'Open' Secret

Why some urban Indians are seeking sex, love and togetherness, but not necessarily from the same person

- Rakhi Bose

GROWING up, 41-year-old Sam had never thought that she would become part of a “throuple”, as the Internet these days refers to a relationship between three people. But within the first year of her marriage with her college sweetheart Prashant (name changed), Sam found herself lusting after another person, a common friend. Incidentally, her husband was also attracted to them. “We had always talked about stuff like polyamory or open relationships. But when it happened, it happened very organically,” Sam recalls. “We both fell in love with the same person and they loved both of us back,” she adds.

Since the first “Ménage à trois”, the duo—who have been together for 15 years and married for seven—have been in an ‘open marriage’. Both have had multiple partners over the years while remaining happy and faithful to each other. “We are more faithful and honest to each other that many monogamous couples that we know,” jokes Sam, who works in a leading newspaper in Kolkata. After all, it’s only cheating if your partner keeps you in the dark, she points out. “And we tell each other everything right down to the hairy details,” says Sam.