I’ve always found the idea of arranged marriage to be weird… yeah you can blame that on ‘The Sound of Music’ and the various Disney fairy tales I’ve watched growing up. I mean after watching Maria and the Captain fall in love and sing in the gazebo who would wanna settle for an arranged marriage. I remember all the drama and the turmoil leading upto my wedding, it was of course arranged and I had absolutely no idea bout the guy. The only thing that caught my interest was his name, he was named after a Shakespearean character in the Merchant of Venice – Antonio. Now, who wouldn’t love that name… of course I don’t like it when people go ‘Oh Banderas’, cause I hate Antonio Banderas, I love Antonio Vivaldi though. So I guess what I’m trying to say is God knew what would pique my interest and he sent a character named guy along, knowing that I was crazy bout books and characters. And no, we rarely spoke to each other before we got married and I had met him only twice before the wedding (the first was when his folks had come home to see ‘the girl’ and then at the engagement), so in all aspects he was a stranger to me and to my family. And I was kinda worried like any normal person would when getting into a new family, so while saying the vows in church (which I never understood in the first place cause I was repeating something after the priest in Tamil) I was like, so God even though I am saying ‘I do’ what I really mean to say is ‘I will try to do’, cause I have no idea what You are getting me into, but You usually know best so I’ll go with the flow. And now I can almost see God winking at me, cause He knew everything would turn out fine . I don’t think I would have been able to find a better guy myself, I gotta hand it to Tonio’s parents… they did a pretty good job bringing him up.
You are probably wondering why I am rambling on like this… well, it’s because the same drama is being played again back home with my younger sister and I know exactly how it feels. I know how the parents feel too, if you’ve read ‘City of Joy’ by Dominique Lapierre then you’ll know how huge a responsibility it is in India for parents to see their kids happily married. The point is the universe has a way of working things out, all we have to do is go with the flow and take initiatives… eventually things will fall into place. There… I’m done with my advice. Now can we all relax and take a deep breath and feel the pulse of the universe beating within us, just follow her rhythm and find your groove along the way. I really should get a life and stop watching ‘Dharma and Greg’….
PS: The title is a quote by Carl Sagan an astronomer who was fascinated by our universe.
Your arrival into marriage is so different from my own. It's fascinating to read about it, such a different perspective and yet clearly one that works in your culture. Thanks.
Such a nice and wise write up.. God is just amazing in pairing up people but I do feel that he does that for those blessed with a good heart… guess you are one of them.
P.S loved the title! 😀
Karen, loved this bit from your life. As a person who is on the verge of getting married, I was nodding but of course mine is not an arranged marriage.
Glad that you like Vivaldi. His "Four Seasons" is one my favourite pieces.
I wish your sister all the best.
Joy always,
Susan
P. S: There always seems to be some function at your place. A very busy family indeed.
I hope your sister too finds a story as memorable as yours. This life, I tell you, can be godamned mysterious sometimes the best thing is sitting right at our feet and we are looking far and beyond. We need singals every now and then or the next best option would be to close our eyes and go with the flow, like you did girl !
Good post! well, it's tough while you're going through it so I'll say "poor Nam"! I hope it all boils over well and quick!
Hi Elisabeth, weddings here are so different from yours… I would like to hear bout your wedding though 🙂
Gibsy, I remember reading bout your wedding on your blog… I loved that whole story, it was cute!
Susan, all ready to tie the knot… that's great news! Hope you have a wonderful wedding ceremony, looking forward to reading bout it on your blog.
Sandhya, yeah life is like a sine wave… with equal measures of ups and downs all we have to do is go with the flow and hope for the best.
Yeah Anju, I hope so too… I hope everything turns out alright.
And Susan, Four seasons is what made me fall for Vivaldi, I love it. You can almost feel the sunshine and the warmth of the deep blue sky… in his tunes.
Best wishes for your sister's marriage.
Thanks, mahesh… I should wish you the same 😉 . any news on the horoscopes?