Marriage, Career And Other Things

By Kanishka Jain

Confetti hair-locks dancing in the music of the air, a wrist adorned with an ink tattoo saying 'mom dad', accelerating the motorbike faster and faster, twisting the frills of her red one-shoulder top in a frolic manner. The other shoulder boldly showing off the strap of her black sports bra. Blue denim boyfriend shorts and white sneakers comforting the swift movements. Running late and summarizing a 2-hour lecture to her friend in a 10-minute bike ride, welcome to the life of Miss Aditi Mittal.

The motorbike emplaces in the parking lot of a college. Two girls step out and hoof it to the corridor. One minding her business and the other greeting almost everybody around, the latter being the only best friend of Aditi, Radhika, popularly known as 'Rizz'. She's the best at every co-curricular activity in college.

"Hey YJ, not prepared for the exam, right?", asks Rizz in a pell-mell manner. Yatin comes closer to her, shakes her hand, and charmingly whispers in her ear, "As always, my nightingale." While everybody is footing it to their examination hall, Aditi uncloaks her disapproval, "Rizz, why do you talk to that flirtatious alcoholic?"

Rizz explains to Aditi pitifully, "Chill Aditi, just because you don't get somebody's lifestyle doesn't make it a wrong one."

Days pass by, and now comes the D-day. Aditi checks her result nervously. Comes out that she has topped the class, which fills her with immense joy. And in the very next moment, her face is cast down. When her father pats and congratulates her from the back. Whereas Yatin is just happy that he doesn't have to sit at the cashier counter of his father's shop.

Aditi rushes into the club angrily and starts ordering alcohol. By the time Yatin, who is sadly sitting in a corner, can figure out anything, she drinks abruptly. Knowing Aditi had never consumed alcohol, he approached her out of concern. She rudely tells him to mind his business.

Yatin comments sarcastically, "And this is the 'stubborn gender' my family wants me to spend my life with.''

''Excuse me!", Aditi gets offended. Yatin explains," Relax, It's just that my family wants me to marry a girl."

" And you are a homosexual?", Aditi inquires.

Yatin expresses, "Oh! That would be so much better. I just think that man-woman should not co-exist!" Aditi agrees, firmly hitting on the bar.

Yatin curiously, "What's your issue?".

She expresses herself freely due to the ample amount of alcohol, "My dad wants me to pursue law, and I wanna sue him for that," she laughs loudly. Yatin takes the glass off her hand and does not let her drink anymore.

Aditi continues, "So the point is I am writer material, and he wants me to rot in one of those court buildings. Do you get my point?''

"Ya, the point is growing up sucks'' Yatin gags.

" Yep, " Aditi says assertively.

Yatin comforts her, "Hey if I were your husband, I would never stop you from achieving your dreams."

Aditi replies, intoxicated, "And if I were your wife, I would never interfere in your freedom."

"So what do you say? Let's get married!", Yatin proposes.

" Ya, let's do it!", Aditi agrees impulsively.

Both get blindly drunk and get married using a good internet connection around a fire they somehow managed, and Yatin fills Aditi's forehead with vermillion they bought from a shop.

Aditi understands that she has committed one of the biggest blunders. Because as soon as the responsibility section came off, she had no time for her studies. Nobody in Yatin's family supported her in the chores leading to low self-esteem and less time in her hands.

One day she gets so tired that she thinks of leaving her masters for a minute, which shocks and forces her to introspect. She locks herself in her room and sits quietly. She keeps playing all the situations in her head and tries to think of what she could have done differently, what she is supposed to do now because this is not who she wants to be.

A voice comes, " Open the door right now and do the dishes. You don't do any work on time." Aditi couldn't take it anymore. She opens the door and utters a yelp, "Do it yourself!" Aditi slams the door as hard as she can. She suddenly feels peace and obtains a certain kind of freedom in saying what she wants to. Yatin's mother exaggerates about what happened behind his back. He directly goes to Aditi, pasting a list of dreams on the wall.

He yells, " Why did you shout at my family members?" Aditi tries to explain herself, "I said what I meant....." This made Yatin ferociously moves toward Aditi to slap her like disciplining a wild animal, but Aditi grappled his arm. And seeing this new fearless Aditi in action, he steps back.

This act drains out all the love from Aditi's heart. She packs her bag and storms off, promising never to look back again. She sobbingly tells everything to her parents. They console her and yet ask her to go back to her in-laws. Instead of believing it, Aditi asks for time to move on.

In the meantime, when her parents talked to Yatin's family. Aditi jacks up a job, shifts to correspondence masters, and starts writing by then. She moves out of her folk's place when she could totally provide for herself and fills a divorce against Yatin. That's when her father sees that his little Aditi has grown up. He supports her fully in the divorce case and assures her that he will always be there for her."

By Kanishka Jain