Sunday Story: Equally Responsible

It was an hour before noon on a warm Sunday morning. While one would expect such a day to be for relaxation and rejuvenation, the Malhotra household was bustling with fervour. Mrs Malhotra was all over the place, ensuring everything was in order, while her husband, Mr Malhotra was on the phone arguing with the restaurant owner regarding a delay in their order. Everything had to be ready by noon for it was a matter of their eldest daughter Shaira's future—a prospective groom was coming to see her with his family.

With only fifteen minutes to noon, Mrs Malhotra went to Shaira's room to see if she had gotten ready. To her dismay, she was still on her laptop, busy with some work, seemingly with no regard for anything else. Mrs Malhotra went straight to her, shut the screen, and ordered Shaira to get dressed. Shaira grudgingly got up from her chair and headed for the bathroom to get ready. 

Around a quarter past twelve, the bell finally rang. Mrs Malhotra immediately left everything she was doing and headed straight for the door, telling everybody she encountered on the way to quickly get to the living room to welcome the guests. Mrs Malhotra opened the door with a broad smile on her face and ushered the guests to the living room, where Mr Malhotra warmly welcomed them with hands folded in a namaste.

Once the guests were seated and the first round of refreshments was served, Mrs Malhotra excused herself to go check on Shaira and bring her to meet her prospective in-laws. After about five minutes, both the women joined the rest of the gathering in the living room. Shaira exchanged pleasantries with everyone in the room and sat down by her prospective partner.

The conversation went by quite smoothly and in a jolly manner. Both the families seemed to be liking each other so far, even Shaira and the boy. Shaira thought to herself that probably arranged marriage was not as bad as she had thought so far. After a while, the boy's mother suddenly turned toward Shaira and inquired about her career and if she knew where her priorities should be lying after marriage.

The question stunned Shaira. Before she could recollect herself and respond to the question, her mother quickly chimed in and assured her that Shaira very well knew what her priorities and responsibilities would be. Her mother's response surprised Shaira even more than the question, and she remained silent for most of the time for the remaining afternoon.

Later in the evening, after the guests had gone, Shaira went looking for her mother to discuss what had happened earlier in the afternoon. Her mother told her that it was for her own good. She had already crossed thirty and if she continued ignoring everything else, it would become next to impossible to find a good life partner.

Shaira could not believe what she had just heard. She could not believe that her mother, who had otherwise been supportive of her ambitions for all these years, would think so. She was reminded of what her mother had told her about how she had to discontinue her education because her parents wanted her to get married at the right age and how history was now repeating itself. She thought to herself that knowingly or unknowingly, out of concern for their daughters, women too kept patriarchy alive.

As she left the room, Shaira swore to herself that if she had a daughter, she would see to it that she did not do something similar to her.

Liked this story? Here is another one to lift your spirits—A Fresh Pair of Wings