Any Indian girl would know
that one of the toughest things for us to do is escape marriage. You get a
certain age, and all people want to hear from you is- when are you settling
down. They don’t care about how well you are doing in life or if you are doing
well at all. When you try to evade the question politely then the next question
you get asked is if you have someone special in tow? If you don’t have any
exciting info then people think that you are being sly....its quite an ordeal
believe u me.
So I generally have
been dealing with this whole gang of uncles and aunts who get all quizzical
every time I visit my folks. It doesn’t matter that you are doing well for
yourself (one of them was mortified to hear of my promotion last year. In her
view the more i earned the more difficult it would be for my folks to find a
right guy for me!). Don’t even ask me how they reacted to the news of me taking
a year off for studies. All I can say is that i love my folks for understanding
what I want despite the dissenters that they have to suffer back home.
What irritates me is
that these are the persona non grata, who are not even remotely connected with
my life. Yet their loud and opinionated self is hard to ignore, especially for
my parents who have to deal with them socially. I am so glad that i can escape
the torture of their presence for months at a stretch.
The irony is that I do
want to settle down. I miss not having a company, or someone to share my
thoughts and life with. But i don’t want to settle into marriage out of pressure
from some rogue elements. We are each a unique person (pretty much a Square Root
of 3, in our own ways). We have our weaknesses, and our imperfections. We wish we were different, a square or an integer.
But we clearly are not....just when we come to accept ourselves the way we are,
the hunt to find someone like us begins (for conjugal bliss). The beauty lies
in finding another Square Root of 3, who will make us a whole number. Someone
who will make our rough edges smooth....someone who will accept our
‘irrationality’ and make it rational. I call it the Root 3 Syndrome...someone
who will complete us(sigh).
But what if i make a
wrong choice and end up with a 3 or a 9? Then i will just be longing to become
an integer all my life.....scary scary thought. To say ‘yes’ or not to say ‘yes’,
thats the million dollar question, my friend.
...........................................................................................................................................
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed