The Idea–
The story unfolds as the narrator gets to the ‘marriageable age’ and her parents start to search for her perfect match. But ‘How is that perfect person to be found’ is the crux of the story. Sitting in a train compartment; the mother-daughter duo talks about love, marriage and responsibilities. It becomes interesting as the mother tells the story of finding her father despite being initially unwilling to marry (just as narrator is now). As the story revolves around the love and marriage of the narrator’s parents, it brings out differences in nature of both the parents. She being a vivacious talkative Army nurse; he a shy Army officer weave a lovely life together despite many hardships. What makes the story special is the fact that the daughter wants to find a groom ‘as good as her father’ and the mother describes ‘how her father became such in 26 years!’ Will she finally find her Perfect match?
The story unfolds as the narrator gets to the ‘marriageable age’ and her parents start to search for her perfect match. But ‘How is that perfect person to be found’ is the crux of the story. Sitting in a train compartment; the mother-daughter duo talks about love, marriage and responsibilities. It becomes interesting as the mother tells the story of finding her father despite being initially unwilling to marry (just as narrator is now). As the story revolves around the love and marriage of the narrator’s parents, it brings out differences in nature of both the parents. She being a vivacious talkative Army nurse; he a shy Army officer weave a lovely life together despite many hardships. What makes the story special is the fact that the daughter wants to find a groom ‘as good as her father’ and the mother describes ‘how her father became such in 26 years!’ Will she finally find her Perfect match?
What Makes This Story ‘Real’ (Optional but recommended) –
It’s a story which derives inspiration from the life of my parents; who are very much unlike each other and yet the ‘Perfect match’. The story brings forth the hard times faced by them during separation as my father performed his duties to the country. The story also throws light on the commonalities and differences between the nature of the mother-daughter duo plus their expectations from their life partner as life takes unexpected turns.
Extract (Optional but recommended-
“I don’t want to get married” said the frustrated young girl
finally! She was turning 26 this year and marriage was not on cards yet. It was
not that the family had not been trying to find a suitor for her; she had been
unwilling from the start. Her mother held a worried look. ”You have already
started having gray hairs.” Rolling her eyes, Jasmine exclaimed, “I am not
ready for any responsibilities, besides I haven’t found my perfect match yet”.
That took her mother into a trance.
“It was a cold morning. She was preparing for her usual morning
rounds to the wards. A young boy had been brought in. He had an accident. As
she finished bandaging him, she felt two eyes on her. It was not unusual; she
was a pretty vivacious Army nurse. Hurrying
out of the hospital in the evening, she couldn’t help but notice the same set
of eyes on her again. He was a young sikh lad bending over a motocycle
pretending to fix it up. He shifted his eyes under her sudden intense gaze.”
As she brought in two cups of coffee, her mother came out of her
reverie. “I don’t think marriage is about finding the perfect match” her mother
told her. “But you and Papa are perfect for each other! Aren’t u?” Her mother
just smiled.
Endnote: This is my entry for the HarperCollins–IndiBlogger Get Published contest, which is run with inputs from Yashodhara Lal and HarperCollins India.
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