But that was it. There were no more questions from Anju. Actually, Anju is known to be quite an introvert. All our relatives say I am the noisy one, who talks back to elders and keeps getting into trouble. Anju is the quiet, good sister who is only bossy towards me. Getting Anju to take any kind of initiative in this venture seemed next to impossible. What gave me hope was she blushed every time I mentioned Ashok’s name. After three days, I realised that Ashok too was not going to make a move, although Kavita mentioned that he had inquired after Anju. I was sure they liked, if not loved each other at first sight.
Now was the time to marshal our resources. We turned to some of Amma’s old magazines. Anju had once read out some letter from some girl asking about the best way to get rid of pimples; we thought there might be something about love
as well.
“Listen to this,” said Kavita, reading out, “Find out his likes and dislikes and try to strike up a conversation regarding his favourite hobbies. This will make him interested in you and he will see you as an ideal partner.”
“It is worth trying, but how will they know each other’s likes
and dislikes?”
“From us, of course,” said Kavita impatiently. “We’ll draw up a list.”
After some extensive research, we sat down to compare our findings. Ashok played cricket and tennis; Anju wrote poetry. He read the occasional thriller, she avidly devoured romantic novels. She loved Chinese food, he loved tandoori.
She listened to classical music, he was a hard rock fan; her favourite movie was Pretty Woman, his was
The Terminator.
“It’s hopeless,” moaned Kavita.
“I don’t see any possibility of their tying the knot!”
I was rather optimistic. “Opposites attract,” I reminded Kavita. “They just have to start getting interested in what the other person likes.”
We decided that I would start off by getting Anju to watch Star Sports and Kavita would try to get Ashok to start reading poetry so they would have something to discuss the next time they met.
“Ashok plays tennis very well,”
I remarked, while Anju and I were fighting for the remote that evening. I had insisted on watching the US Open and Anju wanted to see one of her favourite cookery shows. “His favourite player is Federer,”
I declared. “He is playing now.”
“So what?” retorted Anju. “I don’t like watching this boring game.”
“But, Anju, it’s very exciting. Ashok said so.”
Anju sat through one game and kept asking me ‘What happened?’ and ‘Why are they clapping?’ Well, at least she was trying to learn.
Kavita reported that she had some success in getting him to listen to her reciting some poetry. It was time for the second meeting.
After much cajoling and crying, we managed to get our charges to escort us to see a film. I had to insist that my whole life would be wasted if
I wasn’t able to watch Fantastic Beasts. We would meet ‘accidentally’ at the ticket counter and would buy our tickets together. It was a good idea. Anju and Ashok looked delighted to see each other.
“What a pleasant surprise!” Ashok exclaimed. Anju simpered.
When we came out to buy popcorn during the interval, Anju and Ashok had already struck up a conversation.
“Did you watch the tennis match yesterday?” inquired Ashok.
“It was really exciting… and I am a big fan of Federer…” said Anju enthusiastically.
They actually seemed pretty friendly and completely ignored Kavita and me. Not that we minded. Before we went back into the theatre, I actually heard Ashok exclaim, “She was
a phantom of delight,” much to Anju’s delight.
It worked!
This was very encouraging and Kavita and I kept dropping those vital words and phrases to Anju and Ashok. Strangely, Anju never seemed to tire of listening to anything I said about Ashok. She looked cheerful and went about the house humming her favourite filmi tunes. Two more accidental meetings on the road went off very well and we were quite sure that they had fallen in love. I had even seen Anju get startled when I caught her speaking on the phone once, late into the night. She snapped, “Why do you want to know?” when I asked her about it, but flushed guiltily and turned away.
It was two weeks since we had commenced our campaign and we were satisfied with the progress. But somehow, nothing concrete seemed to be happening. Well, Kavita and I had got them quite far, surely, one of them would ‘pop the question’ soon. Meanwhile, Amma was getting more and more frantic and Anju was getting more vehement in her denial. Add to that, Ashok’s visa had come through. He was due to leave in two weeks.
“Why can’t they say something to each other?” asked Kavita desperately.
“Maybe they are not yet sure of each other’s feelings.” By now, Kavita and I seemed to have become experts on the subject of romance, thanks to all the novels we had researched. “Maybe, she is in love with someone else, maybe he has a terrible disease and does not want to burden her…” There were after all so many things we had not considered.
It was Sunday morning and our parents were making attempts to get an okay from Anju on the proposal. I was definitely curious this time. I hung around trying to see the pictures of prospective grooms my father held in his hand.
“I’d rather remain unmarried all my life,” Anju declared, shutting her ears again.
“At least look at this photo, even if you won’t meet him. Such a smart boy,” Appa insisted.
“We can go across to Kailash Apartments today, if you say yes.”
Suddenly, I was more than curious. My parents had not given up on the ‘good proposal’ yet.
I snatched the photo out of my father’s hand. It was Ashok, in a casual pose, looking away from the camera. He obviously didn’t know that this picture would be used to ‘bride-hunt’.
“Hey,” I said loudly, “He looks just like Kavita’s brother Ashok.”
That got Anju’s attention. She stopped on the way as she was marching off to the room.
“His name is Ashok,” my mother butted in. “He is going to the
US in a couple of weeks… A very well-qualified boy, also plays state level tennis…”
“Oh,” murmured Anju. She glanced at the photo just to make sure that it was really him.
“Anju, there is a very auspicious date next week. We all want a simple wedding only,” Amma and Appa said hopefully. This was the first time Anju had actually listened.
Anju shrugged her shoulders. “I give up,” she said, unconvincingly. “Do whatever you want.” Her face was averted, but I could visualise a secret smile playing about her lips.
After that, the elders took care of it all. Ashok made no protest when he was told of the news. Kavita told me that he in fact looked gleeful when shown Anju’s picture.
The wedding was held a week later. Kavita and I wore Kanjeevaram sarees for the first time and bustled about importantly.
“Was it a love marriage?” asked Anju’s friends.
She blushed and murmured, “A whirlwind romance.”
Amma confided to a close relative, “I am so glad we got such a good proposal for Anju. At last, she did agree to an arranged marriage!”
Kavita and I smiled at each other—only we knew the truth.
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