Saturday, December 27, 2014

I stood for a Cause


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

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