Ch. 3: If you men only knew...
***
We had got to know Erika while in Germany. She was a documentary film maker with a growing reputation. She wanted to focus on Buddhism and Indian culture, and it was thus that she made the acquaintance of Poonam the intellectual. The two women hit it off with a rare connection of minds.
Erika was the epitome of the modern sophisticated European woman. From a family which was counted as among the elite in Frankfurt, she was highly intelligent and highly educated, working towards a PhD when she could find the time from making documentaries. She spoke seven languages, including a passable mastery of Sanskrit. While dedicated and focused, she was truly a free spirit in her mind. Her perspective was the very opposite of dogmatic or prejudiced. Needless to add, she was highly emancipated when it came to her love life and her sex life, and she made no secret of her attitudes in any of those respects. Or of her nonstop adventures on that front.
Both Poonam and I were new to Europe, and we relished the openness of European culture. We found that this included the ability to discuss any subject under the sun in a dispassionate and logically rigorous way. At one cocktail party, I found myself discussing second and third wave feminism and sex positive attitudes with Erika. By some unknown path we ended up discussing the relative merits of Viagra and Cialis for casual use by our age group.
"There is no doubt that both Viagra and Cialis have a positive impact on the quality of the experience." she said, with a thoughtful sip of her wine.
"Indeed yes." I said.
"Speaking as a woman" she continued. " the benefits clearly take the form of increased girth and stiffness, and perhaps even an increase in length of the male organ, apart from the obvious opportunity to increase the duration of the interaction."
"But which is more effective?" I asked, taking a swig from my own glass.
"Between the two, my personal opinion is that Cialis increases the girth and stiffness to a more pronounced extent than Viagra. Length increase is difficult to measure, as you will appreciate. Since the effect of Viagra lasts for six hours and Cialis for twenty four, I would recommend Cialis for the weekend."
"Ah, so." I said, nodding my head sagely.
We might as well have been discussing the relative chances of the SPD and the CDU in the next general elections!
Physically, Erika was a dark blond, with dark blue eyes and a wide, generous mouth that could laugh loud enough to stop the conversation in a room if she wanted. Five foot seven, with an athletic frame that showed off long strong legs and slim hips. Topping it was a shapely bosom that was just a little on the small side, and which as Poonam found out, did not mandate a bra except for giving shape to a dress. Her face was arrestingly beautiful, with a clear complexion that rarely wore any makeup, and a bone structure that the camera loved.
I found Erika's striking beauty to be incredibly sexy. Not to put too fine a point upon it, she effortlessly generated an erection in me whenever we met, as I imagine she did with thousands of other men. I knew she liked me and sensed perhaps more, and Poonam once archly told me that she was considering keeping Erika away because she was clearly attracted to me.
As it turned out, Erika and I ran into each other by accident when we were both travelling to Munich. Since she had a couple of hours to kill before she took the ICE back to Frankfurt, we decided to have a drink, which turned out to be about three instead of one. Thus it was on the station platform, with about ten minutes to go, that she swayed towards me by accident and I folded her in an embrace and kissed her. She responded immediately and our tongues were soon feeling each other out as our bodies pressed together. Then she broke the kiss.
"No, Ashok. I'm going to take my train and you go back to your hotel."
She did not respond to my calls for almost a month. I learned she was on location in Turkey and Greece with a short holiday at the end.
It was she who called up and spoke after her return.
"We should meet and talk, Ashok. Coffee this time."
When we met, she came straight to the point.
"Ashok, it was unfortunate that our last meeting ended the way it did."
"I'm sorry." I said lamely. " I got carried away. It was wrong of me, and I apologize."
"Don't feel guilty." she said. "There is a lot of sexual energy between us. I have known it for a long time. So we should not feel guilty about how we react to each other. But you are Poonam's husband and I am her close friend. It would be disrespectful to her and to each other to get involved in a relationship."
"I understand and agree completely." I said.
"But since we have this sexual energy, it should not go to waste. And since I have a - how do you say - very kinky mind, I have an idea." and here she smiled widely.
"No, it's not a menage a trois I was thinking of." she continued." I don't think any of us is ready for that, although it could be fun" and she winked.
"What I am planning to do is to be that one friend of yours who tells you everything in the fullest detail from time to time. And you can take the sexual energy from that back to your life with Poonam, and I to whoever I am with at that time."
"I don't understand." I said.
"For example" she said."I've just come back from a trip to Turkey and Greece. At the end I had taken a short holiday on one of those 4 night conducted bus tours, just to relax. On the bus there was an unusually attractive guide. You know, the one who stands in front and explains the sights using a microphone."
"The bus was not full, and since there were couples and families and I was the only single woman, I had decided to sit at the very back of the bus. He could see me from where he stood, and I could make out that his eyes rested on me for just a little longer than the others. He was not a handsome guy, but he was fit and strong and there was something in his eyes. And he had a lovely deep voice."
"I was wearing a short sundress, so he could see a lot of my legs. After some time, I crossed my legs a little slowly. I wondered if her could see my panties. Apparently he had, because he smiled briefly at me looking straight into my eyes. So I smiled back."