Story Of An Arranged Marriage

It had been 2 years since I had been dodging my relatives and mother,

They kept telling me that I am old and I need to settle,

Under pressure, I go to town, to see a girl, and decline,

I see her wearing a green Kurta, the color I have loved forever,

I instantly say yes, until then love at first sight was just a myth,

I go home anxiously if she has the same feeling,

We did not speak for many months,

I wasn't sure what to do because she was old school and did not have a cell phone,

She later bought a phone so she could text and I wondered if this is a love language that I never knew existed,

We understood that maybe this is the right decision but we had to go through some years to know exactly how we felt,

We were brought together again during our engagement ceremony,

My eyes kept staring at her but she never lifted her face,

There was a photoshoot just before the ring exchange,

She looked at me and our hearts melted in those paused seconds.

We matched our clothes for the wedding, excited for the life we going to begin,

The day of marriage was a blur, all I could remember is holding her hand and escorting her toward the car,

She was looking pretty in that wedding dress, my sherwani was a prop complimenting her presence,

There was a sense of anxiety about sitting next to each other in that car,

The day rolled off, and our room was decorated with flowers,

We were as awkward as we could, hence we chit-chatted through the night and began the best phase of our lives.

The week was bliss, the newly married tag was sinking in, and we could speak through our eyes not knowing what was going on,

I kept looking for her when she wasn't around, the days were comforting and the nights were beautiful dreams,

I guess I was in love and so did she,

We were falling in love more as the months evaporated in speed, 

The euphoria was over shortly, we had to navigate the mundane life, we were the husband and wife, not the lovers. trying to understand the many facades of our emotions.

I stayed up late, and she preferred early sleeping. 

I loved going out and she liked decorating our house,

She was confused about my likes and I was confused about her passions,

We distanced ourselves, added distractions blamed each other,

We were strangers again not knowing how to love each other,

The girl in the green kurta felt like an alien to my heart,

And the boy she loved must have been lost somewhere.

I was the boy loving the party and movies, she was the girl madly in love seeking just comforts in my arms,

She hated my lifestyle and I hated her audacity,

I was too proud of the things I achieved and she had an ego she could not resist,

We argued over silly things, slept in different rooms, and avoided each other in every corridor,

I did not uphold my promises neither she tried to keep hers, 

We fought each like we were enemies, 

I taunted her and she hurt my feelings,

We reached a stage, protecting ourselves had taken over our minds,

We both wanted our sanity back,

Hence we did not speak for weeks,

Ignored each other while sitting together,

The love had turned into tolerance, divorce looked like the only option.

I broke down and she cried hysterically over separation, somewhere in our hearts we never wanted to come to this stage,

She begged and I kneeled,

We wanted to give this relationship another steer,

We abandoned our ego and filled ourselves with forgiveness and love,

We sat together in silence while holding each other,

We sipped a cup of coffee under the stars and made a list of things that we liked about each other,

We ignored the faults and replaced them with learnings,

We went on dates again, trying to understand the many emotions of human facades,

The house was filled with laughter,

There were cooking sessions now and then,

We loved teasing, and pulling each other's legs, we spent many afternoons in arms,

It was a matter of time and a little effort that brought the love which was missing,

Letters and gifts were frequent gestures, morning cheek kisses were the new norms,

I cut down my parties and she joined my social circle,

I helped decorate the house while she admired me for the attention,

We were ready for the next phase, the child was the next best thing we could hope for,

After many visits to doctors and we gave up on fate,

But God has a mysterious way to make things right, 

And the good news had finally arrived, 

I was over the moon and she was jumping on stars, we held each other for a long to digest the news,

Now after a year and a half,

when we three sit together in this house, watching movies and playing around the floor,

our beautiful daughter's smiles light up the surrounding, she has given us wings, to love each other more than we did before.