Unstuck by Faith

It was an unusual love. The boy and the girl belonged to different faiths. When their respective families came to know of their association they were treated like pariahs. Now after so many years of togetherness, they wanted to get married. But that was the last word that could be uttered in such a polarised setting. The two were hounded out of anywhere if they were seen together. Even posters had been printed with their photos on it warning anyone to not be sympathetic to the couple. Even after years of counselling couldn't separate the two. So much obstacles had been put in the road to the marriage that it was best left to be avoided. But they were a determined pair. When they were going to get married at the temple, the priest told them that they had to register themselves with the government registrar of their willingness to marry. Only after passing of thirty days they could marry.

Trying for the umpteenth time to get married and being unsuccessful they now started losing all hope. Finally, they decided to end their lives thinking that was the only way to be united.

One fine day they escaped from their houses and joined hands and plunged headlong into the flowing river. The river was in full current just awash after the recently concluded monsoon.

The families got to know the tragic news and a joint search party was formed temporarily forgetting their faith and practices. Strange are the ways of the world. Even after a couple of days they remained untraced. Then the authorities called for ace divers from the Navy but still to no avail. The families were ultimately resigned to the fate. Then they forcefully concluded the last rites for making their passage to heaven smooth and easy.

After few days there was news that the bodies of one boy and one girl had been traced down stream at opposite banks to each other. The boy had a photo of a girl on his soaked apparel and likewise the girl had the photo of the boy on her. This helped them to be identified and to be linked to each other. The two were again united but were not allowed to remain together fearing to be spies or espionage agents. The couple later found out that they were now in a different country. Here the people were not dogmatic about faith but here the main force that was driving the natives was their political party. After remaining quarantined for few days and finding no evidence of espionage against them they were let free. They were now allowed to live in and cohabit but not allowed to be married and bear children. They were warned that in their country only legal couples are allowed to have baby and that too one.

Also the couples had to seek government permission for having a kid and starting a family. Strange surroundings and strange customs welcomed them. Now they had no embargo on their being together and do whatever they liked together with no one keeping a tab on their activities but unfortunately, they could not get married and bear children. At long last the taboo of religion and faith had been washed away from their bodies. They managed to get jobs and start their own business in a few years. Soon they were on the path of affluence but remained together bound by love and unstuck by faith.