The one where Sodium was getting married..

In a post written on the marriage anniversary of my parents, I had demanded of them, in jest, the recruitment of new entrants to our home.

My parents took a cue and began hunting actively for a fitting candidate. Soon they started bringing me multiple proposals a day and as I was not really very keen on marrying for sometime still, I turned down all of them. But they were not deterred and their search continued. One day I had a long discussion with my parents on this because I could see they were spending a lot of their time and energy on that. Even they wanted the things to materialize. So, we reached a deal. I was to accept one of the fitting proposals now and would get engaged but marriage would not happen for the next two years. In a few weeks, I gave my consent for one of the proposals brought to me by them. They tallied the birth documents and fixed a date for two years later. In a few months, I got busy with my work and career and forgot all about it (Yes, I did forget it completely). And since I was not living with my parents because my job took me away from home, I didn't know that they had started the preparations 6 months in advance. I was reminded of the approaching occasion only a couple of months in advance. I had neither seen the photograph of my finacee nor had a single word with her since I gave my assent to the proposal. And then I thought I was not like it. Perhaps I had been so busy with my career that I didn't realize that along the way I had not been the same. I thought if I had waited this long to talk to her, why not wait untill marriage then.

I took the leave only a week before my marriage and went home. The preparations were in full swing and everything had been done. I was only to sit and wait to be the second chief guest at my marriage (the first one was the bride of course). And then all the ceremonies happened..the haldi, the mehendi, etc. With only one day to spare, I decided to see my fiancee finally. They had come in the town and were staying at the marriage home hotel. But a meeting of the bride and groom a day before marriage wasn't allowed according to our customs. So I decided to ask my sister to show me the photographs.

The shock came when I saw the photographs. This was precisely what I had feared all my life. And I had no idea how I had let this happen. My fiancee held some unknown degree from some small town and had not been able to find a job after her graduation. She had the looks of an uneducated villager. Her mom resembled my house maid in the way she dressed which was probably the future look of her daughter. When I asked my mom about how she spoke, my mom told me she had a loud and shrill voice and an unsophisticated accent. The sky fell on me. All the preparations were in place. Every single relative from both sides had come. The next day was my marriage and here I was, wishing I could go back in time somehow, find out how this happened and change the course of things. But there was no way now. If I did anything now the other side would not let us go easily. We all would be on national television the next day with breaking news banner showing above all our heads. And who knows if they would resort to violence as well before turning us to the television crew. My fate was sealed. I was almost chocking. My thoughts were that the next day I was going to marry a girl who would be my life partner for about next 40 years and I wouldn't be able to share a single intelligent conversation with her on my dinner table. I wished I would wake up and find it all only a horrible dream.

And then, INDEED I woke up. This had been a dream. And I realized how small my problems are as compared to what worse can happen to me.