Fernando is a freelance writer and editor based in Seattle, Washington. In this essay, Fernando presents how the character of Anita in Sharma's story uses fantasy and idealism in an unsuccessful attempt to escape from reality.

The short story "If You Sing like That for Me," by Akhil Sharma, opens with a scene that is the focus of the story. Anita, the first person narrator, relates:

. . . [S]even months after my wedding, I woke from a short, deep sleep in love with my husband. I did not know then, lying in bed and looking out the window at the line of gray clouds, that my love would last only a few hours and that I would never again care for Rajinder with the same urgency. . . .

This opening scene is the central point around which the entire story is constructed. The story continues to relate the events leading...