This time it was a glass. The last time it had been a stuffed toy. Down, the glass went. Right on the back of a black ant leisurely plodding home outside the biscuit tin.
Reena refused to get married ‘just like that’. She made sure the family got that straight. The suggestion itself was absurd. How could she marry a random stranger who would come decked up with neat manners on the five visits scheduled before the ceremony? What if he produced a collection of whips, a cellar of wine and a dozen smuggled guns on the marital bed? She wanted to get married lost in the eyes of her man, reminiscing the multitude of moments spent with him and fantasizing about the ones to come. The only problem was: she was yet to find him.
“You cannot force-find a guy to love.” Disha would laugh. “Unless you are considering the neighbour I saw peeping at you from behind the pillar today.”
Reena huffed and puffed. All very well for Disha to snigger. She had her own private man, her escape route from the drudgeries of the world.
Disha’s fiancée used to be her colleague at work. From the bespectacled girl lost in her books to one who was willing to initiate her family to the concept of ‘love marriage’, she had come a long way. Sometimes, though she said so herself, it seemed like such an achievement.
“It cannot be denied, Disha.” Reena said to her over coffee one evening. “When you get married next month, it will be a homecoming. You will get to set up the home you have dreamt of, put colour to the dreams you have seen together.” She paused. “When I do, it will be an exercise. Filled with apprehensions and insecurities.”
“You sound like the induction program I had at work.” Disha giggled. “Why don’t you think of it as a beautiful getting-to-know-each-other phase? Yes, I have the familiarity. But you have the curiosity. Every day can be a delight.”
“Or a wreck.”
As it turned out, Reena’s husband was a fantastic cook. Unlike her expectations of him sticking to the screen when any dratted country played a sport, he would venture into the kitchen and take her through delightful new recipes. They would talk long hours of shared loves – for music, jalebi and Archies comic strips. Reena discovered his love for a crisp blue shirt on Monday mornings. As for the home and the dreams she had wanted to build, her husband, minus a disinterested expression, would walk her through alleyways of wonder.
Disha had to ‘induct’ her man to the Bengali goodness of Durga Puja. The chicken rolls and onion rings, the jhalmudi and the communal greeting session on Dussehra day. In turn, he would pull her leg about dragging him to a chick flick or subjecting him to a third straight meal of dal chawal. For the two of them, marriage brought in contentment. The smile that comes with the early morning sun lighting up your room and the goodness of co-existence.
Years down the line, the two friends laze around, watching rushes of Sony Entertainment Television’s new show. While Disha’s husband had gone to buy a supply of friendship bands for their teenage daughter, Reena’s man was on the way to pick her up for home. Though the past years had had a fair share of tribulations for the both of them, their spouses had never ceased to be supportive. Their marriages were as real as the next couple’s but the damp squibs usually gave way to sunnier times. All in a good-breakfasting, arguing, convincing and understanding day’s work.
The show, by the by, is called “Love Marriage ya Arranged Marriage?”. The question in big, prominent letters.
Disha looks at Reena with a twinkle in her eyes. “What do you have to say to that?”
“I think,” winks Reena, “that with spouses like ours, it really doesn’t matter!”
— written for Indiblogger and Sony TV’s “Love Marriage ya Arranged Marriage” contest. To read more views (and spread some love on mine) on the question, go here and here. 😀
Deboshree,
I like the nuance in that bong paragraph.
And on the blog front, I love the theme that you’ve chosen and in particular the name of your blog. It’s hard to see a bong blog having a vegetarian name. 🙂
Cheers and Good luck,
Mukesh
Here’s my entry, hope you like it: http://mukeshrijhwani.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/love-ya-arrange/
Hello Mukesh… welcome to P&P. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the post!
Ha ha… couldn’t agree more about the blog name. A good number of my extended Bengali family members complain about my non-fish-eating ways. 🙂
Good luck to you too!
Aww what a sweet story. And you’re right.. it doesn’t really matter.. it can go either way whether it’s love or arranged. I’m glad you took the happy route. Cheers.
Welcome to P&P, Tulika. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the post… I totally agree with you. What matters is how you maintain a relationship.
Hope to see you around. 🙂
Loved the way you narrated the story. 🙂
I so agree with your viewpoint – what ultimately matters is the kind of person you get married to, and how happy the both of you are together, and what you are willing to make out of your marriage. Rest all is immaterial. Doesn’t really matter how you met your life partner. I have come to realise that by my own personal experience.
All the very best for the contest! 🙂
nice post 🙂 all the best!
here look at this one when you get time 🙂 and yeah do promote it on indiblogger if you like it 🙂
http://saurabhchawla2345.blogspot.com/2012/08/love-is-arranged-by-god-4.html
lovely story Debo 🙂
My mom and dad was together because of an arrange marriage, my mom and dad never met each other till the day they were to be married…odd, isnt it ? fortunately they stayed together till God took my mom away.
oh yea.. I agree. A good spouse is all it takes. 🙂
I loved the way you have written it 🙂
😀 Touche!
Thank you Pixie! 😀
Very well presented. Yes, a good spouse, and nothing else is needed.
Welcome to P&P, Anupama. Delighted you liked the piece…hope to see you around more often. 🙂
Before praising about the post and wishing you good luck for the contest,I have a question?
‘Ahem!! autobiographical?? 🙂 “
You think so? 😉 Well, I call it the wedding-on-my-mind phenomenon. 😀
Nice bit of writing with some nice arguments.
How you meet your partner is irrelevant as compare to how you pull together the marriage and how happy you are in that 🙂
Yep. I couldn’t agree more, Ashwathy! 🙂
Well Written…As your story rightly points out both are sweet in its own way…
Exactly. It’s the what-goes-into-building that matters. Thank you, Jaishvats! 🙂
First my comment was lost n now it says duplicate comment… 😦
Anyways all the best… 🙂
Oh… Mr. WordPress can be big-time temperamental. 😀
Very rightly said… Its more to do with the right person… 🙂
All the best for the contest Deboshree… 🙂
Thanks a lot, Tanishka. The person is indeed the one who matters. 🙂
Very nicely written. All the best Deboshree 🙂
Thank you, Jas! 🙂
well written, aptly said. it’s what one is willing to put into the relationship that matters. best wishes for the contest.
Delighted you liked the piece, Titaxy. Good to hear from you. Thanks!! 🙂
Brilliant Debs 🙂 Hope you win. All the best 🙂
Thanks a lot, Rebel!! 😀 😀
and lived happily ever after.. 🙂
all the best dear.. hope u wind as usual.. 🙂
Yep. 🙂 Life may be bittersweet but if we make the effort to smile, in retrospect, it all seems a vintage, Eastman colour picture.
Thanks a lot… you always cheer me up. 🙂
because u blog always brings mile to me.. 🙂 and i assume you to be a good girl like me.. 😛
Glad it does that! 😀 Oh you assume rightly of course… koi shak? 😉
as Disha said – No it does not matter .. its a myth .. marriage is a completely different ball game after love or arranged …
sorry as REEMA said ..
Exactly. It is sad how marriages in popular culture end at the altar. It is about how a relationship is maintained that matters… any, for that matter.
and hey COngrats on being the top 10 premium bloggers .. partyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Thanks a lot Bikram!! 😀 Party sounds great. Pick the venue. 😀
Beautifully written. All the best for the contest 🙂
Thanks a ton! 😀
Beautifully written post, Deboshree. Loved it. All the best for the contest 🙂
Delighted you liked the piece, Sudha. Thanks a lot. 😀