My husband is a super hero.

Unbeknownst to me, I married a super hero.

All superheroes have a benign outer image and a hyper powerful inner self, someone that is “faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound”, while maintaining the calm, cool and borderline geeky exterior.

Not one to gloat about anything beyond I, me and myself, writing this piece as a tribute to my husband at the moment of his completion of his MBA from the University of Chicago, seemed difficult at first. However, when I laid down the bare facts of his achievement, I cannot but bow in salute, brim with pride to say he is mine, boast that I was with him through this chapter of his life and gawk open-mouthedly at how he simply did it all.

Number of years	3
Number of quarters with active courses	10
Total Number of courses	20
Weeks per quarter	11
Total number of class sessions	220
Total hours spent in class sessions	220 x 3 = 660
Distance from home to class 1 way	38 miles
Total distance driven to and fro just for classes	76 x 220 = 16720
Average time spent driving for each class	3.5 hrs
Total time spent driving + class	(3.5 X 220) + 660 = 1430 hrs
Avg time for homework per week ( avg 2 classes per quarter)	18 hrs
Total home work hours	18 hrs X 11 weeks X 10 quarters = 1980
Total number of papers submitted	200
Total number of tests taken	40
Total presentations given	10
For work, Avg hours per week worked	60
Avg # of days travelled per week	3
Avg time of flight (Chicago – charlotte)	3 hrs
Avg time commuting to and from airport at Chicago and destination	5 hrs
Wake up alarm every Tuesday morning to take the cab to the airport for weekly travel	3.45 am
Therefore, total time worked per week ( work+ class+ homework+ commute+ travel)	60 + 6 + 18 + 3.5 + 5 + 3 = 95.5
Avg hours slept per day during quarter	5
Avg arrival time at home, after travel or class	11 pm
Avg # of weekday evenings spent at home = (7-(Evenings out of town + evenings at school )	1
Number of movies seen in a theater in last 3 years	3
Number of date nights with wife in last 3 years	3
Number of times complained about lack of sleep	0
% of responsibility in filing household payments, bills and utilities	100 %
# of times any of these missed, late or delinquent	0
% of commitment to wife’s happiness	99 %
% of commitment to fatherhood	100 %
% of free time spent with child, pet and wife	100 %
% of time spent on self: golf/ tennis/ other entertainment	< 0.5 %
# of times mugged by Chicago robbers while returning from class	1

My intention, in lining up all these pieces of the jigzaw that has been my husband’s life these past 3 years, is not just to show how thinly stretched he was for time, energy and rest, but how his natural inner super hero accomplished all these without seeming to break a sweat.

With a child that was only 4 months old, a dog that followed his every move  when at home, and a wife such as me, it took great guts to even turn in his application. A mild procrastinator then, his application essays, were still not started, 2 weeks before the submission date. But like all super heroes, who wait for the right time to strike, he summoned his inspirations and wrote them all in a matter of a couple of days. Passing them to peers and other guides for reviews, he polished them so well, I knew the committee would be impressed when they read them. A day in early July of 07, he was called in for an interview, by the admissions panel. Within 24 hours, he received confirmation of his acceptance to the school, a clear sign that they were thrilled to have him.

A dedicated employee to Infosys for over 11 years by then, the rigors of a travelling consultant’s life had already prepared him for unreasonable work hours, work expectations and turn-around times. He had also learnt to endure more pressure, by adding a baby to this mix. So, adding another big time- consumer, such as this MBA should only have been a cake walk. Remember, we are talking super powers here.

My visions of him in the last 3 years only include him looking into his laptop, typing away, looking at the ceiling in deep thought and mumbling to himself about a certain problem or issue, or talking on the phone for hours in teleconferences with team members, either from work or school, silently replying to emails in the middle of the night, working when I go to bed and working when I wake up in the morning.  I have to sift through my memories very hard to even picture him sleeping. Catching cat naps on the sofa, or nodding off in obvious exhaustion at his desk, books and computer in his lap, he would vehemently refuse to admit he was too tired to leave everything and simply go to bed.

On several occasions, when woken up by muffled steps coming upstairs while I slept, I have peeked at the clock to read 2 30, 3 45 or even 4 45 sometimes. In the initial stages of our son’s infancy, when nightly feedings were almost every 2 hours, he religiously alternated with me, for every bottle feed, regardless of when he would have gone to bed, or when his alarm was set for, for the next morning’s flight. I need atleast 8 hours of sleep a day to function normally. So, by my standards of sleep deprivation, my husband is a true super hero, for going 3 years on such low levels of sleep, still being efficient and not complaining about it ever.

I am an easily irritable, demanding, difficult and high maintenance wife. Mood swings and irritations seem to be normal in any human being’s persona, more so, in mine. Imagining someone who is devoid of these characteristics, almost incapable of these seems a bit eerie, doesn’t it? Then eerie it is, but regardless, someone who is above these daily vacillations of a common man, must be a super hero. For the number of times I may have argued, disagreed or even fought with him, I have only been met with patience, silence or a calm and collected response. Alas, the fulfillment that comes from a good fight is the only one he didn’t give me.

How hardy must a spring in a wind-up-toy be, to endure 3 years of continuous winding, and no time between wind ups?: as hardy as the springs in my husband’s brain. If there were 2 quarters that he did not enroll in classes, it is because of the several hundreds of millions in dollars he was chasing in deals and sales from his clients, because he was travelling more than 4 days a week on average to passify, mollify and win back the clients that were cross with his predecessors or juniors, because he could not physically be in Chicago as well as everywhere else his job required him to be. The energizer bunny could learn a few pointers from him.

A busy-bee, a dynamo, a fireball, a spark plug, a workhorse, an eager beaver, anything you can call him, but not a lazy slouch. When it snows 3 inches or 6 or even 10, I know a guy who comes home from a grueling 3 hour class at 10 45 pm, after having driven to class, on the road for 4 hours straight from the airport, just arriving from a 3 hour flight from god- knows-which-client-is-ready-to-light-a-bomb-under-his-chair, a guy that will industriously pick up the shovel and clear the snow for 45 minutes, at least on the side of the driveway, where my car is parked in the garage, so I can get to work the next morning. I know a guy that will pick up all the toys and every bit of paper and mud strewn on the carpet, sweep the kitchen floor at midnight and straighten the curtains as soon as he enters the house, putting to shame, me the dreamy house-keeper who didn’t even notice the mess. This super hero even has good house- keeping skills.

For the happy-go-lucky person that I am, I am extremely pleasantly surprised by how responsible a guy I snagged. Never once in these last 3 years or the 5 before that, have I had to even think about whether our bills have been paid or if there is enough money in my spending account. Performing a quarter of all his smart financial moves, such as opening cards on my name, taking out loans on my name and repaying them, just to build my credit history, buying property making other investments wisely and constantly thinking about the future financial security of our family would have beaten me unconscious, but not him. Because, yes, he is the super hero.

Like I said, I am not used to writing about others and didn’t think this was going to be so easy to write. But it now seems difficult to stop. Its just about 11 pm, on the last day of his classes. When he arrives home tonight, he would have accomplished a goal of a lifetime, against all odds.

Say what do super heroes do with extra time on their hands? Time to find out. 🙂