Yahoo! It's a Spice-y Connect-ion - Part III

It was Yahoo! which introduced us to each other and Spice and Connect too played a huge part in developing that introduction into something wonderful along with Yahoo! But despite such technologically advanced love affair, we were now left to tradition as we got ready to get engaged to each other. There were a sizeable portion of my relatives who felt that my parents were making a big mistake in proceeding with it, especially since she was a rung lower than us in the Kerala Hindu sub-caste ladder. Having confirmed my seriousness with it, my parents didn't really bother much with what others thought and really didn't heed to their views on it.

A week before the actual engagement, my parents and grandma, along with few of close relatives visited her parents, who had come down from Kolkata, at their home in Kerala. So, despite being in love with each other, it was my parents who got a chance to meet my wife before I could. Somehow, that rather lent a traditional touch to it and probably pleased both sets of parents. When all felt that the drama was all over did my brother (it had to be him) cause yet another flutter. My parents got a shock two days before the engagement when someone rung the door bell in the middle of night. My father really got a shock on looking through the peephole when he saw my brother standing there. Considering my brother, my father was pretty sure that he had been kicked out by the Singapore institute. It was only upon opening the door that they realized that he had come down for the engagement as a big surprise for me. Needless to say, it wasn't the kind of surprise my father was looking for, but once the shock had worn off, all of us were happy that he did what he did.

We started off early to her place for the engagement. I was pretty anxious to see in person that I was in love with. When we first reached her place, I saw lots of her relatives but my roving eyes couldn't find what they wanted to see. I guess they really wanted to test my patience, because it wasn't until another hour, almost, before I could meet her. It was rather unnerving, considering the fact that we both were in love and eager to really see each other, but there were about 100-odd pairs of eyes following us, quite curious to see how we'd react. After all the traditional customs were followed, we were allowed a bit of free time with each other. We might as well have been in the middle of a crowd, because there were a few children who were pretty interested in knowing what we would do and would peep into the room where we sat in a not so discreet manner. I'd say we had a very British kind of an hour, talking more about the weather than anything else.

After the anticlimatic meeting at engagement, I felt I needed to meet her again. While her dad wasn't very sure about it, her uncle impressed upon her dad that it was perfectly okay for that to happen. So, two days later, they came down to Thrissur, to her uncle's place, from where I took her out for lunch. We still were getting comfortable around each other, and the easy manner of communication which we displayed over the past so many months was missing. I did present her a pair of earrings, though that would very soon provide lifelong amusement for me and embarrassment for her. She called me up later to ask whether the color of those earrings would wear off, and I said no, wondering what in the world prompted her to ask something like that. It stuck me then that she probably didn't have a great opinion about my finances (rightly so) and thought I'd bought her imitation jewelry. Well, let me just say that it has been one of those rare stories that I have to embarass her with.

Once again at the mercy of Yahoo!, Spice, and Connect, we were back to being our usual selves, communicating freely with each other. There were a couple of occasions wh I got carried away and shot off a few risque messages which landed up in my brother's mobile to whom I was sending cricket scores at the same time. It didn't help matters that their names appeared one below the other in my phone's contact list. The fact that I'm still alive and kicking proves that it didn't cause much damage. During this time, I also got to meet my fiancee's close friend who had got a job in Bangalore. This was the friend who had stressed to my wife before her engagement that I could be a danger to the society for all she knows, so I knew I had to try doubly hard to prove her wrong. She did look rather guarded initially and probably kept her pepper spray too ready, but for once, I didn't give a person a chance to use such things on me. The next day's mail from Kolkata confirmed the fact that I had indeed passed the test.
Our wedding was initially planned for April, when the heat would be at its worst in Kerala, but sanity finally prevailed and it was forwarded to February. After all the twists, turns, and drama that accompanied our journey from that first chat session in Yahoo! till our marriage, the function itself was rather a smooth affair. Perhaps it was the novelty factor, but quite a lot of relatives who hadn't shown great interest in our family affairs turned up to witness our marriage. She played her role to perfection of an Indian bride, crying through most of the function. I, on the other hand, was an embarrassment to most, sporting a huge smile through the entireity of the function. In fact, the photographer had to ask me to smile a bit less at one point! Little did he know how happy I was.

It is safe to assume that ours was probably among the first 1000 (maybe even first 100) internet love marriages in India. In this, I am not taking into consideration marriages through matrimonial portals. Having said that, I really don't see us as trendsetters. We were two ordinary souls destined to meet in an extraordinary way, that's all. That way also assisted us in opening up to each other in a way which might not have been possible if we had met each other in person and fallen in love. The fact that we started as friends helped us reveal certain things which you wouldn't if you were trying to impress the other person. All that did help provide a solid foundation for us to build upon. But a solid foundation isn't any good if the rest of the construction is substandard, and we are constantly working on the structure, making it look as new as ever. It is hard work, but we have stuck to it. When people express surprise at how long we've been married, we realize that we must be doing the right things. We complete six years of married life, and it is still as fresh as new. To my lovely wife, I wish you a happy anniversary, dear. Thanks for everything!