Thursday, May 05, 2005

Arranged & Love Marriage Part-II

......My father recalls his first encounter with my mother with a wry smile, so many decades later. He describes each stage as if it happened last week. How his eldest brother asked to see the ‘girl’ in broad daylight, and insisted on her displaying a bit of her ankles too! This was to make sure my mother was not lame, had no deformities in her lower limbs that a flowing nine-yard saree could successfully camouflage, and that she could walk unaided! The ‘broad daylight’ factor was to judge the exact shade of her complexion—naturally light-skinned, or caked with ‘snow’ and talcum powder? Fortunately, she was not asked to sing, dance or produce a culinary miracle for the guests’ benefit!

Apart from this, their formal meeting, my uncle also surprised my mother’s family with an unscheduled visit, during which he demanded the ‘girl’ be produced in an ‘as is’ condition, without as much as running a comb through her hair (beware! Maybe the future bride is bald and wearing a wig!).

Once she passed his scrutiny, the talks progressed to the matching of horoscopes. Alas! The family priest declared the match entirely unsuitable, insisting there was no hope for such an ill-starred couple. I understand he was ‘persuaded’ to reconfigure the astral positions with a few additional rupees thrown in for a fresh verdict. And bingo! The match was declared to be perfect after all. And so it was!...

4 comments:

Dawn said...

well to start with ...I didnt know this has started yet...today was browzing n got thru..bingo..what a topic :)

shoba de..was cool as I was reading a writer's point of view...but when I read part II boy...all those made me shiver n brought goose bumps..& started thinking..what if I was done the same way ...no way!!!!!!!!!!! :)
And then I am thinking...after all things work if few ruppee thingy is handed over...then why even bother for all tht trouble???

But interesting topic...am looking forward more...as everyone will ...would ..may go thru this ..;) in a diffnt method or mode lol

good start!!!

Manish Kumar said...

Ohho ho dawn

rupiya dene se pandit to man jayega what about other relatives!

One of my officemate a IIT Delhi product married 2 years back.
So when his family members went to see the would be bride
the first demand was

to come in two different outfits
first with saree
and then in salwar kurta
no need to tell u the reason loz !
all i could say to my fren hai maine ye option kyun nahin use kiya ! :) :)

poor poor me !

So spl lessons
Sari pehanne ki practice start kar do :) :) ha ha

Dawn said...

haan haan for u guys its fun...bechari larki...if i was that gal..i would have rejected the guy ;p;p;p;p
bahut hee ajeeb qisam ki hey yeh shaadi...jahan kahan jaata hey ke shaadi sirf ladka ladki mein nahi...balke ek parivaar ka dusre parivaar se hey to phir yeh change of costume kyun? haan ladkiyon ne bhi kehana chahiye ke ladka apne saath do-do costume laaya hey kya...ek suit mein aur dusra traditional...ab boliye :p

fun tak thik hey ..but otherwise...its a horrible trend I think...:P

Manish Kumar said...

We r ready to do that !
traditional
formal
and any other thing to anyone's liking
ha ha ha ha

but jokes apart the whole process is totally skewed in favor of boys!

things r changing but a lot has remained the same more about it later