Let Me Marry This Guy, Dad

“Do you hear me?” Raghav shouted at his young daughter Kavya.

“Yes.” Kavya sighed. Keyur, her boyfriend didn’t speak a single word. He came to Kavya’s home with a hope to assuage her father for their relationship, but his all efforts went in void.

                For next couple of minutes, a complete silence was there inside the room. The room was quite large adorned with some portrait of Kavya and Risha on the wall. Raghav was standing near the bookshelf placed in a corner. Radhika (kavya’s mother) was sitting on the chair with frowning face in front of the bookshelf. Kavya and her younger sister Risha were sitting on the sofa abutting the chair. Kavya was crying, hiding her face behind the cushion. An armchair was there concomitant to sofa. Keyur was lounging in it. He was laid-back. Front door and windows were closed. Curtains were also closed as private family gabfest was going on.

              Keyur and Kavya looked at each other for a moment. They both dreamed for conjugal ecstasy, but reality was far away from it. Both souls were craving to be with each other, but situation became worst. For some time, both eyes lost in the utopia of their memories. Keyur remembered seeing Kavya first time. Her enthralling beauty, enchanting voice, loquacious attitude and naïve smile made him crazy about her. Kavya remembered Keyur helping her in all her assignments in college. She was lost in his dreams, but suddenly she heard some voice.

“Mummy, at least say something. This is wrong.” Risha, younger sister of Kavya cried. She couldn’t bear the crying of her sister. She took away the cushion from Kavya’s hands. She hugged Kavya tightly. There was a divine love between two sisters. Risha was a naughty girl, but she had an audacity to agitate for truth.

“I don’t know what to say. I am in a stew.” Radhika said fretfully. Tears came over her face, but there was nothing in which she could help her daughter. Radhika was by nature a reticent woman. She was a housewife. She had no courage to defy her husband’s decision. She loved her daughters, but she was helpless.

“Risha, don’t ask your mother.” Raghav bristled at her. “I can’t let my daughter to marry this guy.” Raghav said angrily. Raghav was a kind of orthodox person. He loved her daughters. He could do anything for his daughters, but he was afraid of society. Society was against the inter-caste marriage. At the same time, opposition party could take advantage of the inter-caste marriage point in MLA election.

“Why?” Risha became aggressive. “What is his fault? He is orphan and not from our caste. These are not his mistakes. Do you have any other point?”

“Risha!” Raghav turned his head from the bookshelf. He looked at her angrily. “You are a child. You don’t know anything about society. I am a retired principal and a candidate for MLA of this area. What would people think of me if I let this happen?” Raghav frowned on her.

“Oh! I am not gullible; I know why you are defying. Your pride, your social status and your MLA carrier resist you from letting this marriage. You care more for your reputation than your daughter. You are as hard as nails.” Risha said very harshly. She stood up from the sofa.

“Risha!” Kavya shouted at her. She stood up from the sofa and grabbed Risha’s hand in her hand. “How could you even dare to talk with your father in this way? You should cherish the care he has taken of us.  You are always fawned over by him. When you got typhoid, you were sedated and unconscious, but you know what? This man, your father was there beside you 24 hours. Don’t fight with him just because of me.” Tones of tears came over her reddish chicks.

“I am not fighting with him. I love you and I want you to be happy. You will be happy with Keyur.” Risha cried. She looked at her elder sister’s eyes. They were full of tears.

“I love Keyur. This is eternal, but I love my father more. He has been here with me since my birth. Sorry Keyur!” Kavya looked at him with tears in her eyes.  Keyur didn’t say a single word. She was going to say something, but Risha interrupted her.

“No!” Risha put her finger on Kavya’s lips.

“Don’t fight girls. Be calm.” Radhika sighed.

“I am not fighting, mummy. I love papa and you all.” Risha said. She was looking more mature than her age. Again, Risha looked at Raghav.

“I am sorry Papa. I talked to you very awfully. I don’t want to hurt you. I love you as much as you love me. But, I am confused. I am not able to understand what you are doing. You are sacrificing your daughter’s life just for some trivial issues. I know I am not mature enough to advise you. You know more about this society than us, but I want to say few words to you on which I am mulling over.” Risha said quickly with a sigh. She was staring at her father. Looked like, she was asking his permission.

“Bounce off.” Raghav said shortly. He was in turmoil. Raghav was not against Keyur, he was against the inter-caste marriage. What would society think of him? At the same time, he was going to fight an MLA election that year. Inter-caste marriage might depreciate his image in society and might have a crucial impact on voting. Would society accept the marriage? Bundle of thoughts came into his mind.

“Dad!” Risha broke his thoughts.

“Yes!” Raghav said. He was extremely stressed. He turned his head towards bookshelf. He didn’t has any courage to face Risha’s eyes.

“When I was young, I was very haughty. I was notorious for my hostile behavior. I used to brag about my beauty, our wealth and our reputation in society. You taught me a lesson at that time. Do you remember my 10^th birthday?” Risha squeaked a little. All people except Keyur remembered the day very well.

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“Happy birthday, Risha! Come here. We should gossip a little.” Raghav wished his 10 year old daughter in front of Kavya and Radhika.

“Look. Now, you are grown up. You should learn something on your birthday. Shouldn’t you?” Raghav asked with great affection.

“Sure dad. I am mature now.” Risha said with a little giggle. Raghav along with Radhika and Kavya laughed a lot.

“You are a good girl, but sometimes we find you behaving hostilely with others. Don’t do that. Never brag on your own strength. Don’t judge any people from their religion, caste, wealth and appearance. You must judge people from their behavior, attitude and karma. Blood is same in all people. Respect all people. If you can’t respect a person then all your worships are in void. God doesn’t like a person who doesn’t respect others. Did you get my point, my princess?” Raghav grabbed her hand in his hand.

“Yes. I will be a good girl.” Risha hugged Raghav.

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                All people were lost in remembering that moment, but Risha again broke the silence.

“Now you are judging people on the basis of caste. You forgot your own advice.” Risha said resentfully. “You were a principal and before that, you were a teacher. You advised students to follow equality. Now, you are biased.” Risha said while crying.

“Risha, please stop. I respect dad’s decision.” Kavya grabbed Risha’s hands. She begged her to be quiet. She looked at Keyur with tears. “Sorry Keyur! I love you, but I will never go against my parents and that’s my final decision.” Kavya rushed towards Raghav and hugged him tightly.

“Dad, I love you.” Kavya said while sobbing heavily. Risha, Radhika, Keyur and even Raghav, all of them were shocked.

                Raghav felt terrible. He didn’t know what to say or what to do in that situation. Tears were there in his eyes too; after all he was her father. He wanted her to be happy. He was going to be mad on the situation, but again Risha interrupted his thoughts.

“Dad, Please-“ Risha cried loudly. She fell on the sofa crying heavily. She didn’t speak a single word after it. She started crying heavily. She looked at Raghav with a hope, but he clamped up. Risha turned her head to Keyur.

“Keyur, why are you silent? Say something.” Risha again cried.

“Uncle, I respect your decision. You are right.” Keyur said firmly. He said with few tears in his eyes. He hadn’t said a single word yet. He was going to say something else, but Risha interrupted him.

“What?” Risha cried. Risha raised her voice. “Are you made? Are you out of your mind?”

“Let me complete first, Risha. Kavya is his daughter. I can’t separate a daughter from her father. I am an orphan boy. I know how it feels without parents. I will never ever do this to my enemy, too and Risha is the girl whom I love. Then, how can I separate her from her father? Father-daughter relationship is more holy and stronger than our boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Uncle, you are not ready to accept this relationship and you have an authority to take this decision. I am not against – sorry, I can’t go against your decision, and after all you are her father. Our relationship is over here. Your daughter loves you more than she loves me. Now, I don’t want to talk about our relationship. Like Kavya, I am also agreeing with you. But, let me tell you something else.”  Keyur said with tears in his eyes. He stood up. He took a glass of water lying on the table. He took a sip. Everyone in the room was staring at him. Keyur continued his speech.

“Last week, I heard about your election campaign. You said our society and India are not changing and developing because of opposition-ruling party. I am not agreeing with you, Sir. In reality, people don’t want to change. People want India to be changed, but not themselves. How is it even possible? A country can’t be changed without changing their citizens. Development is not only massive infrastructures, development is also changing people’s life standard. For that, we need to change people’s false belief. Yesterday I met my friend, who came here from foreign. While talking with him, I got one reason why they are growing so fast and why we are not. In foreign, when a girl wants to marry a boy, her parents ask about the boy’s quality. How he is, where he is working and so on. In India, very first question: what is his caste or religion? Why? From childhood, we have been learning that God is only one and all religions and castes are same, but in real life, no one follows it. This is a very small point, but perhaps a very crucial reason why we are not growing as fast as they do. They prefer quality of a product and we prefer origin of a product. They are developing massive technologies, world best entrepreneurs etc. and we are still stick in fighting against inter-caste marriage, inter-religion marriage etc. We both are busy, but perspectives are different. They are busy in growing and we are busy in fighting in the name of caste and religion. I am a common man. You are a big politician and a retired principal. You know much more than me. But I believe in one thing, all castes and religions belong to a single God. God is only one. The God hasn’t divided humans, but we humans have divided the God.  I respect your decision. You are her father. You love her more than me. You know very well what is good for her. It’s nice to meet you all. Good bye and take care, Kavya. Be happy!” Keyur said with abated breath. Tones of tears came into his eyes.

                Kavya looked at Keyur. First time in her life, she saw him crying. Keyur was a tough boy. He had been suffered a lot in his life. He made tremendous effort for his career. He fought his all fight without anyone’s support. Actually, no one was there to support him. He was orphan. After waiting for so many years, finally he got someone’s support. He became stronger as finally he got someone in his life who loved him and again God took that away from him. Why? Kavya could divine his pain. She was thinking like she was responsible for his pain. After all, she was the one who proposed him. At the time of proposal, Keyur warned her about this type of situation, but she ignored it. She was responsible for his suffer. That thought came into her mind. She felt guilty. She couldn’t stop herself from crying. Risha was also very sensitive. She couldn’t see her sister in that type of situation. She hugged her mother Radhika and started sobbing and crying.

              Raghav looked at the situation. Suddenly, something came into his mind and he ran.  Raghav stopped Keyur while he was plodding along. He grabbed his hand and brought him back. Raghav put his hand in Kavya’s hand. He hugged both with tears in his eyes. Everyone in the room was shocked. Risha and Radhika both were unable to understand what was going on in the room.

“I was wrong. Sometime, students taught great lesson to their teacher and so did you. You opened up my eyes. I was very orthodox. I became a stubborn. I was worried about my reputation and election. I even didn’t care for my daughter. I was worried about your blood, Keyur. I was the one who told Risha that all people have same blood and I –“ Raghav started crying heavily.

“Uncle, It was not your fault, situations were complicated.” Keyur tried to convince Raghav.

“Yes dad, Keyur is right. You always care for us. Please don’t cry. I can’t see you crying.” Kavya said with tears in her eyes. She again hugged Raghav tightly. Risha also joined her.

“Dad, forgive me. I should have talked politely. I am really sorry. You are always best for us.” Risha cried.

“Uncle, please don’t cry. You were right in your place. You were worried for your daughter.” Keyur said. Then, Keyur looked at Radhika. She was also crying.

“Aunty, forgive me if I have said any unpleasant thing.” Keyur said very politely.

“No, you were right. I am happy. These are tears of happiness.” Radhika could speak only this. Then she started crying heavily. Now, both daughters turned to their mother and hugged her tightly.

“Uncle, but what is about your election? Opposition-“ Keyur was going to say something, but Raghav interrupted him.

“I have decided one thing. This time I will fight election with a campaign of development and not of caste or religion. I will show people with pride that I prefer quality more. You both are free to marry with my permission. We will celebrate your marriage in a grand manner and thus we will give a message to our society that it’s time to change. If we want to change our society, first we need to change ourselves.  Be the change you want. This will be my campaign for this election. Good Days will surely come. This is the time for us to fight for technologies, startups, science etc. and not for caste or religion. I know the fact that one single person can’t change whole society or country, but at least he can surely make a difference in society. I will try my best. ” Raghav said with tears in his eyes. This time, these tears were of happiness and joy.

                Risha took Kavya to Keyur. She put Kavya’s hand in Keyur’s hand with tears of joy. Both looked at each other for a moment. That was unbelievable moment for them. Kavya hugged Keyur tightly. Risha, Radhika and Raghav applauded it with their smile and tears. Suddenly, they heard some voice. No, now no one was arguing. It was drizzling outside. Looked like, God was blessing all of them.