ESP.. extra sensory perception.. we all have it.. the sinking feeling, the knots in the stomach.. just when something really rotten is going to happen.. Nirmala did feel that when she went to sleep the night that Udaybanulal stepped out of his house in fury, but resigned to the fact that she was to get married, can't help it.. and made her mind up to face the music! You might argue though that process of marriage is anxiety prone.. and definitely if you don't know whom you are going to get married to! But this wasn't a case of cold feet... something happened that night that changed the entire course of life for Nirmala... her dad died!
How he did I ain't going to reveal here.. lets just say.. lonely lanes aren't safe for a lawyer! The news devastated the family.. but more than anyone it was Nirmala's loss.. why?.. I'll explain. When Udaybanulal's news of death reached the next village, to her would-be-in-laws, they were in a dilemma as to what to do about the marriage.. until the fated day that a letter arrived from Nirmala's house, that Kalyani had written, pleading the in-laws to continue with the marriage as much money has been spent already on the preparations.
The messenger who carried the letter to the in-laws was sent away and babu-saheb as he is known popularly and his wife Rangili discussed the marriage.. Rangili.. though her name sounds very filmi.. was not the typical saas-type. She supported Kalyani and said.. they have done a lot, we should get our son married.. but Babusaheb had second thoughts.. devious ones at that. 'Udaybanulal is dead, there is no one in his house who can earn.. until he was alive there was at least hope of getting dowry.. now that he is dead.. these people can't give us any more, why can't we get our son married into a richer family, after all my friend Udaybanulal is no more.. so there is no obligation'. At this point of the story, I thought the father-in-law should be shot dead! What was he doing.. ruining a girls life with his menial thoughts about dowry, not even dowry.. extra dowry! I know these were times when the custom of dowry was eating up the very institution of marriage, but one can't help thinking that a family who had settled marital ties would then sever them, in a time of utter confusion and despair just for a sake a few thousands of rupees. Where was his conscience.. and so I waited for the verdict to be given to the messenger.. but the sane ma-in-law.. with her filmi name said "Lets wait for our son to come, let him be the final judge, left to your means, you'll disregard the condition the poor family is in, the relashionship we were to establish with them, all that matters to you is the money"..
I cheered for the lady..I hoped and waited for the knight in shining armor to come and rescue Nirmala from the depths of misery.. The groom-to-be comes home and is made to read the letter from Kalyani. His mother, the lovely lady that she is, looks at her son, half expecting him to be tearful after reading the heartening letter. A cold glance is what she gets in return.. she asks him.. 'So what do you want to do son? Should we not continue our alliance with Udaybanulal's family?' The son answers, gives the verdict.. 'I'd rather marry a girl that can give me more dowry, you see I am just out of college, I need time to get a job, till then I need money, what I get from this house is not enough.. now that we have an opportunity to move away, we should do so'..and I thought the father should be shot! The son's worse! Poor Rangili stuck in a family like that.. But I must agree, this was unlike any other saas-bahu type saga I had ever seen or read, the apparent ma-in-law was the sanest in the family!
So the messenger was sent back to Nirmala's house, with her destiny in denial...many a times when things go bad.. and you can't really explain why, you feel like looking up at the invisible forces of nature and crying out loud.. why me? .. I pictured Nirmala in the very same frame...just when she was ready to commit her self to marriage, it broke!
No comments:
Post a Comment