I was interrupted by Ryan, “As you know my parents are seriously looking for a girl for me, I got a call from my father last week. He told me that he received a girl’s profile through one of his friends. Girl’s family was told and given about my details including my photograph”, he stopped temporarily.
Ryan continued, “Father also added, as they were aware of your being in Gurgaon, they invited you to visit their house and have few words with them”.
“Initially I was confused but later astonished by my father’s reply that he has not even seen girl’s photograph and her profile. Profile too not detailing her much”, He said.
I said, “Then what is pushing you to go like this? We can wait until they provide us her photograph and profile”.
He said, “I asked that person: a Keralite, who is working as a marriage broker here, whose contact details were provided me by my father’s friend just 10 days ago to contact and ask for the details which I need”.
Ryan continued, “During initial conversation he said that he would bring those things to my flat but he didn’t; requested me almost thrice to visit the house as per their invitation. Also he insisted me to see and talk to the girl directly during my visit. I totally disagreed and asked him to bring the profile and photograph; he has agreed but not given yet”.
“We will demand again and get the profile and photograph first”, I said.
“I too thought like that till this morning. Also, I skipped broker’s continuous requests to visit there without seeing the profile and photograph at least once. But last Saturday I got a call from the family and they invited me to their house. But I skipped them too by lying that I have to go Mumbai for an official visit on that day”, Ryan completed.
“They called and invited me again today morning; this time I accepted their invitation in an unavoidable scenario. But last Saturday I was not prepared to face. After continuous compulsions from both the ends I today decided to go. For that I needed a victim, who can be better than you”, he laughed as if he cracked a joke of millennium.
I stared at him but very much ready to have a new experience for the first time in life. I was excited to see a girl belonging to Kerala. I was also thinking to impress the family. Many similar scenes from some Tamil movies swayed across my mind, especially the sequence in Baghyraj film called “Thooral niinu pochchu! I was totally delighted.
Meanwhile, he changed many costumes and asked my opinion too. Finally he selected a shirt /jean combo and wore woodlands. That jean is too tight and seemed that he wore a girl’s one. I expressed my dislike over his selection; he seriously looked into my disliking by asking me many times.
As I was also in a mood to impress the family, I got ready by just refreshed.
He finally got ready with the same costumes which I showed my disliking earlier.
“This is the only jean I am having washed and cleaned” he said, but that blue colored jean too looked grey-a typical example of Ryan’s consciousness over cleanliness. If some one asks him to pay attention on his clothes he will readily shut his mouth by saying,” it happens in bachelor’s life man! It means according to him bachelor phase of life can have all sorts of excuses.
As his bike was broke down we have to go by “pat-pat” RTV again. We started moving. I asked him whether he informed them about our arrival.
“Yeah! Yeah! They were well informed. It’s a landmark called Rana’s hospital and they will be there to pickup us”, he replied. We got down and were taken to that girl’s house by the broker after waited for almost 15 minutes in front of the hospital.
The broker was a very lean guy at his verge of 30; casually wore and having a guilty face. He talked with Ryan and they conversed very meekly with each other. I was not eager to hear their conversations. Ryan introduced me to him as his friend working in Delhi. That broker spoke in broken Tamil and a neat Malayalam.
“I have asked you the profile and photograph; you haven’t provided me still”, Ryan questioned him. The Broker replied, “Come, see and talk to the girl in direct”. He didn’t answer Ryan’s query directly; instead he proposed a new way. “You bastard”, I said to myself.
After 10 minutes of walk we were taken into a house. It was a two storied building, having four separate flats. The entire area was foul smelled. There was a narrowed stair case. I saw a girl who smiled at us while our entry at the first floor. We were greeted and received by an old couple and a young boy at his late 20s, “May be girl’s parents and brother”, I thought myself.
Room was not that much torched even though the tube light was energized. We were asked to sit. We sat and started conversation. The broker introduced us old couple as girl’s parents. The broker became mute afterwards, “He is doing his duty correctly by allowing the two sides to speak directly” I thought.
The old couple was silent initially and the silence was broken by the old man. On later stages the old woman also used to speak and converse with Ryan and me. Both of them were fluently speaking Tamil.
“My wife is a Tamilian belonging to Karur district of Tamilnadu, I worked in Chennai for more than 10 years. I belong to Alapey of Kerala. We are having six children: two sons and four daughters. Two elder daughters who were already married, now we are looking for third daughter and that is our family photograph”, the old man said and showed a family photograph hanging on the wall.
As the hall where we sat was poorly illuminated we couldn’t grasp immediately the faces in the portrait. The old man inferred our difficulty in identifying the faces in the photograph and asked that young boy to illuminate the tube light on that side too. “He is my younger son working in Honda as an Engineer at “Manesar” ”, he added and the boy threw a warm smile at us.
After lighted the other side tube light, it looked better and enough to identify the images in the group photo.
“From left, the two standing couples are my In-Laws with my elder daughters respectively; among them the first one is settled at Ahemedabad and second daughter is settled at Trivandrum. Next to them are my younger son and my daughter-in law, next to them are my two younger daughters and my elder son”, he gave the introduction in a speedy manner as if he was in a hurry to catch a flight.
We couldn’t recognize the younger daughters and elder son’s face properly as the images itself looked like blurred.
I said to that young boy, “you look too short in the photograph”. Everybody withered a readymade smile and I liked to say that “it’s not mandatory to show your smile for each and every non senses expressed and delivered by the boy side”.
Ryan asked,” Where your elder son is and what he is doing?”
The old man replied and showed his hands towards the broker, “He is our elder son”
“Can’t you recognize him in the photograph? He is my elder son was working in Orchid Chennai as Shift In-Charge and left the job just a year ago. Now he is doing the Marriage linking service by his own”, the old man bombed us cruelly.
We never expected this from the old man. We both were felt like nailed at our secret organ. This Bastard broker has not even revealed that he was urging Ryan to visit his house; for his sister. We got wild on him. He dropped his head down while we saw him. He didn’t even attempt to say anything.
“What?” Ryan shouted. I realized the situation and to make him calm I pressed his hand to see me. “Don’t you know that?” the old man asked us.
“Yeah! Yeah! We knew it. He is joking”, I lied. To avoid unnecessary hassles in that spot we decided to maintain the hidden fact and drama created by their elder son cum broker as secret with ourselves. My head started aching on repeatedly thinking about broker’s betrayal.
As we were bombarded by the drama created by their son we were dumb for a while. I observed that our silence was creating some noises in that hall; I pinched Ryan to reply his versions for the old man’s queries. Ryan was replying without any interests and trying to show that nothing was happened. Meanwhile a maid girl came & smiled at me and served us soft drinks and some home made eatables. I was not in a mood to take any stuff. The foul smell prevailing all around the building enhanced my head ache in addition to the feeling of being deceived.
Clean silence prevailed after the old man’s queries completion. Still, that “bastard” broker has not raised his head and said anything to us.
(Will end in next post-Sathish)
Ryan continued, “Father also added, as they were aware of your being in Gurgaon, they invited you to visit their house and have few words with them”.
“Initially I was confused but later astonished by my father’s reply that he has not even seen girl’s photograph and her profile. Profile too not detailing her much”, He said.
I said, “Then what is pushing you to go like this? We can wait until they provide us her photograph and profile”.
He said, “I asked that person: a Keralite, who is working as a marriage broker here, whose contact details were provided me by my father’s friend just 10 days ago to contact and ask for the details which I need”.
Ryan continued, “During initial conversation he said that he would bring those things to my flat but he didn’t; requested me almost thrice to visit the house as per their invitation. Also he insisted me to see and talk to the girl directly during my visit. I totally disagreed and asked him to bring the profile and photograph; he has agreed but not given yet”.
“We will demand again and get the profile and photograph first”, I said.
“I too thought like that till this morning. Also, I skipped broker’s continuous requests to visit there without seeing the profile and photograph at least once. But last Saturday I got a call from the family and they invited me to their house. But I skipped them too by lying that I have to go Mumbai for an official visit on that day”, Ryan completed.
“They called and invited me again today morning; this time I accepted their invitation in an unavoidable scenario. But last Saturday I was not prepared to face. After continuous compulsions from both the ends I today decided to go. For that I needed a victim, who can be better than you”, he laughed as if he cracked a joke of millennium.
I stared at him but very much ready to have a new experience for the first time in life. I was excited to see a girl belonging to Kerala. I was also thinking to impress the family. Many similar scenes from some Tamil movies swayed across my mind, especially the sequence in Baghyraj film called “Thooral niinu pochchu! I was totally delighted.
Meanwhile, he changed many costumes and asked my opinion too. Finally he selected a shirt /jean combo and wore woodlands. That jean is too tight and seemed that he wore a girl’s one. I expressed my dislike over his selection; he seriously looked into my disliking by asking me many times.
As I was also in a mood to impress the family, I got ready by just refreshed.
He finally got ready with the same costumes which I showed my disliking earlier.
“This is the only jean I am having washed and cleaned” he said, but that blue colored jean too looked grey-a typical example of Ryan’s consciousness over cleanliness. If some one asks him to pay attention on his clothes he will readily shut his mouth by saying,” it happens in bachelor’s life man! It means according to him bachelor phase of life can have all sorts of excuses.
As his bike was broke down we have to go by “pat-pat” RTV again. We started moving. I asked him whether he informed them about our arrival.
“Yeah! Yeah! They were well informed. It’s a landmark called Rana’s hospital and they will be there to pickup us”, he replied. We got down and were taken to that girl’s house by the broker after waited for almost 15 minutes in front of the hospital.
The broker was a very lean guy at his verge of 30; casually wore and having a guilty face. He talked with Ryan and they conversed very meekly with each other. I was not eager to hear their conversations. Ryan introduced me to him as his friend working in Delhi. That broker spoke in broken Tamil and a neat Malayalam.
“I have asked you the profile and photograph; you haven’t provided me still”, Ryan questioned him. The Broker replied, “Come, see and talk to the girl in direct”. He didn’t answer Ryan’s query directly; instead he proposed a new way. “You bastard”, I said to myself.
After 10 minutes of walk we were taken into a house. It was a two storied building, having four separate flats. The entire area was foul smelled. There was a narrowed stair case. I saw a girl who smiled at us while our entry at the first floor. We were greeted and received by an old couple and a young boy at his late 20s, “May be girl’s parents and brother”, I thought myself.
Room was not that much torched even though the tube light was energized. We were asked to sit. We sat and started conversation. The broker introduced us old couple as girl’s parents. The broker became mute afterwards, “He is doing his duty correctly by allowing the two sides to speak directly” I thought.
The old couple was silent initially and the silence was broken by the old man. On later stages the old woman also used to speak and converse with Ryan and me. Both of them were fluently speaking Tamil.
“My wife is a Tamilian belonging to Karur district of Tamilnadu, I worked in Chennai for more than 10 years. I belong to Alapey of Kerala. We are having six children: two sons and four daughters. Two elder daughters who were already married, now we are looking for third daughter and that is our family photograph”, the old man said and showed a family photograph hanging on the wall.
As the hall where we sat was poorly illuminated we couldn’t grasp immediately the faces in the portrait. The old man inferred our difficulty in identifying the faces in the photograph and asked that young boy to illuminate the tube light on that side too. “He is my younger son working in Honda as an Engineer at “Manesar” ”, he added and the boy threw a warm smile at us.
After lighted the other side tube light, it looked better and enough to identify the images in the group photo.
“From left, the two standing couples are my In-Laws with my elder daughters respectively; among them the first one is settled at Ahemedabad and second daughter is settled at Trivandrum. Next to them are my younger son and my daughter-in law, next to them are my two younger daughters and my elder son”, he gave the introduction in a speedy manner as if he was in a hurry to catch a flight.
We couldn’t recognize the younger daughters and elder son’s face properly as the images itself looked like blurred.
I said to that young boy, “you look too short in the photograph”. Everybody withered a readymade smile and I liked to say that “it’s not mandatory to show your smile for each and every non senses expressed and delivered by the boy side”.
Ryan asked,” Where your elder son is and what he is doing?”
The old man replied and showed his hands towards the broker, “He is our elder son”
“Can’t you recognize him in the photograph? He is my elder son was working in Orchid Chennai as Shift In-Charge and left the job just a year ago. Now he is doing the Marriage linking service by his own”, the old man bombed us cruelly.
We never expected this from the old man. We both were felt like nailed at our secret organ. This Bastard broker has not even revealed that he was urging Ryan to visit his house; for his sister. We got wild on him. He dropped his head down while we saw him. He didn’t even attempt to say anything.
“What?” Ryan shouted. I realized the situation and to make him calm I pressed his hand to see me. “Don’t you know that?” the old man asked us.
“Yeah! Yeah! We knew it. He is joking”, I lied. To avoid unnecessary hassles in that spot we decided to maintain the hidden fact and drama created by their elder son cum broker as secret with ourselves. My head started aching on repeatedly thinking about broker’s betrayal.
As we were bombarded by the drama created by their son we were dumb for a while. I observed that our silence was creating some noises in that hall; I pinched Ryan to reply his versions for the old man’s queries. Ryan was replying without any interests and trying to show that nothing was happened. Meanwhile a maid girl came & smiled at me and served us soft drinks and some home made eatables. I was not in a mood to take any stuff. The foul smell prevailing all around the building enhanced my head ache in addition to the feeling of being deceived.
Clean silence prevailed after the old man’s queries completion. Still, that “bastard” broker has not raised his head and said anything to us.
(Will end in next post-Sathish)
