A Blast from the Past

We all do stupid things when we’re younger and then laugh about it later. Right?  I’ll admit that I did something stupid a few months after I got married.

 

I had a Tamil Brahmin friend (guy named R) who was in love with a Bengali Brahmin (girl named P).  Back in the day, a Tamilian marrying a Bengali was not easily accepted by the parents.  My friend had a lot of confidence that he could convince his parents to accept his decision.  The problem however, would be convincing the girl’s dad.

 

One day my friend went to the girl’s house to meet her father at their home.  He expressed his desire to marry P.  Now P’s dad is a straight up gentleman.  Instead of yelling at my friend or kicking his butt out of the house, he told my friend R to bring some elders from his family.  He said the elders from both families will discuss the issue and decide.

 

Now the ball is in my friend’s court.  He has to take an “elder” from his family to talk to P’s dad.  The problem is that my friend has not yet told his own family anything about his love for P.  Therefore he’s unsure on which elder to take from his family.

 

So what did he do?  He asked ME if I could come to meet P’s dad and represent myself as R’s uncle.  I said: Who?  Me?  As your uncle?  Dude, you and I are the same age. Who on earth would ever believe that I am your uncle?

 

My friend said, here’s the plan.  “My girlfriend P will let her dad know that I’m bringing my youngest uncle.  My uncle is the youngest of 11 children and R’s mom is the oldest.  Therefore they’ll appear to be around the same age.”

 

But still why ME?  His answer was that I was the only married guy in our group of friends…so I was the chosen one. And of course like an idiot, I agreed to do this.

 

So one evening my friend and I go to P’s house.  Her father welcomed us in and offered us tea and biscuits.  He asked me for my name and what I did for a living.  Here is where I made the mistake.  I told him my real name and where I really work.  I also told him that I got married recently.  He then talked about some problems associated with inter-state marriages, different customs and culture, different food habits, problems with raising kids, etc. etc.

 

I had absolutely no interest in what he was saying.  I just went there to help out my friend and his girlfriend.  While the dad was talking, my eyes were wandering around the house.  I saw a room that was partially open.  I could see P was listening to our conversation intently.  When we exchanged glances, she could tell by my facial expression that I really didn’t want to be there but I could see her expression and it was “thank you soooo much for doing this for us.”

 

A few days later…

 

Well it seems that P’s dad works at an office and has a best friend there whom he tells his problems to.  P’s dad said that his daughter loves a Tamil guy and he is unsure about what to do.  He said that he even met his R’s young uncle to get more perspective about R’s family and potential issues.

 

That office friend then asked for more details about this young uncle.  P’s father told him the details.  The office friend then said, don’t believe these guys.  They are trying to scam you.  I know this young uncle.  He is my nephew. He has no sisters.  He’s not the youngest of 11 children.  And he certainly is not R’s uncle.

 

Later that night P called me and told the whole story and wept on the phone.  There was absolutely nothing I could do to fix this.

 

Epilogue: A few months after that incident, my wife and I came to the USA.  Two months later we received their marriage invitation.  Last year, they (R and P and their 2 grown kids) visited us in California.  I was narrating this incident to the 2 children.  R just listened, smiled throughout and laughed it off.  P was blushing non-stop, still a little embarrassed as she just ran out of the room before I could finish the story.