The Perfect Match - A short story

All the 40 + something were scurrying around busier than top notch business executives, making those nth hour decisions as to the exact number of necklaces to adorn themselves with. All the diamond ‘mookuthies’ and earrings were carefully retrieved from the bank locker. Each ‘mami’ was eying the other carefully, making a quick mental math of the number of kilos of gold the other was wearing (weighing).
She was looking radiant in her ‘Koorai Pattu’, a temple goddess with the sparkling gold. Today, of course was Amma’s day really. She and not her soon to be wed daughter was the centre of attraction. She went back some thirty years when she was her daughter and how she looked exactly as her daughter did today. Ah!, she sighed with relief at how nothing had changed, education no education. Her all too intelligent, IIT Madras daughter with that much coveted MS from Amrica, was soon going to complete her doctoral programme too. She suddenly could not remember what was it that her daughter was doing a research in, not that it really mattered now, today more so. She just shrugged off her shoulders and came back to her blissful state of existence. She reached out for the invitation card, to see if the BTech IIT Madras, MS, Phd was spelt out correctly in bold and italics below Aarthi’s name. She smiled to herself, the satisfied smile of a lifetime at her daughter’s husband (to-be)’s qualifications which only too suited her daughter’s. She was happy, even faint traces of pride could be detected, a sort of self congratulatory smugness at how she had managed to get such a wonderful ‘mappillai’ for Aarthi.
All the running around, all the ‘jadagam’ exchanges, background check, recheck had really not been in vain. She had to sift through long lists of available ‘suitable candidates’, to shortlist the best and send across their 4 page long CV to her all too busy daughter. The system was well in place, and the marriages that used to take place in heaven were soon outsourced to terra firma, aided by the wide spread Internet Revolution. She was suddenly proud of her browsing skills which she felt was the sole reason that aided her in checking out so many eligible bachelors for her all too eligible 28 year old beauty. She adjusted her ‘thalapu’ ******, smiled at her still quite attractive reflection and hurried past singing ‘Kurai Ondrum Illai’, shaking her head vigorously. Quite apt, after all she had no regrets.

~ ~ ~ ~

A beautiful face, only 30 years younger smiled back from the mirror. This was her day, the one day that everyone from Amma, Appa, Chittappa, Chitti looked forward to right from her final year at IIT. That was almost six years back! So much had happened these few years that she soon lost all track of time. First her admit to the prestigious University of Illinois Urbana Champagne, which was her passport to the dollar land. For a modest Tam Bram family this meant all their dreams were going to come true. But of course sending a girl, unmarried to Amrica was quite something to digest. Aarthi, stubborn as usual had her way. She was Appa’s favorite daughter, and what is 2 years time after all. Those two years came and went by and Aarthi managed to shock the family yet again with her plans to do a PHD. The ‘family’ once again got together and much as there were quite a few of those dissenting voices screaming, ‘This is it! She is never going to be listen to any of us after this’, amma and appa decided to let her study. After all she was their daughter and would never let them down. Yippie! Aarthi was supposed to go crazy with happiness that her parents had granted her permission to lead few years of ‘her’ life the way she wanted to. She surely was the ‘kuduthu vechava’. This was the culmination of all their hopes and prayers and they were really happy today and could look back on all those years with so much happiness. Not only did they have one PHD holder in the family but 2, in fact 3 if they manage to ensnare Ranga’s younger brother for their yet another eligible daughter. This sort of resembled the all too famous marketing gimmick, ‘Buy one get one free’. She too had donned the ‘Koorai Madisaru’ today exposing just the right amount of those well shaped legs. Umm..she sighed, as she took out the snaps from the drawer and stole one last glance at those lovely photos exposing her legs in that faraway country. There were several photos, some alone still others cuddled next to him, taken with the camera in auto click mode. In all those years this was the one thing they had perfected. She remembered that particular day and those snaps all too well. The dinner at ‘his’ apartment, the snaps taken on ‘his’ bed! That was almost 2 years back or was it close to 3. Oh, how time flies! What would he be doing now, she wondered. He must be at his apartment, the same dinner, the same wine, only it wasn’t her but HER.

~ ~ ~ ~

Ranga was standing tall and seemingly happy, adjusting his ‘poonal’ and trying to remember Gayathri, the mantra not the girl. It had been so long since he had done the ‘sandhi’ or told the ‘abhivadhaye’ and was glad that his New York friends were not able to make it to the wedding. He would be quite a sight in his gleaming ‘veshti’ and bare chest with just a single thread running criss cross. He was at least handsome, unlike the bevy of semi naked, topless uncles, exposing with extreme pleasure their well rounded bellies and possibly vests. They could easily pit any stripper to shame at how easily they could strip the little they donned. Umm! But of course, he should be delighted, how many people manage to get ‘educated well-qualified’ brides through the ‘arranged system’. Anything from 12th pass out to a graduate in some obscure college seemed qualified enough in the arranged system, so maybe in that sense his wife (to-be) was over-qualified. Qualified or not she might at least be intelligent enough to pick up a book (quoting from her CV which read Loves reading books in the hobbies column), when he drifted into anything that caught his attention. Right now of course what seemed to distract him was the piece of white paper, folded twice over. He took it and read it for the hundredth time possible though he promised himself that it shall be the last time. He needn’t even have opened it to know what was there in it. He could have rattled it off, putting any school boys standing on the podium muttering the by-hearted poem for the recitation competition, to shame. But when he had held the letter for the first time, long ago, the words he knew so well now, just swam before his eyes.

Ranga,
I hate to be doing this to you but I found this man I have begun to love. In the beginning it was just plain platonic friendship but soon we started falling head over heels in love. So here I am moving out of your apartment, and your life for good. I have left the keys with the security guy.

Love,
R.

p.s:- Don’t sweeten your coffee too much, not good for health.

He remembered how it was just like her, to be so terse, point blank and practical. As he snapped back to the present, he wondered what she must be doing now. She must be having the same dinner, the same wine, only it wasn’t his apartment but HIS.

~ ~ ~ ~


Footnotes:-

Mookuthies – Nose rings. They come in all shapes and sizes from the 6 studded diamond to a single diamond stone

Mami – The tamil version of an aunt, actually any Tam Bram woman facing the mid life crisis

Koorai Pattu –The maroon colored saree adorned on such special occasions as a wedding.

Mappillai – The tamil version of a son – in – law, less the son more the lawful.

Jadagam – The horro(r)scope which spells your future the day u were born. This is to plan as is the nature of a Tam Bram for any possible eventuality. (This is pseudo Project management).

Thalapu – That part of the saree that falls gracefully on the above mentioned mami’s shoulders

Kurai Ondrum Illai- A carnatic song popularized by the all too famous MS, literally translation meaning ‘I have no regrets’

kuduthu vechava- The truly gifted, an oft cited remark which would be lashed out at any woman who manages to get a well educated qualified, possibly rich husband.
Koorai Madisaru – The sort of saree worn by the ‘sneering at Amrican girls exposing legs mamis’ on such special occasions as weddings, when care is taken to expose just the right amount of those fair legs, which distracts the men folk enough to notice, but falls well within the Brahmin code of conducts.

Poonal – A thread running criss cross across a Brahmin boy’s chest, which should of course be promptly removed when he indulges in ‘illegal’ activities

Sandhi – an evening ritual which any Bram boy from a good family and background should religiously do every evening.

Abhivadhaye – Rattling off of some mantras taking care to hold the hands close to the ears and standing half bent. A form of exercise the men folk indulge in I suppose.

Veshti – a transparent while cloth worn by the men folk around their waists, transparent enough to expose their hairy legs and sometimes possibly their vests.

Arranged System – A well defined system with all its processes in place where you arrange to conveniently fall in love after the Marriage.