The Story of Ramya – Short Social Story on Live-in
Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com
This story starts on a traffic light where there is a mother and a daughter in a car. There is tension in the air and the mother is very worried as to what her daughter will do in the near future. Mohini the mother, an attractive looking woman, is a worried woman today as she is helpless with regard to the present situation her daughter has created for herself. Ramya the daughter of Mohini is an independent, smart and extremely intelligent girl, who believes in taking decisions for her life and does not like anyone interfering in her life even if that person is her mother or her father.
Ramya had been a hosteller since childhood and was used to being on her own since years and now when she had to take certain important personal decisions, she did not feel that she had to give any importance to what her parents were telling her to do, or what were the social norms. Ramya was a hard- working and intelligent student who scored well in her exams and after she completed school and college, she found a lucrative job in New Delhi and was looking forward to a new life ahead along with her boyfriend and a new job.
Everyone in Ramya’s family especially her mother were absolutely shocked as to what should they do or say with regard to Ramya’s decision of living-in with her boyfriend. Her family was a respected and well- to- do family in society and if the daughter of the family takes such a drastic decision of living -in with her boyfriend and not marrying him, then it was something which was very difficult to digest for anyone who knew the family and for the values for which they stood for. It was something unimaginable as the family had orthodox and conservative values and the traditional way of marrying and settling down in life was the accepted norm . So, when Ramya thought of moving in with her partner and then living in the same city where she was born and brought up and where everyone knew her closely,then everyone was not only shocked but very sad and disappointed with her.
No matter how much India progresses and no matter how much Indians call themselves broad-minded in the present scenario, somewhere deep down Indians are conservative and they cannot accept the fact that a girl and boy should live-in together without getting married. Ramya had taken the decision after a lot of thinking and discussing things out with her boyfriend. She was in a job which required a lot of travelling and she wanted to make sure that despite her hectic job, her boyfriend, who may become her future husband , would not have any problems with her job and her lifestyle after marriage.Moreover even when she would be in town, she would have an equally hectic lifestyle as she had huge friend circle and she was used to partying and clubbing. Only because she was marrying her boyfriend, or living in with her partner, she did not want to change her lifestyle at any cost as she loved it a lot.
Ramya did not want to have ugly fights with her boyfriend or future husband over her hectic lifestyle of travelling for her job and her partying ways. She was wise enough to let her boyfriend , be aware of her life after marriage, so that he is mentally prepared for it and he adjusts according to it. If you view it from Ramya’s point of view then you will feel that she is right and whatever she is doing in living in with her partner, but when you view from a social point of view then you will not support Ramya, especially if you are an Indian.
Nowadays I know that the present generation has set up a new set of values according to their convenience, like the “No strings attached”, relationship where the girl and boy are only together for sex and and they are not answerable to each other for any of their actions.But, still there is a huge proportion of youngsters who still follow the regular norm of marrying and then settling down, though there are more love marriages than arranged marriages, now, but that is alright as long as the girl and boy are happy.
Coming back to the story, Ramya was having this discussion of moving in with her boyfriend the next day in the car with her mother, to whom she was very close and Mohini was not able to convince her daughter that getting married was very important as it was socially acceptable. She told her daughter that if things did not go right with her boyfriend and she would have to leave her boyfriend or her boyfriend leaves her due to some differences, then no one would come forward to marry Ramya as any person would want a previously unattached woman as his wife and not a woman who was already in a live-in relationship with a boy.
Things were complicated and no one not even Ramya knew what would happen in the future and the family was facing flak from all sides as they were not able to convince Ramya to not move in with her boyfriend.They could not force her also as she was an adult and law was on her side and they could not do anything and they were helpless.
The big question was as to now what would happen.Would Ramya have a peaceful and exciting life with her boyfriend, or would her boyfriend leave her midway and then what would happen of Ramya. If the live-in arrangement was successful and Ramya would tell her parents that she wanted to continue living-in for five more years before she actually marries her boyfriend, then would her family accept her decision and during this time if she has a baby then what would be the future of the baby without a legal name to the relationship of his parents.
Well as luck would have it Ramya did have the initial hiccups in her relationship with her boyfriend. She was not expecting certain things which her boyfriend did related to some situations and she was shocked as to how he behaved in a certain way with regard to other situations. She was pleasantly surprised when her boyfriend cooperated with her in every way when she travelled and understood her job pressures in a very understanding way. The things that shocked her were, the way he was possessive of her when she had to party late night, sometimes with friends and sometimes with office colleagues.He wanted her to be home on time and spend time with her and not spend most of her weekends with her friends and colleagues. She had thought that her boyfriend was broad-minded and he would accept her lifestyle. But she was wrong and when all the matters were clear in between them and things could not reach a compromise, then they parted ways as expected.
Thankfully she did not have a baby during this time, but this whole experience made her wiser and she understood the meaning of marriage in a relationship. She understood the security of a family when you get married and how it is not only the girl and boy who get married but also the families get related with each other. The two families provide a lot of support to both the girl and the boy and they lead a happy and content life together with each other for the coming years. She also understood that after marriage every woman has to change herself according to the situation and she cannot continue living the same life as she did when she was unmarried, unless she has has a like-minded husband who also lives the same lifestyle as hers.
She finally understood the wisdom in her mother’s words and she told her that she was ready to settle down in her life with a boy of their choice or if she did fall in love with another boy then she would marry him and then settle down in marital harmony with him.
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