Ishithaa

The sun rose like every other day, its rays orange and warm kissed her awake; the coffee her mom made was sweet; the bouquet of roses that came in still had thorns one of which pricked her; birds were singing but sounded nowhere close to violins playing; why then did they call this love? Asha smiled as she went on with her daily chores. Today was a big day for her, beyond doubts, but she knew it would be a bigger day for Milan – the day his dreams would start coming true, the day she would officially walk into his life, as his fiancé. 

Happy at having reached a decision she went and joined her parents in their room; wanting to spend a few moments with them while she still had the time. She found them poring over her childhood albums and were passing comments on and laughing at many of the photographs. She stood outside their room and kept watching them - how comfortable they were with each other, how every moment spent together they cherished, hoping every day of their life she and Milan could share the same camaraderie, she walked into the room.

Asha was in a dilemma as to what to choose, Delhi - a place where she always wanted to be or Michigan – which sounded like a good place where she could have her share of adventures. She would have to ask her dad to help her choose.

Milan was disturbed for very obvious reasons; he had been trying to call her for so long, since their engagement was fixed, she was not talking to him. He tried to recollect whatever had happened over the past few weeks – how he had convinced his family to send his proposal to her parents; how her parents had tried to talk him out of this marriage because, as far as they could see, Milan was an NRI groom, Asha’s parents were convinced that they could not afford this relationship; how he had overcome every obstacle in his path and the day when Asha finally passed the news through her mom that she would be willing to meet him, and how of all the things on the menu, she had chosen noodles and lime juice . He smiled when he thought how blissfully unaware she was of all the things that were happening in the background – he had almost lost his job because of the month long leave he had taken to come back to India, how he had tried to trace her down with the knowledge –thanks to a common f...

Not very excited at the ‘new mail’ notification blinking on her screen, Asha reluctantly opened the email expecting it to be a letter from the Bharat Jagaran, accepting her resignation. Her mom called her suddenly and Asha left the laptop as it was and made a mental note to read the mail once she was back and also to return Milan’s call.

The dates were fixed, there was no escape now. Their parents would see to it that Asha and Milan got married no matter what. Asha had no qualms in getting Milan as her life partner, but she was still feeling torn. Her dreams were calling out to her, her illustrious career was yet to blossom, but she had no time.

The dinner with her parents went exceptionally well, especially with the surprise they had given her. Her mother came into the room with a steaming cup of coffee, just the way Asha loved. She knew from the aroma wafting from the dining room that her mom had not only settled down and made herself comfortable, she had taken over the kitchen duties and had already prepared a yummy breakfast. The news that her parents would be staying a while with her was by far one of the most pleasant surprises she had received in a long while.

“They had called”, her mom told her over the phone, “Mr & Mrs. Nair want nothing from us other than your hand in marriage for their son, and it seems Milan’s grandmother’s last wish was that he should get married in Guruvayur , so your condition has actually made them very happy.“

Blogosphere certainly seems to me like a whole new universe; with its limitless number of acronyms, tools, widgets, challenges and awards. I have wondered, who hands out these awards to these bloggers, whether there is an organization that is keenly looking at the countless blogs and their countless posts.

It was a risk she knew she had to take; procrastination was not going to do any good to her, him and their families. The whole situation was in her hands, she could turn it the way she wanted by a mere yes, or a no. All through her life, she had seen her friends falling in love, getting married to those guys and living a happy life. No she was not the least bit jealous of them, but she too had dreamt of a prince charming who would come into her life, sweep her off her feet; that she too would be in love before she got married, thus having a ‘love marriage’ and not an arranged one as things were happening now. She could always tell Milan that she did not want to marry him, that she wanted to wait for some more time, to know if love would find her, rather than compromising and settling down for an arranged marriage. Simultaneously she wondered why a guy like him, born and brought up in the US of A, want to marry someone like her, how come he did not have any girlfriend whom h...

She was happy with how things had turned out after her little luncheon with Milan, he seemed to be a nice guy after all. The only thing that she raised an eyebrow at was that majority of the time she was with him, she was the one doing the talking. He seemed to be a very quiet guy, not reserved or guarded, just quiet. She had always thought she could not carry off a sensible conversation with any guy she was meeting for the first time, but yesterday had been fun! While on a popular social networking site, she saw somebody had shared a song that she loved. Unable to resist, she hit the play button and was soon lost in the music. She had a strange ‘thing’ for sad songs, they always drew her attention and once she started listening to them, she would be hooked for a very long time. The emotions and the pain of the singer always spoke immense volumes to her, but at the end of it all, she would be in a very strange mood. Her friends always joked about her that grief and pain turne...

The early morning sun rays kissed her good morning, and she woke up with a smile. Something told her it was going to be a beautiful day. She finished her early morning tasks and offered prayers and thanks to her Lord. Her mum and dad had called promptly in the morning to ask how the meeting went, whether she has taken a decision about Milan, what food she had ordered, her mother hoped she had worn a ‘decent’ dress and asked her again if she made a good impression on him. Frankly, Asha had no clue how to answer to all these queries. She said that they had a good time together, had lunch and an interesting conversation on their way back. Her mother sounded excited when she told her that Milan had come to drop her back home. She could almost imagine her mom’s eyebrows arching up in excitement. It was then that her mom asked her, “So, did you like him?” Now that, was a difficult question. She liked him, yes. But what her mom wanted to know was not whether she liked him or no...

She smiled as she read the chat. ‘Online?’ Just one word, yet, it made her smile. While typing out a yes, she wondered whether or not to add a smiley to go along with it… whether just the yes would sound rude to this overtly polite guy, or would the smiley give him an impression that she was anxiously waiting for his message. She chided herself for not having been active in the dating game in her younger days so she would know the nuances on how to, what to and what not to by now. To her dismay, he found Milan to be a very nice guy, who spoke and behaved well, she felt quite comfortable around him. After lunch, they went to the nearby park and from there chose to walk back till her apartment. On their way back, Milan asked her if she enjoyed the afternoon with him, though she answered a simple ‘it was fine’, her smile revealed a lot more and he caught the twinkle in her eyes and smiled back. That cute boyish grin, again. Something happened to her when he smiled at ...

“Hi! I am Milan” Asha shook hands with the guy and stuttered, “I’m Asha” and managed a weak attempt at smiling. “Please, please sit. Can I get you some water, something to drink?” Asha shook her head, giving Milan a no for an answer. As she sat down, she wondered, Milan ehh, how come nobody told her. The waiter brought the menu cards and Milan was engrossed in it.  She knew what she would order and waited for him to pick his dish, meanwhile she sized him up. For a malayali guy, he was above average in looks, bordered on being handsome, tall, wheatish complexion, a lean face with a sharp nose.  He glanced up to look for the waiter, instead caught her looking, maybe even staring at him. Asha quickly looked away and there was the faint trace of a blush on her cheeks. He smiled and called for the waiter. When the guy came to get their order, Milan indicated Asha to go ahead and she promptly ordered egg noodles. Milan looked surprised and told the...

So, this was the day, finally. It would be a lie if Asha tried to tell herself that she was not waiting for this day. Over the last few weeks, she had not only come to terms with the idea that she would get married eventually, but she in fact was looking forward to this day, when she would finally meet the guy who was ‘interested’ in her.  She still had the major portion of the day remaining, for it was arranged they would meet for lunch so that they could give each other ample time to get to know each other, and spend some more time together if they so wished. She wasn’t sure she could sit through and lunch with some boring stranger, but then according to the descriptions she had heard of this guy, he deserved at least a chance where he could speak to her. She really hoped he wouldn’t be the spooky kind who would have already checked out on her background and her friends, spoken to her relatives and asked around about her; the first guy who came to see Mini was a re...

Her girl friends always got peace when they were around her; not that Asha was uncomfortable with them or anything, but still, for her to unwind completely she needed her ‘alone time’; probably snuggle into a corner by the window sill with a few cushions, a decent book and a steaming cup of coffee which would ostensibly go cold in the end because she would get engrossed in her book. “She is yet to meet him, but she’s already lost in his thoughts” the giggles and the comments that followed brought her back to the ladies’ day out lunch table in the restaurant. That would be Mini, the engaged. The group was an odd one, they were a gang all in their mid twenties; a few of them were married, another one was engaged to get married next month and then there was “poor single Asha” as her friends liked to comment. “Ohh, no Mini...please don’t start that again! I was thinking about something else.” Asha tried to defend herself in vain. In fact, Asha strongly believed she w...