“Marriages are decided in heaven and are only celebrated here on earth”.

This was Abhishek’s trademark answer when his friends asked him about his marriage plans.  Abhishek, an engineer, who after completing his MBA had just joined a big firm, was getting a salary that was more than what he had expected.

As was the case with most people of his generation in India, half of his life was spent in the licence raj period where a good job was rare, and a good job with a good salary was even rarer. The IIM’s were yet to make their mark, and women power was not such a celebrated word.  The latter half of his life, however, was different. India had opened its gate to liberalization, and now, there were new opportunities which did not exist before. Good jobs were abundant.  More and more women had started joining the professions of their interest. Women power and freedom had become the buzzwords. Even the world of Hindi movies had begun to change, where the hero began to resemble a normal human being.

Having settled in his new job, Abhishek decided to take the biggest decision of his life – he decided to get married. But as Abhishek loved to put it, “it was a collective decision”. As it usually is the case with most Indian middle-class households in India, Abhishek’s time to get married was decided not by him alone, but by his parents, his relatives, his colleagues, his neighbours, his servants and even his doodhwaala.

Living his life in two extremely opposite times had affected Abhishek’s thought process in a big way. Now, when his friends asked him about his ideal partner, he would say, “ Well I do respect freedom for woman, I just want to have a wife who looks lovely (even black beauty will do), cooks well, loves to have children and takes care of me and my family. She must be a career woman(as I am in sync with the present times)… I won’t stop her from going to work… I think women must work or they will be bored.”

Once Abhishek gave the go ahead for marriage, his parents put up an advertisement for him in the local news paper. As it turned out, his profile became an instant hit with all the parents of the prospective brides. Within a couple of days, his parents had received almost fifty odd interests.

“So one of these girls would have a role to play in my part of the heaven,” Abhishek thought with a smile on his face.

After a lot of debate and deliberations, Abhishek and his parents were able to cut down the list to three. All the three had the qualities of shaktimata (womanized form of shaktiman, since Indians never had a super-heroine of their own).

***

It was a big day for Abhishek as he was going to meet first of his probable dream partner. He was quite excited, and a little anxious. He was supposed to meet Sweta (best of the three as far as looks were concerned) at a cafe.

While waiting for her, he thought, “If there could have been some quantifiable, verifiable and empirical data for a long term commitment then it would have been much easier to select the right soulmate.” But again, it was just a beautiful thought.

Just then Sweta appeared. They exchanged greetings and decided on what to order. Then, the important discussions started.

Abhishek started first, “So, what would you like to do after marriage?”

“Would like to continue working,” replied Sweta matter-of-factly.

“Great!” thought Abhishek. Three of his small requirements had been met. “She is beautiful, intelligent, and independent too,” he thought.

“Can you cook?” asked our hero.

“Yeah, but I am not an expert cook, I can only make simple dishes,” was the reply.

“Oh! that can be managed, even Sachin Tendulkar had a coach, and there is no end to learning,” thought Abhishek.

“So if you work, will you be able to manage the house,” asked Abhishek.

“Sorry I did not get you. What do you mean by managing the house?” asked Sweta.

“I mean, can you take care of the three variables i.e. my parents and my house, in addition to your job,” replied Abhishek. He always believed in rapid flow of information, but this flow of words was a bit too fast for Sweta, and didn’t go down well with her.

“Can I ask you a question before answering your question?” asked Sweta.

“Sure, after all it’s your life too.” replied Abhishek.

“You are looking for someone who is beautiful and independent, can cook, look after you, your parents, and also manage your house, right?”

“Yeah! Exactly!” replied Abhishek completely satisfied, and completely unaware of what was going to come next.

“Well, I can do all that, but, tell me,  if I do all these, what are you supposed to do?”

Abhishek was certainly not prepared for this question, and though he tried his best to reply , he could not come up with a satisfactory answer.

Finally Sweta said, “I don’t think we can be a good match, and you must continue with your partner search. But I would like to give you a small piece of advice – marriage is a union between two individuals who are supposed to be with each other, through eternity even. Therefore, whatever conditions you have put up for your would-be partner, just think whether you can fulfill the same when required.”

Thus, ended the meeting and the possibility of this marriage made in heaven.

Nonetheless, it was a huge learning experience for Abhishek, and it had cost him only a few hundred Rupees at the cafe.

“Even Sachin Tendulkar got his first international one day hundred in his 80th game,” Abhishek thought as he walked out of the cafe.

He had two more girls to meet, and two more experiences to learn from.

(Image courtesy: svilen001 From sxc.hu)