I Do.

Dressed in a black tuxedo, for the first time, I closed the bedroom door and walked down stairs, where my parents were waiting to introduce me to hundreds of people – over half of who I had never met and therefore, felt nervous and shy. After all, I had just finished my studies and was expected to join my father’s business. As I stood at the top of the stairs and looked below, the whole area seemed like a market place to me with people roaming around and chatting, laughing and greeting one another as if they had just met. All of them were older then I. But then, as I began to walk down, my eyes, acting like a drone, got a glimpse of an elegantly dressed woman and my heart started to melt like ice being put out in the hot sun.
‘Who is she?’
I ran down the stairs to introduce myself to her but she was gone. My heart stopped. I scanned for her in the crowd but she couldn’t be seen. She had vanished.

‘Raj,’ said my father, as he grabbed my hand and took me to meet some men, ‘Let me introduce you to our business partners.’
Slowly, I was introduced to everyone. First my father’s friends and business partners and then my mother’s friends. But all this time, my heart beats kept on pounding to see the woman.

‘To Raj from Mrs Trindande,’ read one card, ‘and Mary.’
Mrs Trindande, my old tutor. How nice of her. But who is this Mary?

The next day, without a word, I went to visit the old tutor and knocked on the door of her house. There, in front of me, stood the woman who had caught my attention. My heart started to melt and the knees went weak. But as Mrs Trindande came to the door, it all stopped.
‘Mrs Trindande?’ I asked, as I smiled.
‘Oh my god! Come in,’ she said, as she smiled and hugged me.
‘I got your card,’ I said.
‘We had to go to church,’ she said, ‘Sit down. How about some tea?’
I sat down and looked around. The house had not changed a bit since I left it to go to college but noticed that my friend, Jack’s photo was missing.
‘How’s Jack?’ I asked.
‘He’s no more,’ came a reply from Mary, as she walked into the room and introduced herself, ‘I’m his cousin. I am here to stay with aunty Pearl.’
My heart jumped a beat or two and almost landed in my mouth! It was her. The woman who I had seen at the party. Her eyes met mine. I looked deeply into her dark brown, doe eyes as she did into mine. From that moment, it was love! We would go to a movie, sometimes to a café and sometimes hold each other’s hands and walk on the beach. As in every love story, ours, also had a villain.

‘Who is the young woman that you are seeing’ asked my father.
‘How has he found out?’
‘Answer me!’ said my father, as he slammed the fork on the table as hard as he could.
There was complete silence in the room, as I looked at my mother.
‘She’s Mrs Trindande’s niece. Mary,’ I replied, ‘how do you know that I am dating her?’
‘It doesn’t matter how I know. I will not allow you to see or get involved with those filthy people! Do you understand? You are a high caste Hindu and she’s a Goan. I won’t allow any member of this family to marry such people.’
‘We love each other,’ I said. The weapons had been picked up.
‘I will not accept. If you marry her, then I’ll disown you completely.’
I got to leave but was stopped by my mother who had been aware of my love life and had secretly supported me.
‘I thought I was a member of the family! I thought I had the right to choose my own life partner but no! I forgot that there’s a dictator here.’
‘Let him go! With no access to money and a house to live in, he will return!’ forced my father. Our
I stormed out to see Mary.

Pearl Trindande was also against our marriage and threw us out of her house by slamming the door on our faces. It was time for both of us to leave the city and go somewhere else but before that, I had to go home and get some belongings.

‘I have always done what you wanted,’ my mother cried out bitterly to my father, ‘but not today! Our son will not be ours if you let him go now! He grown up and is capable of making his own decisions. He has a life to lead and you have ruined it for him just as you ruined my life. But I have no choice anymore and am stuck with you for the rest of my life!’
‘What do you mean by that?’ snapped my father angrily, ‘Haven’t I given you everything that a woman needs? Don’t I give you money? You have a big, beautiful house and servants working for you! You drive expensive cars all the time! I give you money for you to buy whatever you want, expensive clothes, jewellery, make up, hair styling and all that so you look beautiful!’
‘But money cannot buy love, affection and feelings and that is what is missing in our married life,’ my mother snapped back, ‘I have seen that fire in Raj and Mary. They love each other and Raj respects you very much but he will not take that into consideration where the love for this girl is concerned! He is our only son! Never mind who look after me if something happens to you. Think about who will look after your business if something happens to you? After all it is an empire worth millions and god forbid, if something happens to you, all your years of work will be wasted as Raj will not be a part of it. You have always said that you love your son but you have never shown it to him and neither have you told him.’
The arrows that had been fired, hit the target and made my father think.
‘She’s right! I will lose my only son and what for?’

‘Will you marry me, Mary?’ I popped the question out of the blue, as I knelt down on one knee outside the gates of the house.
Marry looked at me for a moment and then laughed with joy.
‘Yes!’
At that moment, my father appeared and saw us standing together. For a moment I thought, he would throw me out.
‘Why is it that a father cannot say to his son: ‘I love you son’? It will be very difficult for me and it will take me time to accept this’ he almost cried with sadness, as he held our hands.
It was the first step.
‘Welcome to your new home Mary,’ said my father, as he led us in.