Nirmala, Meera, around 20 relatives plus some villagers prepare to leave the house; conclusively Nirmala had implemented her plans to precision and had set up everything at the Guruvayoor temple. Just about six days and Sharada was witnessing "love-run-shut" case; mute Meera forced into a wedding to a stranger. Some things don't change; one of them being the so called "roots", its profoundly engrained into the psyche untouched by time. Currently in this instance “caste” playing the perfect criminal, banished Meera to marry the man of her preference. It is highly inhuman to expect Meera accept the “groom-to-be.” As Meera prepared her second innings with a stranger, it became evident in her repertoire that all she could go was this far, prove herself by running away. Meera had lost all the strength and was in no mood of conversation. Silence was killing but it communicated many things only understood by Sharada. The ‘air’ in the house was becoming heavier; the only thing Sharada wondered was there anyway she could help Meera. Difference of opinion kept racing in her mind, the same question in all ‘tenses’ sprang frequently; however, she eventually detached herself. It was important to help but it was also important to allow them to help themselves.
The current instance called for getting locked up for some more days, for Sharada. Nirmala arranged for a care taker to look after grandmother. Nirmala invited Sharada for the wedding; evidently Sharada excused herself; for the same old reason of some memories attached with some places and Guruvayoor was one of them. Sharada saw Meera leaving the house with blessings from grandmother. That’s it! Meera's eyes were wide open and she had set out to be a part of a strange world. A world that’s cruel, harsh, insensitive, unkind, heartless….
What will happen to her? She will also live. Like everybody else. May be work, have kids......but she will ‘Live.’ And about the boy; he will also ‘Live.’ That is what it is to "love" ....straight jacketed answer, people will move on and live and live another life. Nobody today has the time to wait and waste time thinking about someone. Broken one cannot go beyond two months, it is superimposed by "good moments" shared between two people; ask why it didn’t work then the answer is "they had different things to do with life"; "we cannot be happy in marriage"; "everyday life is important to me, our concepts of love is different"......Sharada wondered how did grandparents and parents live a long married love less life?
There wasn’t any specific agenda that called Sharada's presence in the working world, so in spite of her running away spree, she stayed back and mulled over all details.
Before Meera left, Sharada overhead some relatives suggesting various beauty tips; like applying turmeric paste before bath, cleaning up of unwanted hair using an eraser, applying appropriate oil and shampoo on hair - just imagine, pushing someone into undesired act to please and be presentable. It’s sad an auspicious occasion like marriage has come down to only to prepare the girl to be attractive. The days of describing woman’s beauty, dressing her in gold and “pattu saree” so that she ignites positive energy and spreads radiance is the feature only attributed to bygone era. People can be just insensitive; but may be there is a lesson to all of these; may be it is an opportunity to fix up things and the “faster the better.”
Sharada used to enjoy marriages especially she loved singing and every function had a mandate of mikes. She probably made love to a mike more often than the man himself. She would just run and grab it, it didn’t really require anyone to persuade her. One such occasion, when her uncle was getting married all her cousins from different cities (Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad etc) were home. They would sing in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, sometimes Telugu. English was very rare. One of her cousin's Uma was standing uneasy with tears in her eyes; of course Sharada being the oldest of all intervened to understand the situation. By now the girls’ strength had increased and there were about seven already trying to listen to Uma. She had a terrible stomach ache, it was a quick realisation, without any hesitation, Uma was pulled and taken inside the house; they all knew what the problem was. As Sharada readied a cloth piece and explain things to her, from nowhere came out a white rectangular cotton pad....Sharada was surprised to learn something like that helped women viz a viz a piece of cloth.
It was not a matter of exposure or awareness; it was more something to do with experimentation. Its like all these finite details are borrowed and followed within the household as it is inherited; and the bar of excellence is up to a "mother" and her encouragement to children how and when one should experience. Few things in life are excusable; one can blame the place and family. So Sharada convinced herself also with this reason and that widened her horizons. This passage is also to showcase how vulnerable, innocent, ignorant Sharada's upbringing throughout has been. Everything was black and white; and alas unaware of the conspiring world.
Sharada questioned, and answered all the questions. She wondered how women like her grandmother knew everything about all these. Some stories made deeper impact and one from the pages of history was this, Sharada had read that "Temple" structures and carvings on them were a way to educate woman. Men had the liberty to acquire worldly knowledge by indulging, socialising and reading; this exposure was limited when it came to woman. A man and woman relationship was understood and learnt from the little carvings on the temple structures. Marriage immediately calls for begetting kids, but talk about the process of creation and grandmother would give dirty looks. It was not in the books of women to familiarize their own kins with these things.
Meera belonged to now and her exposure to things would be much more than what Sharada had and all the more a reason for her forthcoming days to be good. Just wishing her the best and praying god for all the good things, Sharada had gone to bed, this time at 10pm.
The current instance called for getting locked up for some more days, for Sharada. Nirmala arranged for a care taker to look after grandmother. Nirmala invited Sharada for the wedding; evidently Sharada excused herself; for the same old reason of some memories attached with some places and Guruvayoor was one of them. Sharada saw Meera leaving the house with blessings from grandmother. That’s it! Meera's eyes were wide open and she had set out to be a part of a strange world. A world that’s cruel, harsh, insensitive, unkind, heartless….
What will happen to her? She will also live. Like everybody else. May be work, have kids......but she will ‘Live.’ And about the boy; he will also ‘Live.’ That is what it is to "love" ....straight jacketed answer, people will move on and live and live another life. Nobody today has the time to wait and waste time thinking about someone. Broken one cannot go beyond two months, it is superimposed by "good moments" shared between two people; ask why it didn’t work then the answer is "they had different things to do with life"; "we cannot be happy in marriage"; "everyday life is important to me, our concepts of love is different"......Sharada wondered how did grandparents and parents live a long married love less life?
There wasn’t any specific agenda that called Sharada's presence in the working world, so in spite of her running away spree, she stayed back and mulled over all details.
Before Meera left, Sharada overhead some relatives suggesting various beauty tips; like applying turmeric paste before bath, cleaning up of unwanted hair using an eraser, applying appropriate oil and shampoo on hair - just imagine, pushing someone into undesired act to please and be presentable. It’s sad an auspicious occasion like marriage has come down to only to prepare the girl to be attractive. The days of describing woman’s beauty, dressing her in gold and “pattu saree” so that she ignites positive energy and spreads radiance is the feature only attributed to bygone era. People can be just insensitive; but may be there is a lesson to all of these; may be it is an opportunity to fix up things and the “faster the better.”
Sharada used to enjoy marriages especially she loved singing and every function had a mandate of mikes. She probably made love to a mike more often than the man himself. She would just run and grab it, it didn’t really require anyone to persuade her. One such occasion, when her uncle was getting married all her cousins from different cities (Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad etc) were home. They would sing in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, sometimes Telugu. English was very rare. One of her cousin's Uma was standing uneasy with tears in her eyes; of course Sharada being the oldest of all intervened to understand the situation. By now the girls’ strength had increased and there were about seven already trying to listen to Uma. She had a terrible stomach ache, it was a quick realisation, without any hesitation, Uma was pulled and taken inside the house; they all knew what the problem was. As Sharada readied a cloth piece and explain things to her, from nowhere came out a white rectangular cotton pad....Sharada was surprised to learn something like that helped women viz a viz a piece of cloth.
It was not a matter of exposure or awareness; it was more something to do with experimentation. Its like all these finite details are borrowed and followed within the household as it is inherited; and the bar of excellence is up to a "mother" and her encouragement to children how and when one should experience. Few things in life are excusable; one can blame the place and family. So Sharada convinced herself also with this reason and that widened her horizons. This passage is also to showcase how vulnerable, innocent, ignorant Sharada's upbringing throughout has been. Everything was black and white; and alas unaware of the conspiring world.
Sharada questioned, and answered all the questions. She wondered how women like her grandmother knew everything about all these. Some stories made deeper impact and one from the pages of history was this, Sharada had read that "Temple" structures and carvings on them were a way to educate woman. Men had the liberty to acquire worldly knowledge by indulging, socialising and reading; this exposure was limited when it came to woman. A man and woman relationship was understood and learnt from the little carvings on the temple structures. Marriage immediately calls for begetting kids, but talk about the process of creation and grandmother would give dirty looks. It was not in the books of women to familiarize their own kins with these things.
Meera belonged to now and her exposure to things would be much more than what Sharada had and all the more a reason for her forthcoming days to be good. Just wishing her the best and praying god for all the good things, Sharada had gone to bed, this time at 10pm.
I would like to think this as a God's play... No matter how much ever one person is determined... things always happen the way it has to happen...
ReplyDeleteIs it true then... whatever happens happen for good... may be Meera's husband is very loving, caring and understanding... The guy who got married to Meera also should have faced a tough challenge (internally) to marry a girl who ran away with someone...