Romantic Short Story of Arranged Marriage – Union of sorts.
Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com
Her’s was an arranged marriage. She pondered over these two words “Arrange marriage”, just by definition, it meant it is not decided by the two partners in crime directly. Is it decided without their consent and later the elderly people convince the said parties to comply with the choice or is it to simply conform to the non visible societal norms.
Well, She didn’t have much choice for the judgement to make. She was now married to the man who came riding on the white horse and like a knight in shining armour for her family.
Her parents and extended relatives showered blessings relentlessly and wished the newly-wed couple a never ending happy married life. As far as Asha was concerned, she just went with the flow of the duties to be performed. She didn’t stop to really think and understand all the myriads of emotions running through her mind the whole time. She was just “OK” being present where asked or rather demanded to be.
Asha was bleak in her existence, she didn’t demand much of the time and life. She was happy being herself and wasn’t sure of her future. She was never asked by her family if she wanted to marry at all. It was decided on her behest.
Coming to the present day, here she was married to Ashish, her now wedded husband, till a night before he was the would-be husband and her friends left no stone unturned to bombard her with all the information and task lists to be endured now that she was to wed. She had silently made a note of all the things, obviously, her mind couldn’t restore all of it and felt remorseful on forgetting, convincing herself as to what she had forgotten must have been the most important duty that she needed to comply with.
Ashish, on the other hand, was very much ready for the marriage. He was convinced of his choice and was more than happy to get married. Participating actively in all the festivities around the marriage ceremony. He was happy to bring Asha as his newly wedded wife and start a new chapter in his life.
He did meet Asha on various occasions before the ceremonies, but those meetings were not fruitful and there was not much conversation between the two. She was a shy person and wasn’t open about her thoughts, which he surmised to be the wedding jitters. He was a patient person and wanted her to take her time to settle in. The whole life lay ahead of them to be with each other, to share and witness their lives with each other.
On the wedding day, during the ceremonies, he had tried hard to talk to Asha, but to no luck. There was no response or apparent effort from the other side. He still waited. The marriage rituals were complete and they were now officially pronounced as man and wife.
He was given all sorts of ideas by his friends as the night progressed and he sheepishly heard them all. The view of things on his side of things were pretty different to Ashas. Asha was badgered to be a dutiful wife and Ashish was simply having fun.
The door was shut by Ashish.
Asha was already sitting on the corner edge of the queen sized bed. The bed, which erstwhile belonged to him had one more person to claim and it finally hit him that he now would be sharing everything with her that once proudly belonged only to him.
He had tastefully done up his room with posters of his favorite artists the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley adorning the walls and had an unbeatable collection of CDs of his favorites rock and country music. He had been never shy about expressing his liking and somewhere in his heart he was looking forward to finding a right soul mate who would share the same liking.
After a day long of performing various rituals, both of them were tired to the last atom of their bodies but still were pretty overwhelmed to be alone with each other on the first night of their marriage.
Asha in some way dreading this encounter and Ashish on the other hand was pretty excited for the same. He was loving the feeling of being married and his mind was playing weird games with him at this moment.
With the awkwardness creeping in from all sides of the room, somebody had to break the silence and get going. Finally, Ashish spoke,” Hi”, was the simple start but it speared through the silence in the room after a long chaotic day.
Asha cringed in the same spot which she has been guarding since the time she stepped into. She wanted to respond, she wanted to have a hearty talk and be good to her husband, yet she was afraid of what he would think if she just jumped in. She was silent.
Ashish came near to her and sat on the chair placed opposite to the bed. He looked directly at her and was astounded by her beauty. He had been wanting to tell her, that she looked beautiful the whole day but just couldn’t muster up the courage to do so. Now is the chance, spoke his mind. His heart was racing and got better of him. “You look beautiful; the pink saree looks nice on you. Do you like pink?”, Those were two long sentences and came out after the much deliberate effort. But he was happy to have begun the conversation.
Yes, is all she could say.
It had been quite some time that they had been sitting in the same position and not spoken much. He was getting restless, he wanted her to talk and let him know how she felt to be with him.
“Asha is there anything that you want to share and talk about”, it was simple enough for him to say and equally challenging for her to do so. She responded in negative.
Ashish wanted to counter that, but thought otherwise. He finally took her hand and placed the other on hers. She cringed at that feeling, but didn’t retort.
“I would be very happy if you spoke your heart out to me. I am your husband now; in fact, I am your friend for life now. We should be best friends from here on.” Words came out assertively from his mouth.
She finally looked up and saw the care and concern in his eyes. She loved those eyes from the day she saw them, but never said anything.
Ashish had a faint smile on his face as he was talking. “It would be great if I get to know how you exactly feel, what you like, do not like, you have all the right to tell me and it will work likewise also.”
Asha was registering the words that came out of his mouth and kept her eyes toggling between his eyes and moving lips. She was getting comforted by his touch and more importantly his words. She finally felt something and didn’t want him to stop talking.
Ashish, with the best of his wits, continued, “We are now married for life and would be sharing everything. We would need, to be honest with each other and try not to hurt the other.”
He was amazed at all the good things that he could think of, understanding her apprehension and making her believe him.
With Ashish speaking to her, Asha was fully attentive to him and realized the thumping of her heart had somewhat settled and she was breathing with ease. “I am happy to have met you”, Asha was now talking.
She was submissive, but was open to talking and let out her feelings. There was a simple smile on Ashish’s face and his acknowledged her statement with a gentle hug.
Asha was now close to him and she didn’t feel the need to fight this feeling. She was comfortable with him being around. His words had made a definite impression on her mind and felt secure. They both were now smiling at each other and finally realized the commitment they felt towards each other.
They both hugged each other.
–END–
