Sahil woke up stretching his body. He knew it was 3 in the
afternoon and he still had no mood of getting out of the bed. After all, you
rarely take a 7 day off from work and he knew this one was important. He had to
disclose the fairly colossal fact that he was in love, to his parents, before
they started looking for a girl for him. He loved being in a second tier city
of the country – they were comfortably eased out about daily routines, still
there were branded showrooms, there was a perfect blend of history and future
and there was less traffic above all. But there were certain things that also
disturbed him about these cities – the conventional and middle-of-the-road
thinking of people, which pulled India back every now and then.
He dragged himself to the washroom and washed himself up. He
wore the stupidest clothes he could lay hands upon. It was still time for his
dad to return home so he could probably wile away this time in Playstation
games or some other stuff which he rarely got to do during his working days
back in Mumbai.
He was about to barge into the living room to meet his mom,
when he heard voices from other side of the door.
“Sarita, your son is such a grown up now... It is time you
get a daughter-in-law now...”
Sahil immediately knew it was one of the aunties from the
colony. The aunties who criticized each other behind backs and became extra
sugary in front of each other, they could actually play the diplomatic official
between India and Pakistan. But he realized, there was more than one. He could
count 4 aunties other than his mom, from the voices that came from the living
room.
“Of course! She is right, Sarita. What are you doing,
sitting at home all day at such a crucial time? It is time you make a free
account on shaadi.com ...” Sahil knew it was the auntie from the red house, 4th
from the left end of the colony. She always bargained for free tomatoes from
the vegetable vendor.
“And oh! Our Sahil is an IIT-ian, Sarita...” And here went
the “our” Sahil. “You should charge at least Rs. 50 lakhs this time.”
This sentence woke him up all of a sudden and all his loaf
and laze flew away in a jiffy. His ears almost stood up in attention. After all
not every day you are charged in the marketplace of Indian marriages!
“You have only one son... you should definitely not miss
this opportunity. It is time you take a trip abroad...” One of the two horribly
fat aunties said and they all guffawed like it was the best joke ever.
“C’mon Gauri ji,
50 lakhs is not the right price for our Sahil...
It should rather be 50 lakhs and a car at least, I would say. If I had a
daughter, I would give that without a second thought for a man like Sahil.”
Another one said with pride and smugness in her voice. Sahil could not contain any longer. He banged
open the door and barged into the living room obstinately in embarrassingly low
shorts and a black vest.
“Sorry Auntie, but I couldn’t help overhearing your remark
about my dowry...”
“Dowry? What dowry?” The auntie he had addressed interrupted
him looking aghast as if he had insulted her character. “We are not such kind
of people.”
“Oh, then I must have heard wrong... your remark about me
deserving to get Rs. 50 lakhs and a car...”
“That is not
dowry, my son... That is what you are worth... We are not asking for a car. The girl’s father will give it himself if he is
not a shameless person, we can just tell him our preference of the brand...”
“Excuse me!” Now it was Sahil’s turn to interrupt. “You
really think that is what, I cleared IIT for... FYI, oh sorry, for you
information, I earn 45 lakhs per annum and I can pretty much buy my own car.”
All the aunties now looked at him. He had suddenly gained
everybody’ attention with his lack of guile and forthrightness. “I have had
close friends who are girls and I have sisters in my family... I would kill that
ass ... umm... whatever... huh!”
His anger had no boundaries. He knew this evil was deep
rooted in the country, but he never knew he would witness it ever. He felt
disoriented suddenly. Looking at his heavy breathing and uncivilized attire,
the aunties got up and bid farewell. His mother looked at him after everyone
was gone and thankfully not with anger.
“Mom, I love a girl...” He said as she was clearing the
table. She suddenly stopped and looked at him as if she had expected this
already.
“Who is she?”
“Garima S**** ... works with me in Mumbai. Her father is an
executive director in an MNC and her mother works with an investment bank. She
is an MBA from Australia.” He tried giving the maximum details in one sentence.
“So, she is a...”
“Yes mom... she is not of the same surname, same caste, same
gotra, same familial roots... But she
is exactly who I want to be with all my life, and I don’t think anything else
should matter.”
“I don’t know... this will never be accepted in your father’s
family. There will be an outrage; I never wanted to lower my eyes because of
you...”
“Do you really care?” Sahil said holding his mom lovingly
and looking into her eyes. “I will be happy all my life... I would not have
cared even if the same girl was from a different religion”
“Yeah, this is the problem with your generation. Is this the
result of your high-fi education? Is this for what we spent so much money on
your education?” She sounded close to
tears.
“Look mom...”
“No... Just ask your dad... You will know his reaction...”
“I will mom... I love you guys... and I am sure he will
understand...”
“What? That you are going against the family tradition...
that you will be destroying the respect and image that we built in all these
years. You are just disillusioned by the shine of a metropolitan.”
“No mom... what are you talking about? I really want to do
this and not just for myself, but for the good that I will be doing as a
youngster of this country. Do you realize, mom, that how deep rooted this
problem of dowry is? Did you look at what those aunties were saying? I will
never be demanding a single penny from the girl’s parents. I will prefer having
a marriage with 50 people rather than spending someone else’s money for my
marriage. I will never hesitate in raising a daughter. I will be a proud father
of a princess, by God’s grace. I will never be making my wife feel guilty for
not having extracted money from her parents or not having demanded n number of sarees from her parents for my extended
family. I will be ashamed to drive a car which I will get by exploiting a
father. Think about it, mom. Please. This is my chance of playing my part in
building of a stronger nation, free of these evils.”
Sahil’s mom looked at him. She had a feeling that her son
was on his way to join politics. She just nodded and went back to her task of
clearing the table. Sahil, however, did
not give up. He continued with convincing his mom for the rest of the evening.
He felt tired with the discussion and conferred the task of disclosing the ‘news’
to his dad, to his mother. He had his dinner mostly in silence, where his mom
kept thinking about the fury and insult she will have to face and he kept
pondering over the reaction of his father. He had imagined everything ranging
from a slap to being thrown out of the house.
He went off to his bed with the hope of meeting his dad in
the morning at the breakfast table. He dozed off with the thoughts of his
future life and a simple smile on his face.
Next morning, he woke up to an eerie silence. He went to the
dining table almost shivering where he knew his dad would already know about
the news and will be ready with his reaction. Although Sahil was very confident
about his feelings and absolutely clear about his thoughts. His dad looked over
his newspaper at his son and continued with his cereal cynically. This scared
him even more. He sat down on the chair opposite to him, out of the reach of
his hands. Nervously he said, “Morning dad!”
His dad folded his newspaper and looked straight into his
eyes.
“So, Am I invited to the bachelor’s party, dude? After all
you are doing your part for the country; give me a chance to do mine...” His
dad said with a smile and a wink.
***