I come form a middle class family.Like many other boys and
girls form middle class families I have been taught right form childhood to
respect values in life. One such important value taught to us is to always
support a just cause. From our grandparents and parents we have been hearing
stories from the mythology where good always prevails over evil. Even our
festivals like Deepawali and Holi signify the triumph of good over evil. But somewhere down the line on several occasions for one reason or another
we compromise with our principles in life.
After
completing schooling , I took admission in one of the prestigious colleges of
Delhi University in North Campus. Like many others from middle class families
as long as I was in school I was under the close watch of my parents and
teachers. At every step I was guided as what to do and what not to do ; what is
right and what is wrong. On entering college all restrictions were suddenly
gone. Now I was on my own.
Ours
was a co-ed college. Till my school life I had had not much interaction with
those from the opposite sex. So I was a bit hesitant and became very conscious
while talking with the other girls . One
of the girls in the class was named Namita. She stood out from the others perhaps because of her looks as well as
demure nature.We would take the same U special on the way back home but I never
mustered enough courage to talk to her. One day she had to sit next to me in
the bus. The proximity to each other provided an opportunity to start a conversation.
During the one hour journey to our respective stoppages we did not
realise how time flew by. From that day Namita and I became good friends. A day
would not pass without meeting each other. We
never realised when this friendship turned into true love. When
vacations came while others felt happy but we felt morose.
Time
flew by and finally we passed out from college. I got a job in a reputed
company in Bombay. While my career took me away from Namita our relationship
continued. We would chat for long durations every day. One day I realised that
it was time for us to become life partners and I proposed to Namita. I expected
a very positive response from her but to my dismay she kept quiet. Finally she
said that she came from a lower caste. I was for a moment taken aback.
I
belong to a Brahmin family. Although I lived in a big city the caste system has
continued to influence our lives. Despite great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi by
setting examples have advocated against the caste system we have found it
difficult to emerge from the shackles of the caste system. Consequently
marriages would be from within the same caste. So when Namita confessed that she belonged to a lower caste
my heart sank. While I as a person was
not particular as to which community or caste my life partner belonged my main
reason for the dismay was the resistence that I would encounter at home and
amongst relatives. I had to decide whether to give up Namita for the social norms
of my family and community or to face them for the cause of my true love.I did
not have courage to face my family. So while I decided to tell my family about Namita I hid the fact about her
caste from them. My family did not have any problem if she belonged to the same
caste.
I could not sleep the whole night and next day
confessed to Namita that I had lied to my family. Namita was not prepared to
start a life together whose foundation was based on a lie. I realised my
mistake and felt small before her and apologised for my conduct. I resolved to
stand in support of my true love come what may. As expected, there was a lot of
resistence from all around but both Namita and I stood our ground.
We
finally got married in a Court before the marriage registrar. None of our
relatives attended our marriage ceremony. We never regretted our decision to
get married to each other. While we were the pioneers in our family seeing how
happy we were with each other many others from our families took to inter-caste marriages.
This post is a part of Kinley 2014 TVC by indiblogger
