, I didn’t quite feel happy reading this. Even though its fiction, my heart was sad when a marriage that strong was broken so easily. It makes me wonder, what were the reasons that really took them away? An “Irresistible force” isn’t quite enough to break a strong marriage. Did lack of children make a void in their relation they didn’t realize? Is Fidelity tough? If the marriage seems perfect then why do people wander out? Does every relation have a validity date beyond which things aren’t ever going to be the same and a couple has to make compromises?......and if so many things are at stake, what marriage formula really can work? It seems no permutation is good enough to give a marriage life validity…..I hope this author is wrong. I hope marriage really “can conquer all”