Years rolled by. Parents went haywire searching for a suitable guy for me…
Sitting at home all day reading an intriguing Sidney Sheldon or an Agatha Christie would have been most suitable job position for me, if only the world paid for it!!
Unfortunately, it doesn’t. So, the introvert that I am is forced to go and mingle with less intellectually exciting extraverted “emotosapians”. On the outside, I work for a software company, on the inside, I am dreamer.. I dream the impossible. I wish I could live the impossible. I only wish….
Oh! I only wish there was no one else in this world, but for me!! How nice!! I could go wherever I want, whenever I want, without asking anyone’s permission, without fear of anyone raping me, without fear.. I would grow my favorite vegetables only, cook only what I liked, read my favorite books, build my own world, if anything went wrong, it could always be deleted with the vanishing spell. Life would have been so much easier, living by my own rules….
“Karthikaaa!! How long should I wake you up? Its 8:45 already. Are you planning to go to office today? You don’t have any love for your mom. I am slogging here all day cooking, and all you do is sleep, sleep and sleep. Irresponsible moron!! Remember you are going to be someone’s wife. Time to learn to be responsible”
That’s the next definition… the old order changeth, yielding place to new..
Pat! Got one tight slap on my cheek. Oh that was my mom. Time to wake. No more dreams!! Wake up Kar!!
#####
Oh!! Its 8:45, I am going to be late to office! I woke up and got ready in 15 mins and was at the breakfast table at 9, when my mom started ordering me, “Go cut the carrots. It’s for biriyani”
I was staring hard at her and angrily said, “I am already late for office”
Mom: “On Sunday?”
“Really?? “!!! You told me I was late for office, and I woke up.. “
“Are you aware that I’ve been trying to wake you up for the past one hour?”
“Oh, I was in a different world, the dream was amazing”
“Oh, may I know what it was? Was it your wedding? Honeymoon? Or do you already have kids? One or two?”
“Oh mom. Stop that kind of talk. Please. Not in the morning!! I was a free bird. Isn’t it exciting?”
“Non-sense. Free bird and do what?”
“Nothing. Just enjoy life”
“God knows when you are going to behave responsibly. Marriage will set you right”
“Marriage is non-sense. What to do. At least dreams are beautiful. You are not allowing me to enjoy even that”
I went away scrapping and cutting the carrots.
##
Evening 4:00 PM was when Aravind came home with his parents and sister, her husband and two kids. He was my prospective guy through a marriage broker.
Damn that I have to marry a man, What a pity. Why can’t I be a free bird?
He sat at the corner sofa. First look? Not attractive at all. Dark, nose looks snobbish, dark lips, just wish this is just another guy to whom I need to say “Hi, How are you? what do you do?, etc” I am definitely not marrying him!
Parents were seriously welcoming them for a while, and then dad said, “Why don’t you talk to each other?”
Oh yes, talk in front of everyone!! Funny enough!!
He started! I am sure he is an extravert.
“I am working in Kotak Mahindra Prime Branch as Deputy Manager. I manage car loans.”
“Oh great. I work for Cognizant as a Software Developer”
After talking a few sentences, we dropped the conversation, parents continued. We fed them well and bade them good bye.
Parents tried seriously to convince me that he was from a very respectable family, and that I ought to consider the proposal seriously.
They were very happy. Aravind was working in Chennai, so I wouldn’t have to leave the place. His parents were educated and his father had a respectable job. This was the first time they had come so close to perfection.
Earlier, either the horoscopes wouldn’t match (99% of the cases), or the guy wouldn’t have a decent salary, or would be in some other location, or (in most cases) the parents were uneducated, or he would have too many brothers and sisters (where mom and dad feared they would demand too much dowry)