Are marriages made in heaven???

Well I m going to write about something which I feel I am not ‘experienced’ enough to write about. Still I ‘experienced’ one such event that they say lays the first step to approach towards marriage that’s ‘parents-relatives -boy-meet-girl-parents-relatives’ ceremony you can say. During the holidays after my 3^rd semester I attended one such ‘ceremony’ with my mom. That day I and my mom rushed to Iskcon Temple on my bike. As we reached there, we saw my uncle standing near the gate waving towards us. Three of us rushed on the stairs to the shrine [I always love the serene atmosphere inside it]. I saw my cousin sis sitting on the marble floor with hands folded and her helmet kept down besides her. May be she was praying to let her pass in the soon-going-to-start exam rather interview. All of us were having casual conversation when my mom barred me from going over the main podium [Reason: I didn’t had a shower by that time]. I just stood there only while they were offering prayers rather ‘body gestures’ before Lord Jagannath. Just then I saw a lady coming with a boy dressed in formal and casuals. I guessed they are the ones and I was right. They went to my mom and uncle. They had a brief conversation which I couldn’t hear. While they were descending down the podium, mom said ,“This is my boy” to which the lady from the ‘interviewer-board’ replied, “This is our boy” clutching the arm of her niece who had came to interview my cousin sis. Then and there I thought that this ‘trend’ may follow on and someday I would be on the other side.

             Thoughts apart, I saw that everyone were being too formal and counted the no. of times the boy had ‘informally’ glanced my sis in the meantime. As usual my mom was acting like a good host, she advised to go and sit over the Lakshmi Temple podium and start the process. All of us followed. We sat down like they do in round-table conference. I was besides my mom [this podium allowed me in besides the fact that I didn’t had a shower..well all ‘GODs’ don’t have ‘same’ status at the ‘same’ place :P]  and my sis was besides ‘his’ aunt. Ice breaker was my uncle [ironically from the interviewee board] who queried the boy regarding his office, work and job-period. Then mom started with queries from family background, native place, family members, parents etc. I guess, the candidates for the interview have interviewed the board instead. Well it’s a bad joke but I thought about this for a long while. After that, the lady asked the same questions to my sis to which she replied very clearly and promptly. I had a Iskcon booklet in my hand and I was going through the life-history of the founder of the organization. Sometimes I was going deep inside it and at other times I was using it as a medium to isolate myself from the process. Within 10 minutes, formal questions from both parties were over and everyone was thinking of the next question to throw upon each other. Till then it was just a question-answer round and I was getting real bored. Next round was then initiated by mom who hit upon the idea of ordering ‘bhoga’ for everyone from the Iskcon outlet. To this the opposite party resisted citing various formal and so-to-say-and-maintain-dignity reasons. After lot of persuasion we won. But it came as a boomerang to my thoughts. Mom and uncle left me with the opposite party and went to the store. Mom asked me loudly to start talking to ‘maybe-my-would be-jijaji’. So I changed my position and sat besides him. For 5mins or more there was utter silence when the boy asked me [‘coz mom forced it] “do you know about XYZ?”. I said, “no”. Later I came to know that XYZ was his friend who was a mediator between the parties and was yet to arrive there. This one was the only interaction between me and him. But then the important thing happened. He asked a question to my sis about the college she did MBA from and this led to other questions regarding my sis’s job. His aunt volunteered in this process. The overall process was one-sided and my sis was at the end-point. But it was ok that both of them had something to tell each other. I was getting severely boring by then and to my relief mom and uncle arrived with packets and paper dishes in their hands. We came down from the podium [its ban to relish inside the temple] and I helped mom and uncle to distribute the dishes. In the end the left-out was served to me but it contained 2 times more stuffs than each one of them have had. I am a gung-ho foodie. So I accepted it with grace and gobbled up everything before everyone did. The boy on the other hand came out to be totally choosy upon the Prasad like it can hamper his daily ‘diet-routine’. Since he took a single mithai, I devoured the rest. While eating I was scanning the no. of brand names that he displayed. Well it was a single count. ‘Killer Jeans’. It made me comfortable that he hadn’t adorned so many freaky brands since I have a discomfort zone near fellas displaying branded clothing in public, well it’s a bit personal, but never mind.

             The process was coming to an end and I was getting excited that the boring session will close. But that was never gonna-be. The “XYZ” about whom I was talking of arrived. Seeing his pal, the boy started being himself and stopped acting. They got well with each other soon. XYZ asked in a humorous tone, “Is everything over? Or something left for me to witness?”. Everyone broke into a laugh except me. [Reason: I was the youngest among them all and my only job was to listen] Then the boy and her aunt exchanged greetings with my mom and uncle and asked my uncle to come over to their native place in the near future to get things and relations further strengthened so that the ‘heaven-thing’ really remains heavenly.

             After that they left. Ohh gosh I breathed in relief and to my amazement my sis too. She told me “Its so difficult to act like a still-image. I think I have to rehearse for the next time so that it gets well with myself. Very boring” while she laughed. I supported her ‘feelings’ and added , “I was urging mom not to take me with her. It is gonna-be a boring session with no real outputs.” To this she said in a commanding voice “Then be prepared for your one”. I thought .. “well..well.. if that’s near..i will demand another chance so that I would grow up once again.” This is where ‘being young’ rocks.

             If marriages are made in ‘heaven’ then why the ‘hell’ we repeat it on ‘earth’??? Think about it!!