Vadodara: For three long years, her husband refused to touch the food cooked by her — not just because of the taste, but because of resentment. A seemingly ordinary quarrel over household spending spiralled into a prolonged standoff between a couple in the Subhanpura area of the city. The situation descended to such an extent that the 38-year-old husband refused to eat anything cooked by his wife.Disturbed by her husband pushing away the food every time, the woman called Abhayam counsellors for help. “The couple married 12 years ago and have a daughter. Everything was normal between them until a few years ago when the woman started asking her husband for more money,” said Chandrakant Makwana from Abhayam helpline.The man, who works for a private firm, would give her money to cover the household expenses but she wanted more to fund her leisure activities and certain luxuries. “The husband told her he could not afford to spend much due to his limited income, but she kept pushing him to increase their monthly budget,” Abhayam officials said.The 35-year-old woman told her husband that if he couldn’t afford her expenses, she would start working. He didn’t object to it after which the wife began working, but her expenses were only increasing. She would taunt him constantly about his income during meals at home. He told her that he also ‘adjusts’ and quietly ‘eats what she cooks even if it is tasteless’.“Fed up with the barbs, the husband made a quiet decision that he would no longer eat the meals cooked by his wife. Initially she felt his anger would fade in a few weeks and he would resume having food at home. He didn’t budge for three long years and kept eating outside,” Makwana added. When their daughter also stopped interacting with her, the woman felt her family was falling apart.The Abhayam counsellors told the wife to limit her expenses and asked the husband to save more money to occasionally meet his wife’s demands.
