Matri-Money

Marriages are sure made in Heaven..yes, the choultries get decorated to resemble one! I attended atleast two marriages in the last week. The one later was a sixtieth birthday-cum-marriage celebration. I saw happily bonded couples whispering silent endearments to each other while the crowd looked on merrily... most of them being reminded of their own marriages when they sat centerstage. It was a sight to see the bride of the 60 year old groom in tears at the precise hour of muhurtham whereas the new bride last week seemed radiant and could not conceal her delight. I was wondering if it should have been the other way round. But then emotions also change with the times!

Two full days of hectic pomp, gaiety, pagentry and feasting marked each of these weddings. Like beasts we ate unmindful of the very short intervals between each of those eating bouts. A free for all...you only gain a few inches accross the waist and have nothing to lose. Even in this kind of a simple traditional wedding the father of the bride unhesitatingly takes it upon himself to blow away a princely sum of say Rs 25 lacs. He further tells me that it is the minimum price tag for an avergae middle class wedding. Not to mention what entails thereafter for the bride's father. Like the father of the bride in the 60th birthday wedding. He looked gracefully bereft of any valued possession save some emotion at ideal intervals during the rituals.

These raging thoughts brought me to a standstill. The rest of the festivities seemed to me like watching a movie unfold. My mind grappled with the enormity of the task that I seem to have on hand...right there! I have a 26 year old daughter and a one month old bank balance...if I wipe clean the total 9 ornamental bank accounts both I and my wife hold ! Some equation this!!!! And to think that I am always between jobs in the last two years. And of the post I just relinquished before leaving on this multiple matrimonial sojourn!

I must save from now and in the next four months or so raise if not twenty five atleast fifteen lacs... I must look for a paying job and a flexible employer.And Heaven for an Alliance for my daughter.

Matrimony Matrix. It is a Matter-of-Money!!!