Shaadi-ki-story 2

Ardi Mahesh Kamath

Sunday, November 22, 2020

I am Happily married now for around 20 years with a responsible wife and two children. If I flash backward and think about my “Shaadi Ki Story “ it is no less than a Bollywood Movie.

I am from a conservative Hindu family of 6 sisters and we are 2 Brothers. Since I had many sisters, my parents wanted all my sisters to get married first. Due to the dowry system, my parents also might have thought that if I get married early then I might not help them financially. And when I reached the age of 34 , all my sisters except my youngest sister were married.

On one of my trips to India from Kuwait, I told my mother about my plan of getting married & asked her to go ahead if they had any alliance in their mind. But I didn’t get a positive reply from her. That made me visit my eldest sister’s place and I told her to help me out but it was of no use.

I spoke with my best friend in Bangalore, who is my cousin & explained to him my situation & told him to inform his parents to look for a alliance for me. Next day morning itself I started getting telephone calls from parents of girls. My present wife’s father too called & since the Horoscopes matched, they talked to my friend’s father. Next day they came with their daughter to discuss and decide about the proposal. I saw her and found she was just like what I really wanted in my life. She is the first one & only girl whom I saw in my life. We agreed & when they tried to discuss about dowry, I told them that I am very much against this system and I don’t have any dowry demands. I told them I knew what parents of marriageable girls face.

Next day I travelled to my native place, and during that journey I had butterflies in my stomach thinking how to tell my parents about my decision to get married. Next day afternoon, I first told my mother I had a girlfriend before & we both had decided to get married now. I told her that the parents of the girl wanted to visit our place & discuss the matter. Luckily my parents agreed, but were upset with my decision to not take any dowry. But I strictly told them to not trouble them & ask for any dowry , because we ourselves had faced this issue.

At the end like any other Bollywood movie, everything went on fine & I am happily married now for more than 20 years with 2 Kids.

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