Marriage - My take on it

According to sources, marriages first originated some 4350 years ago which was neither romantic nor religious in any sense. The idea of "Love" being the motivational force behind marriages materialized at a much later date, around the middle ages. However, these days we swoon over the very concept of "Love". I think the credit for this goes to the unfathomable amount of drama, songs, series and movies based on it. After all, we are a generation who are shaped by what we see online and offline. It’s not a surprise, romantic movies like 'Titanic" are freshly embedded in our minds even now. I often contemplated my love story to be something like that. I was hardly fourteen years old then.

Well, life had to go on, and soon I was in my late twenties. My parents never burdened me with the pressure of marriage but I knew I had to take the plunge sooner or later. The problem was I was not in a relationship then. I had dated a few women but none ended up being the 'ONE'.

Then one fine day, when I was just strolling along the way with one of my friends from college, I saw this charming girl who was standing a couple of feet away from me. I don’t know if it was love at first sight or just the alcohol taking its effect (had just exited a bar after being treated by my friend for being appointed as an Income Tax Officer), I found myself drawn to her. Being the reckless person I was, I ended up asking her out and soon enough ended up with the impression of her left hand on one of my cheeks. Well, so much for Mr. Romeo.

I returned to Delhi where I was working then and continued with conventional life. (Work – Monday to Friday, Sloshed – Saturday and Sunday). But for some fortunate reason, I couldn’t get her off my mind. Then one fine day when I was speaking to the same friend from college, he reminded me of her and how she had smacked me right across the face. He also told me that he knew her friend (whom I probably hadn’t noticed). After a couple of days and some back and forth messaging, I finally got to know her name and looked for her promptly on probably one of the greatest gifts to mankind from science – Facebook.

I used to go online every day, thinking she would accept my “friendship request’ but to no avail. After all, for her, I was just another stranger. It had already been months but I could see that my request was still in pending status. Then one day, as luck would have had it, I saw that my request was accepted. I sent her a text and she replied after two days. Well, we didn’t instantly hit it off but something about her was different. I couldn’t say that she was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid my eyes on, but yes, there was something truly mesmerizing and captivating about her. When I was with her, time seemed to pass by in a jiffy. I started yearning to be with her more and more. Well, I finally realized she was the one, I was meant to be with.

Soon enough it was time for the next step in every Indian relationship, introducing each other to our parents. I mean we certainly could have eloped but one of her prerequisites was to do get married with everyone’s blessings and by blessings here I mean permission. There was just a small hitch, we were from different faiths (she was a Catholic and I belonged to a Hindu family and it was a "Big Deal"). The next couple of months went by coaxing and cajoling our family members. (I had to make six trips that year otherwise I used to come home annually). Well as Shakespeare put it “All's Well That Ends Well”, finally everyone agreed and we were married in a grandiose manner.

(What happened in between and after is a story for another day)

 (P S: We recently celebrated our fifth anniversary)