Priya, the name sounded familiar when his mom tossed it
around the living room and wanted to gauge the reactions. Being the most
obedient son he treated it with practiced nonchalance. The family,
predominantly the mom, decided not to pursue the alliance and dropped it. He
remembered playing with Priya at an age when children would hardly distinguish
gender and he had seen her fleetingly in one or two family get togethers. He
would have loved the idea of meeting her and finding out how she turned out to
be now but then, you always wish.
Nithya, his maternal uncle told him that her family is well
to do and they are pursuing it seriously. This time, he was genuinely
uninterested as the girl’s dad was a big spurn off, he was into lotteries
something our man considers a taboo. Nevertheless, the meeting happened and
while the girl was pleasant the unfathomable chemistry didn’t click. Both
decided to shook hands and part away. She went on to marry, it never created
any flutters or interest.
Anjali, well this was like heavens conspired. They met
serendipitously before the family could decide and our obedient son was ready
to rebel to take her hand, but then providence helped and they got married with
blessing of the two families.
Our man was happy, life tooks its own turns and twist. It
was like anyother normal married life filled with passion, strife, love, hate
and endless emotional pricks. Yet, it was bliss. He often wondered, how it would have been had
he got into any one of those earlier alliances, and most often concluded he was
lucky to have landed with Anjali. However, he always kept wondering why Anjali
always insisted that he do the outdoor jobs himself and she also had the
obsession of having him eat with her during family functions like marriage. It
will hugely upset her if he chose to eat alone or he eats with his friends. At
first he felt odd, and later reconciled that it is one of those womanly quirks.
The bench convened…..
It was in a marriage, when he chanced upon Priya and in a
distance where it was difficult for both to avoid. So he smiled and exchanged
polite pleasantries, and suddenly as he was ready to bid her good bye, her eyes
turned moist, her face was breaking into joy, ascertaining he was not the cause
he turned around to spot the reason and Anjali had a similar expression and
they almost ran and hugged each other. To our man’s surprise it turned out that
they were school mates and sat in the same bench.
Before he could recover and restore normalcy in the
panic-stricken face, Priya proclaimed rather loudly, “you know Nithya too is
coming for the marriage as we are married into the same family”. He instantly
recalled the name and hoped, it was not the person with whom chemistry didn’t
work. As always with life, most feared happens. Yes, they all were in the same
school and were bench mates. For the
rest of marriage, they laughed, had fun and caught up with all they had missed.
Our man sat with bewilderment, life is certainly stranger than fiction.
As they wound up around lunch, husbands got to meet and all
the three exchanged niceties and it was widely writ on their face the pleasure
of seeing all of it come to an end. Our
man was the most relieved, that’s when Priya’s husband quietly asked, “brother
you do all the outdoor work and always eat with your wife during family
functions?” he turned pale, and said
yes. A sheepish smile spread across priya’s husband face and he told him, this
what they had decided they would have their husbands do while they were in
their 10th standard as a rebellion of having asked to eat after
their men members of the family.
Well it could be a small, sometimes lovable/nagging (
depends on which side) thing to do for a wife but these girls having carried so
far is adorable. Our man his fortunes revolved around this bench is just an
amazing facet of life. Our man powered
the engine of his car thinking of all things in their life, he would remain an
unique connection : )
