Beggary Bridegrooms
A strange thing happened last week when I was travelling in my car with a close friend of mine, Rajesh and was forced to stop a signal. While I was preoccupied on account of the heated conversation with Rajesh, my chain of thoughts was broken on account of one signal beggar knocking repeatedly at my car window. I was pulled out of my chain of thoughts by this strange scene! Instead of this beggar, I saw that it was actually Rajesh who was knocking at my car window with desperate expression resembling that of a hungry beggar who has gone without food for a year! I immediately turned to my friend so as to ensure whether my mind was not playing any trick on me! I did realize that my mind was certainly playing a weird trick on me as my friend was sitting right next to me and not begging as I was tricked into believing! Why is it that my mind superimposed my friend’s face on that beggar’s face? Now this friend of mine has a robust personality having been endowed with a 6 feet height and a broad frame on which a square face rests smugly! The poor beggar who was banging my car window was a skeletal looking man on whom providence was certainly unkind!
I did not tell my smug friend about my mind tricks for the fear of the fact that he would be offended! After all, it would be a mortal sin to compare an Upper-Middle Class Guy to a slovenly beggar! However, my mind, it seems, was at daggers with me! While I was watching news, my mind again superimposed Rajesh’s face, not only on the face of a house burglar in the news but also on the face of a terrorist and a corrupt CBI officer! I felt I had lost it! I mean Rajesh certainly cannot be a beggar, a house burglar, a corrupt officer and a terrorist in one vein! My mental imagery of Rajesh would make a devil look like a saint before him! Why was my mind demonising Rajesh? What was my sub-conscious mind trying to convey to me? What was the underlying message of these illusions? Why did I perceive Rajesh in the way I did? On what facts were these perceptions based? My mind was spinning at a furious rate! Just when my mind was getting bombarded with these crazy thoughts, the realization dawned on me that I saw the traits of a beggar, a burglar, a terrorists and a corrupt man in Rajesh at various stages of his life in the last two years!
My mind went racing to the stage right before his wedding! By some strange coincidence, I happened to be at his house when his then would be in-laws were at his plush flat! The father-son duo were telling Rajesh’s father-in-law with folded hands and with humility dripping in the honey laced voice of Rajesh’s father, “Hume Kuch Nahi Chaye, sirf shaadi Two Crore ki Honi Chaye… Hotel Taj Lands End Me…He He He He… Wo kya hai nai… Akhir hum samaaj me rehete hain… Baki ladki agar ek Jodi kapda leke bhi aa jayegi to chalega…Hume koi lalach nahi… Par samaj to samaj hota hain naa… He He He He”. (We don’t want anything. However, you should spend 2 crores in the wedding! After all we are answerable to the society! It is fine if you send your daughter in one pair of clothes. We are not greedy! After all society has certain norm!)
What was the difference between Rajesh, his father, and the slovenly beggar? Weren’t Rajesh and his father beggars in their own right? Assuming if they were not greedy, weren’t they begging to please the society? On the other hand, presuming if they were greedy, in that case, the beggar on the signal merits respect in comparison to these greedy father son duo! At least the signal beggar has a valid reason to beg! Is pleasing the society and/or adhering to superficial downgraded social values ever a valid reason for extracting an exorbitant amount from a family who is reposing so much of trust and faith in you? NO WONDER THAT MY MIND SUPERIMPOSED RAJESH’S FACE ON THE FACE OF THE BEGGAR!!!
A couple of days before the wedding we went out with Rajesh dinner! Rajesh was very happily narrating the details about his future fairy tale wedding! However, he pulled the carpet off my feet when he informed us proudly that his then would be father in law mortgaged his house to arrange for the fairy-tale wedding funds! I asked Rajesh why couldn’t they split the expenses if he was so keen upon having a fairy-tale wedding at the risk of digging his father-in-law’s financial grave? Rajesh gave me a dirty look and said “Are you out of your mind you fool?” This is a part and parcel of life! “Itna toh unko karna hi hoga… Agar ghar girvi rakha toh kya? Dheere Dheere karza chukka Denge”. (This is the least that they have to do! So what if they have mortgaged the house, they can repay the loan later.) Rajesh was perfectly comfortable snatching away his father-in-law’s house for his own selfish end! NO WONDER THAT MY MIND SUPERIMPOSED RAJESH’S FACE ON THE FACE OF THE BURGLAR!
I thereafter recalled the Tilak Ceremony! While we all friends were busy indulging in the wedding delicacies, I saw the terrorized expression in Rajesh’s would be father-in law’s eye! It appeared as he was scared to death! The look on his face was that of a man who may have just embraced death in all its glory! I couldn’t control myself and asked Rajesh if his father in law was okay? He told me not to worry! He further told me that there was a small problem about the Tilak amount! Rajesh’s father declared grandly in a short while that “Samdhji ji ne 5 lakh ke tilak par manzuri de di hain… Bas hume aur kuch nahi chahiye… Rajesh ke liye gold chain aur anghuti aur 5 lakh ka tilak… Itna toh banta hain.” (Rajesh’s in-laws have agreed to present Rajesh with 5 lakh cash in the Tilak ceremony! We do not want anything else. Just a gold chain and a gold ring for Rajesh and the Tilak Amount)! I was feeling giddy! Rajesh’s father-in-law was wiping the sweat off his forehead while talking to his relatives! Rajesh and his father succeeded in terrorizing him into doling out large amount of cash! NO WONDER THAT MY MIND SUPERIMPOSED RAJESH’S FACE ON THE FACE OF THE TERRIORIST!
What else could they have asked for? I-20 car! That’s it! So humble and selfless this father-son due were! Just a petty car! To go ahead with the marriage ceremony, this was the final pre-condition! It was as good as a file pushing clerk wanting a bakshish of Rs. 50 to push the file to the next table! It was as if Rajesh’s father-in-law was stuck in a bureaucratic bottleneck and was compelled to dole out large sum of cash to get his tender passed! NO WONDER THAT MY MIND SUPERIMPOSED RAJESH’S FACE ON THE FACE OF THE CORRUPT OFFICER!
2 years down the line, when I was travelling with Rajesh last week, the status was that Rajesh’s father-in law died of a heart attack within a short span of time as he couldn’t bear the financial pressure! Rajesh’s mother in law was forced to sell the flat and was compelled to move into a smaller rented house! Rajesh’s wife is a muted doll who perfectly fits the bill of the ideal Bahu who is confined to the kitchen and displayed like a trophy in social occasions!
Is this not a tragedy of the highest proportion? And the bigger tragedy is that we are perfectly comfortable with this! We entertain these people who are nothing but a combination of a beggar, burglar, a corrupt official and terrorist in one body and soul! It is extremely shocking that it doesn’t shock our conscience with having such friends around who are perfectly satisfied with this sordid state of affairs! We have to take a call! The next time when your friend comes and boasts to you about his wedding budget, prod further! And in case you see Rajesh’s reflection in your friend, I request you to crown your friend with a title of a beggar, a burglar, a terrorist and a corrupt official publicly! He has to realize that he cannot have a fairy tale wedding in the financial graveyard of his in-law! I hope you will do your bit in making him realize this! I hope you will do your bit in reducing and/or eliminating this social evil!
Lastly, I hope that you will not have a fairy tale wedding at the financial graveyard of your father in law!