Monday, January 6, 2014

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.

33 comments:

  1. Ah the things we do for friends I tell you...Glad that things worked out for your friend, convincing parents for a love marriage is no easy task.

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  2. Thanks for your comments Reshma. You are right. We do things for our friends that will look stupid in the future.

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  3. It must be so much fun reminiscing about such incidents from the past!! What fab stories they make! :)

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  4. hahah! that's a sweet love story..like they show in Hindi movies!

    :)

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  5. I really enjoyed the story. You are right love marriages was a big no no in those days. I am happy to know that they finally succeeded in getting married.
    That was really good.
    Now times have changed so much, that parents themselves are advising their children to find their own life partners.
    Today we are the type of people who have experienced that life and are experiencing this modern life too. Our children will never have the experiences which we had.

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  6. LOL. Actually, you should be proud of this incident - it should have been so adventurous :D

    Destination Infinity

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  7. haha..you guys tried to do something that they do in movies. Happy to know that P and your friend were able to marry. So did their parents accept them?

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  8. Thanks for your comments Shilpa. Yes it was fun. You should have seen P's face.

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  9. Thanks for your comments Ankita. Thinking back, yes, it is a sweet love story.

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  10. Thanks for your comments Rama. I agree with you that things are different nowadays.

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  11. Thanks for your comments Rajesh. Yes, it was adventurous. If I have to redo it again, I would lie about my name and where I work.

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  12. Great Story.
    Love Marriages always have a happy ending.

    Regards,
    Romeo and Juliet
    Cleopatra and Mark Antony
    Layla and Majnun

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  13. Thanks for your comments Ash. Yes, their parents agreed finally. The villain (my uncle, who was P's dad's friend at office) convinced P's dad to agree.

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  14. Thanks for your comments 6 unlucky losers. Yes, love marriages do have happy endings. Look around you.

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  15. You are a good friend and the best part is that they had happy ending:)

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  16. Thanks for your comments Renu. Yes, they had a happy beginning.

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  17. That's an interesting post. How did the girl's dad react after he came to know you were the fake uncle? Did you ever meet him again.

    It made a nice read, thank you.

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  18. Thanks for your comments Asha. He was more upset at his daughter and my friend than me. (I only agreed to THEIR idea.) Yes, I met him once, after their (R&P) marriage. He is a gentleman Treated me and my wife with respect.

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  19. It could be dangerous situation.
    One may land up in a vert sensitive and embarrassing scene.

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  20. This could turn into a novel. And you could have done wrong :b but so good they got married, I like happy endings! And I've done a lot of stupid things... Like when I was thirteen years old and I fell in love with my teacher. I declared myself to him by Orkut. Shame, where was I thinking? The whole school knew. But it's ok, it's just a blast !

    Hugs

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  21. Thanks for your comments Mr. Chowla. Yes, it could have turned into an ugly situation. But fortunately it did not.

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  22. Thanks for your comments Ashwini. If it ended in a happy note, they do make wonderful memories.

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  23. Thanks for your comments Camila. Don't worry. You were only 13. You were too young. Just a passing cloud.

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  24. I don't know how stupid what you did was. But what I know is that you went with your friend, no matter what. That is what matters. Kudos to you.

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  25. Thanks for your comments Karunesh. I still remember P's facial expression (saying thank you to me) in her house when I was talking to her father.

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  26. hahaha
    all is well that ends well :)
    good that they got married and good that U guys discuss it happily now :)

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  27. Thanks for your comments Afshan. It ended well so all are happy.

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  28. Ha haa :D Enjoyed reading this sweet love story :) Imagining how you all were feeling when you were caught! Thank God! Their story has a happy ending :)

    Regards,
    Sindhu
    Tantu
    The Arts & Me

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  29. Thanks for your comments Sindhu. Since it ended happily, we like to talk about it.

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  30. Hahahaha! that was awesome!! :P
    These stupid things we do make us laugh later..since I am young, now I'll look for ways for my friends to do stupid things or do them myself so that I can laugh later

    Write about their story- how exactly they got married...I am sure there are more hilarious events worth sharing :-)

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  31. Hahaha my God. Tamil guys are frisky and so ready to take chances for their love and life... this is what I am gathering from the posts around :)

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