(436) The two worlds

There is one universe that all mortals share. But there are multiple private worlds that each mortal owns. Here I propose to contrast what I perceive of two vastly different worlds.

This blog arises from my comment to my husband,"Agatha Christie saw the world differently from others!" Being married to a mathematically minded person, I have learned to qualify my every statement.

The first person I have chosen is a fictitious character: Mrs Ariadne Oliver from Christie's books. Some may see her as Christie's alter ego. Here I do not claim that. Neither do I deny that. It is simply the fact that I know too little to comment.

The second person is a good friend I have known since my student days. I am still in touch with her. We shall call her Sheryl.

Mrs Oliver's world seemed to revolve around the creation of detective novels that brought her fame that she found hard to deal with in public. As a notable authoress, she could not live the life of a recluse. Through her association with Hercule Poirot, she actually experienced the excitement of hunting for murderers. She may seem scattered, yet her brain was crystal clear. She may seem fussy, but actually she is very ready and game to get into trouble and fall headlong into life threatening adventures.

Now we move onto Sheryl's world. She is a spoilt youngest child in a big family. Between her and the second last sibling, there was a big gap. Her parents were almost through with child rearing then and left her largely on her own. She grew up mainly with friends and school mates. She was like an ugly duckling that turned into a swan in her college years. She caught her prince, so she thought. But the reverse is true. It was really her prince who contrived and caught her. After a whirlwind romance, the lucky couple settled down to wedded bliss.

Here I step onto rather thin ice, if both parties decided not to have children or one is barren, the marriage would not have soured. And so the fun world of my Sheryl turned into a dungeon of torture. There are many party girls I have known and enjoyed their company of. Fortunately none of them chose highly intellectual and serious husbands.

There is nothing wrong with having a view of the world as fun and game, provided one manages to keep it light and easy. Some of my party friends are still single and enjoy the freedom of an unstructured life. One or two did get married to men with good sense of humour. It is OK to share a life together if both can find similar things to laugh about.

The redeeming factor of Sheryl's life is that there is no lack of vitamin K. It is fortunate that she has enough cash to pursue the excitement of expensive food, beautiful clothes and entertainment. Mrs Oliver could be a widow? Or maybe she was a divorcee, but she was not haunted by the dark part of her life.