Suhana Goes To Boston

The wedding took place on a short lease – just eight days after Suhana’s and the boy’s family met for the first time. At first, the idea of arranging Suhana’s marriage at such short notice mortified her parents and they considered asking the boy’s parents for at least six months if not more. Making such a demand, however, was fraught with risk. The boy Aman’s six-month-old engagement had been called off because the girl’s father, after suffering a heart attack had asked for a year’s time for the wedding. It was because of the misfortune of that family that Aman, was about to fall in Suhana’s lap. To make them turn away by seeking to postpone the date

would be incredibly foolish, for Aman was an invaluable gem, who was eagerly sought after in the marriage market.

He had graduated in engineering from IIT Kanpur and then turned down several job offers to pursue an MBA from IIM Kolkata. Having thus secured his degrees from the most prestigious institutions in the country he was now snugly settled in the USA, minting in one day more money than his desi compatriots made in a month. On top of that, he was a Green Card holder.

‘I don’t care how you manage; you will have to; you will just have to! I can’t let my daughter forgo such an opportunity. The wedding took place on a short lease –just eight days after Suhana’s and the boy’s family met for the first time. First, the idea of arranging Suhana’s marriage at such short notice mortified her parents and they considered asking the boy’s parents for at least six months if not more. Making such a demand, however, was fraught with risk. The boy Aman’s six-month-old engagement had been called off because the girl’s father, after suffering a heart attack had asked for a year’s time for the wedding. It was because of the misfortune of that family that Aman, was about to fall in Suhana’s lap. Tnity!’ said Suhana’s mother Mrs. Chaudhry to her husband. She was a woman easily excited and easily made nervous and her current predicament made her both. Her husband Mr. Chaudhry was a better composed man and like most members of his sex seldom expressed his emotions be he happy, sad, or anxious. But the situation at hand unnerved even Mr. Chaudhry to such an extent that his anxiousness began to manifest on his face.

‘They are such wonderful people,’ continued Mrs. Chaudhry nervously pacing about her elaborately set up drawing room, ‘they aren’t even seeking dowry; how can we say no to such a proposal?

‘But they expect us to host seven hundred guests,’ Mr. Chaudhry said gravely.

‘So let that be! Let that be!’ Mrs. Chaudhry said earnestly.

‘That food and venue alone would cost us

close to fifteen lac rupees,’ replied Mr. Choudhry.

‘Oh! What is fifteen lacs to the comfort and luxury our daughter shall enjoy for the rest of her life,’ said Mrs. Choudhry excitedly, ‘She would soon be a US citizen.’

‘You talk as if you are not aware of the losses that I have suffered in the share market,’ Mr. Choudhry said, ‘I do not have that much money.’

‘How much do you have?’ Mrs. Choudhry asked.

‘Nothing,’ he said in a tone so charmingly helpless that, in a person uninitiated in his financial matters, would unfailingly produce a wave of organic sympathy. Not so with Mrs. Choudhry.

In her, depending upon the situation, it produced either rage or despair. She had never been supportive of his stock market investments. If she could have her way, she would invest in gold jewelry schemes. But as things stood, even that jewelry which she possessed at the time of her wedding had over the years been sold off to settle the debts accumulated by her husband’s stock market gambling. His insatiable hunger for a quick fortune coupled with his knack for bad investments had brought his finances and relationships to the brink of collapse. He was neck-deep in debt. There was no one with a considerable degree of relationship with Mr. Choudhry who had not lent him at least some amount of money and which had not been washed away in the ebb and tide of the Sensex.