wedding plans (short story)

"Am I going to get any tea or not?"  Shreya looked at the vessel after hearing Sachin's voice. The water had boiled down to half the vessel.  She was thinking of something else, although her gaze was at the tea vessel.  She was not able to ignore Anjali's cries for help.  "If Manish goes away, what am I going to do.  It will be impossible for me to carry on."  "Anju, you yourself have chosen to tread on this path, now you can't blame him.  You never wanted to be bogged down with relationships or responsibilities."  Shreya wanted all this to relate to her, but was hesitating.  Ultimately she came out of her senses and noticed that Sachin was getting restless for tea.  "What would you like to have for breakfast," she asked.  "As you wish.  Whatever you like or that which can be readied easily."  "So cornflakes or halwa?"  She teased.  "Not so simple, my dear.  Your alu paratha tastes yummy, don't you think?"  "I thought Sunday is a lazy day for you ," Shreya again teased.  "Waking up late in the morning and having hot tea and alu paratha made by you makes my Sunday special and I enjoy it," Sachin surprised Shreya, "Who rang up so early in the morning?"  "Anju called" replied Shreya, "Won't you ask why?"  "Well she is a like a sister to you, maybe that is why."  "Not a sister like, but a true friend."  "But I take her as my sister-in-law," replied Sachin, "Each individual should respect the relation the person is involved in and not to take it for granted.  Don't you feel strange in changing the relation from a friend to a sister and then back to friend again?"  "What's so strange in it?" Shreya shot back, "a friend is a friend and not a sister or brother.  Can a husband and wife say they got a brother-sister relation?"  Sachin said calmly, "Honey, Manish and Anjali are good friends of ours and you know that, don't you? and they have always maintained that relationship with us.  So, it's our responsibility that we help them solve their problems."

Shreya and Anjali were the best female friends.  Anjali was the most busiest person during Shreya's wedding.  They bonded so strongly that others thought they were sisters.  Anjali used to tease Sachin not to bother her sister too much and Sachin would bow in obedience.  The friendship began to sour when Anjali admitted her love for Sachin's friend, Manish.  In fact, the bone of contention was when they both decided to live together without marrying.  "But this is quite risky, Anju.  If you love each other, why not marry?" Shreya sounding cautious had asked.  Manish's and Anjali's family were too not happy with this decision.  Now it was the onus of Sachin and Shreya to convince them to get married.  Shreya was also not able to decide how to explain the situation to Anjali's family members.  Anjali was not happy with Shreya's constant interference in her life and this had created a rift between her and Shreya.  Looking a little sullen while having breakfast, Sachin consoled Shreya, "don't worry about them.  They need to handle their own situation."  "How can you say that?" Shreya retorted angrily, "I can never forget the strong bond we shared at one time.  Do you remember, I was pregnant and you were away on tour.  The last two months I was advised complete bedrest by the doctor and nobody from your or my family had come to my help.  At that time, she was the one who took great care of me.  How can I forget that and you expect me to let go off her? that's impossible."  "We both are going to her place in the evening,"  Shreya announced as she got up from the table.

That evening, when they reached Manish and Anjali's place, they were stunned to see the house to be spick-and-span.  Earlier it used to be a complete mess, but now it was decorated beautifully.  For a while both of them seemed perplexed and could not understand what to say.  Ultimately, little Mallika broke the silence by making her presence felt.  "How can someone love a kid when it is born after so much labor," Anjali had asked Shreya to which Shreya had replied, "I will ask you the same question when you become a mother."  "I am not an emotional fool to put myself into such situations," Anjali had replied tersely, "I had informed Manish that if he wants me in his life, he should not pressurize me for marriage."  Shreya had forgotten about all this, but when Anjali and Manish had invited them to celebrate their live-in relationship, they both were stunned.  Manish had informed Sachin that much against his own family's wishes, he had come to stay with Anajli.  "Anjali doesn't believe in the institution of marriage and love demands understanding each other, so if she does not wish to marry, so be it."

That day though they felt sorry for Manish, but at the same were angry that he had done away with societal norms and relations just to remain with Anjali.  "Shreya, I am preparing ginger tea," announced Anjali, "you know what I like."  When Anjali returned with only two cups, Shreya asked, "why only two cups? what about you guys?"  "Well, tea causes acidity to Manish, so we stopped having regular one and only drink green tea," replied Anjali.  "Anju, are you sure what are you saying.  I remember your stand of not bowing down to other's wishes, so how come a drastic change?  Is everything alright?"  "No, nothing's right.  It seems Manish may have to marry some other girl as per his family's wishes."  "Oh my God, but why and to whom?" asked Sachin.  "That is not known, though he has said no, but nothing is certain," replied Anjali.  "What do you mean nothing is certain and why is Manish behaving like this? Why the farce of taking care of you?" asked Shreya.  "Shreya, please don't consider his care for me as a show-off.  Until now all was well, but now his sister is of marriageable age and his family wants him to get married first so that no problems crop up when looking for a suitable boy for her."  "Okay, so for his sister's sake, you both need to part ways, is it?"  "Do you think they had settled down in their life?" asked Sachin as he and Manish entered the room.  "My mother has zeroed on some girl and wants me to approve her," replied Manish sadly, "but I told my mother I won't marry anybody else, but Anju doesn't want to trust me.  She thinks I might bow down to my family's wishes.  Yeah, but until Prachi gets married, I will have to stay with my family   It's just a matter of 5-6 months after which I would rejoin her."  Now he turned towards Anju, "Anju, my dear, please trust me.  As soon as Prachi gets married, I will be with you."  By now, Anju had tears in her eyes.  "I will be going home next week and will come back after my sister's wedding and that's a promise," said Manish addressing Shreya, "please convince your friend to trust me.  I am committed to her.  In fact, she now wants to start a family."  Shreya turned to Anjali, "what's with you Anju? you never wanted to marry and now all of a sudden....."  Now it was Sachin's turn to confront Anjali, "such emotional decisions sometimes can go wrong.  What would you do if Manish gets another girl?"  Anjali started sobbing loudly at which time Shreya stared angrily at Sachin and consoled Anjali, "I fail to understand one thing, when you both love each other so much, why don't you get married?  I agree that Manish's family has objections on you both living together without getting married, but why have you all of a sudden starting losing trust in him?"  What followed was a complete silence which broke when Anjali spoke, "honey, why don't we get married?"  Sachin and Shreya were taken aback with Anjali's turnaround.  Meanwhile, Sachin was teasing Manish, "so which girl have  your parents chosen for you?"  At that moment Anjali shot back, "Sachin please.....Manish, we must get married tomorrow itself."  Suddenly she realized that she had overreacted to the situation, "inform your parents that we are getting married in a week.  We will invite each and everyone."  Anjali almost announced her wedding.

The next day Anjali was excitedly talking to Shreya on phone, "I am very happy Shreya.  Today, I am going back to my mother's place.  Now I will return only after the wedding.  I am damn excited.  It feels as if the colors of the rainbow have spread across a blank canvas."  It seemed as if Anjali was in the seventh heaven.  After disconnecting her phone, Shreya noticed Manish was thanking Sachin over and over again.  "I feel very happy for you, ready to do anything for you buddy."  As soon as Manish noticed Shreya, he said,"sorry, please forgive me.  I had to do some clever acting to convince your friend to marry me.  I take full responsibility for her happiness."  "Okay, so that was the gameplan.  At least you could have informed me" replied Shreya to which Sachin added,"Manish's mother very cleverly took part in the whole drama and I must appreciate that."

After Manish left, Shreya recollected all the day's happenings.  It was a warm feeling to note that finally Anjali had got convinced to marry, though sometime ago was just adamant not to marry.  Her line of thought was that every relation brings with it its own responsibilities and its best to keep away from such complexities.   It's better that the relation between a man and a woman leads to a conclusion without which it is meaningless.  Now, I must prepare myself to be a part of the wedding celebrations...

Modern Times

I was getting ready to go to office as usual.  I had put on my maroon shirt and black pant   As soon as I put on my black shoes, my son Rohan remarked, "Oh dad, the shirt and pant do not match.  How can you put on a black pant with a maroon shirt?"  I had never realized that my children were getting older and becoming fashion conscious and in fact were imposing their ideas on me and my wife, Pranita.  "But this is what I usually wear and have been doing it for a long time," I replied.  "I agree dad, but times are changing now and you must dress up like most others do.  It was a different story when you were young.  In your times, perhaps fashion may have not been an in-thing.  Now, people will laugh at you being dressed up awkwardly."  He insisted that I change my blank pant and instead put on some light colored one.  I had no other option but to follow his directives.  When I was finally ready, he said with a beaming face, "there you're, now you look like an executive.  I'm sure today your office watchman will be happy to see you dressed so smartly and will salute you twice."

The same thing was happening with my wife.  The other day, we both were getting ready to go to a party.  As it was mid December and the weather during that period of time in Mumbai is quite pleasant, but not very cold, she had put on a full sleeve navy blue colored top and a light blue colored trousers.  Seeing this my 21-year-old daughter, Rohini, at once got annoyed.  "What's this mumma, is this the way to dress?  You are going to a party and not to any park.  Either you change your top or your trousers.  How can you wear both of the same color?  Change it to some thing contrasting."  So she went inside and came with a black top on.  "That's better," my daughter remarked.  When Pranita started wearing her usual sandals, Rohini  ordered.  "Not those sandals, mumma" and off she went inside to get her own golden colored ones and asked Pranita to try.  "Perfect," she said feeling happy.

When they were kids, it was our responsibility to teach them the good things and the bad things, the do's and dont's, but slowly and surely they were becoming our teachers.  They were telling us what to wear, where to go, when and what to talk and with whom, etc. etc.  It used to be annoying earlier, but now the feeling was creeping in that in a way its good.  They now can understand their responsibilities, can differentiate what's good and what's not.  As time goes on, they are becoming our parents instead of we being their's.  Feeling satisfied with the level of maturity they had achieved, I left for office in the getup advised by my son.