2 States: The Story of My Marriage Read online

  49

  The cousins fell silent as seconds ticked past. Duke wanted to say something, but he noticed his parents’ sour faces from far and kept quiet. He huddled with his own cousins as they exchanged whispers with each other. He stood up again and spoke to Ananya after four minutes.

  ‘Excuse me, madam,’ Duke said.

  ‘I’m Ananya. What?’

  ‘Can we go to the grown-ups? I want to talk to my mother.’

  ‘About what?’ Ananya said and blocked him.

  ‘Why are you so dominating? Let me go.’

  ‘Let’s all go,’ Ananya said.

  All the cousins stood up from their chairs. We walked up to the grown-ups. Duke went to his mother.

  ‘Mummy, I want to marry Minti.’

  Duke’s mother gave her son a shocked look.

  ‘But they have betrayed us, beta,’ Duke’s father said.

  Rajji mama dived towards their feet again. Ananya stopped him. ‘Daddy, I have kept quiet for so long, no? Everything you have decided. Now whatever it is, don’t spoil my marriage.’

  ‘Beta, but they promised us,’ Duke’s mother said.

  ‘Mummy, enough! And why this drama of keeping their jewellery? What do you think? I can’t buy my own car?’

  ‘Five minutes are over,’ Ananya said, ‘Should we pack up or. . . .’

  ‘What kind of a girl are you? You are not even giving me time to convince,’ Duke said to Ananya.

  One of Duke’s uncles stood up. ‘Let’s start-ji. We can’t spoil our children’s happy day. We are already late for the jaimala ceremony.’

  ‘Are they OK?’ Rajji mama said, looking at Duke’s parents.

  ‘Don’t worry, misunderstandings happen. We don’t have to spoil a lifelong relationship,’ Duke’s uncle said as he signalled for all the other relatives to stand up.

  ‘Everyone, please enjoy the snacks,’ Duke said. It was enough cue for his relatives to jump at the waiters. It is cruel to keep Punjabis away from their food at a wedding, especially when most of them had no stake in the car anyway.

  Our side of the family hugged Duke’s parents. They didn’t hug back, but at least they didn’t push us away. Rajji mama brought a box of mithai and fed Duke’s parents a piece each in their mouths. The sugar rush improved their expression. The DJ started the music. The wedding was back on.

  One girl stood back until everyone vacated their sofas and went to the stage. It was the South Indian girl who had come with me all the way from Chennai.

  ‘What did she say to him?,’ Shipra masi asked me. She took her bag back and redistributed the ornaments. I shrugged my shoulders.

  ‘Very wise girl,’ Kamla aunty gave Ananya a hug. ‘Thank you, beta. You kept our izzat.’

  ‘But tell me one thing, you earn twenty-five thousand?’ Rajni aunty asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

  My mother came and gave Ananya a smiling nod. Even though my mother didn’t say anything, I knew it meant a lot.

  ‘She’s not that bad,’ Shipra masi told my mother during jaimala.

  ‘You’ve scored girl, you know you have,’ I said to Ananya as we tossed flower petals on Duke and Minti.

  50

  ‘So, mom,’ I said, ‘as I was saying.’ We were in the kitchen.

  ‘You’ve said that four times. Do you actually have something to say!’ my mother said. She removed boiling tea from the stove.

  ‘Ananya leaves tomorrow,’ I said.

  ‘OK,’ she said. She passed me a cup of tea.

  ‘I called her home to meet us before she left.’

  ‘And,’ my mother said.

  ‘We’d like to know your decision,’ I said.

  ‘It’s your decision,’ she said.

  ‘OK, your opinion, which is important for me to make my decision.’

  ‘Uff, you and your MBA terms,’ my mother said.

  Ananya came home in the afternoon. My mother cut a melon as we sat at the dining table.

  ‘So mom, the unthinkable happened. Your relatives like Ananya. Now, do I have your permission to marry her?’

  ‘You don’t need my permission,’ my mother said, passing me melon slices.

  ‘Not permission, approval. Do we have your approval?’ I said.

  She gave a few slices of fruit to Ananya.

  ‘Is that a yes?’ I said.

  ‘Kamla aunty and Rajji mama are quite fond of her,’ my mother said.

  ‘Do you like me, aunty? Tell me if you are not convinced,’ Ananya said.

  ‘Of course, I do, beta,’ my mother said, her hand on Ananya’s head. ‘But there are other people too, your side of the family.’

  ‘My family likes Krish a lot!’

  ‘Yes, but what about the families liking each other? You two may be happy, but we adults have to get along with the adults from your side. You remember Sabarmati Ashram?’

  ‘Be patient, mom. Over time, the families will get close,’ I said.

  Ananya brought up the topic of my father one last time before she left. ‘Krish’s dad won’t agree?’ Ananya said.

  My mother gave a wry smile. ‘He won’t let us watch TV, forget Krish choosing his bride. It’s fine, my siblings are enough. Otherwise, it will never happen,’ my mother said.

  Ananya nodded. My mother went to her room and returned with two gold bangles.

  ‘No aunty,’ Ananya said, even as my mother shoved it down her wrists and kissed her head.

  Happiness floated like rose petals in the air and I imagined fist pumping my hands three times.

  ‘So what’s the next step? The wedding date?’

  Ananya and I were on our long-distance call from our respective offices.

  ‘You know your mother is right, there is a gap here,’ Ananya said.

  ‘What gap?’ I said.

  ‘My parents like you. Your mother likes me. What about them liking each other? Remember the Ahmedabad disaster?’ Ananya said.

  ‘Yeah but,’ I said. ‘Oh man, I thought we were done.’

  ‘No, the two families have to unite. Trust me, it will be worth it. We should make them meet,’ she said.

  ‘Where? I’ll come to Chennai with my mother?’ I said.

  ‘No, let’s go to a neutral venue without relatives.’

  ‘Good point. Let me organise something,’ I ended the call.

  I went back to work. I didn’t have a fixed division or boss in Citibank Delhi yet. I floated between departments, pretending to be useful. I had a temporary stint in the credit cards division. I had to come up with a credit card promotion plan, something I had no interest or expertise in. I opened the existing brochure of offers for our credit card customers. We had a special deal on a package to Goa.

  I picked up the phone and called Ananya again. ‘Goa,’ I said. ‘Let’s all go to Goa. Nothing like the sea, sun and sand to make the two families bond. Plus, it will be fun for us, too. What say, next month?’

  ‘It won’t be cheap,’ she said.

  ‘Isn’t love the best investment?’ I said and fumbled through my cards to call the travel agent.

  Act 5:

  Goa

  51

  ‘I am telling you now only. I don’t like her mother—arrogant woman,’ my mom said as we waited at the taxi stand. My mother and I landed at the Dabolim Airport in Goa two hours before Ananya and her parents did. I had tried to time the flights as close as possible.

  ‘It’s not arrogance. They are quiet people,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t be under their spell,’ my mother said.

  ‘I’m not. OK, here they come, remember to smile,’ I said.

  Ananya’s parents came face to face with my mother for the second time.

  ‘Hello Kavita-ji,’ Ananya’s father said. They exchanged greetings, not warm and cuddly like Delhi airports, but not completely ice-cold either.

  I had hired a Qualis. I helped the driver load Ananya’s bags into the car. My mother gave me a puzzled look.

  ‘What?’ I said.