By Latha Warrier
It was a hot saturday afternoon in Delhi. The scorching Delhi summer usually drains you out. After a busy morning, catching up on household chores, was relaxing when the phone rang.
It was my close friend and assistant at work who was calling. Wondering why Manasi was calling at this hour, I curiously answered the phone. At the other end I could only hear her sobbing. I asked, “What happened dear, why are you so upset? The day after tomorrow is your engagement.” She replied, ” I just don’t want to go through the whole thing. Parents are forcing me to go ahead, please do come over if possible, need your help.”
I didn’t think twice. Just picked up the car keys, told her to calm down and that I would be there in fifteen minutes.
I have always had a soft corner for dear Manasi. I have been her mentor ever since I hired her even though she was fresh from college and without any work experience. She impressed me by her capacity to grasp and learn things fast and implement her own processes at work. I always encouraged her by appreciating and motivating her to think out of the box and be open to other challenges. Here, in my office, she was hired as a temporary employee, so always updated her with any other opportunities that I came to know of.
One Monday morning, my close friend from another corporate house called to ask for a good candidate whom I could recommend for a front office assistant, who is hardworking and intelligent. The position was on a permanent basis with all the perks and allowances. I asked Manasi to just go for it. She was a bit reluctant to consider going for that position, but by my assuring her and insisting that as this was an organisation where they recognise one’s calibre and accordingly promote deserving candidates to higher positions with heavier responsibilities, she must give it a chance, she agreed. She appeared for the interview and got selected which was as expected.
She ventured off to a new career away from my secure umbrella in this new organisation and within six months was promoted to another unit where she enjoyed working.
Now her parents had arranged a suitable match for her and her engagement was fixed. While driving to her house, I was wondering what had gone wrong.
Somehow could reach her place soon and could sense that things were not normal. Her parents were quite tense. Her mother was almost on the verge of breaking down. Manasi was in her room, still very upset. I asked her father what had happened. Her father was also quite confused as she refused to go through with the engagement. When enquired about the reason, I came to know that the boy’s family were a greedy lot and very demanding.
I went in to meet Manasi, who was truly upset since even at the last moment the parents of the boy were demanding a diamond set for the boy’s sister. She asked me what crime her parents had done to suffer such humiliation due to her. I told her not to worry. The guy was no match for her. Now it was for me to convince her parents to call off the engagement.
I had to somehow make her parents calm down and had to reason with them. After about an hour’s discussion and emphasising on how a wrong decision in this regard would impact Manasi’s entire life and make her miserable, and stating various other examples including my own, I sort of convinced them and they agreed to call it off half- heartedly. The invitations had been sent and the venue was booked. All these were to be taken care of. The parents were quite upset as to what the relatives were going to say and also how her future prospects would get affected. I told them these were all trivial issues considering that her life was at stake. Her mother shifted the responsibility of getting her a suitable match onto my shoulders. In response, without even thinking twice I told her she was going to find a gem of a person and that too hailing from the south within a year. Never knew at that time that my prediction would materialise.
Manasi went back to work and as usual I used to drop in every Saturday at her place on the way to the Guruvayurappan temple at Mayur Vihar and from then on asked her to accompany me to the temple. Within ten months she had found a suitable match for her and that too one from the South as predicted by me. He worked in the same organisation as her. She wanted me to meet the boy. When I met Vishal, I got to know that he is from my native place, Palakkad but born and brought up in Delhi like me. I took an instant liking to him. I was truly happy for the two of them. I knew that they were made for each other and thanked the twist of destiny to have enabled them to meet up. Manasi’s parents were also very pleased and were now very keen to get to know Vishal’s parents and proceed further.
The engagement of Manasi and Vishal took place at the Guruvayurappan temple as wished by Vishal’s parents and they both are happily married and settled with two charming kids.
The bold decisions taken at the right time can lead to a very positive turn in one’s life.
(Latha Warrier is a former employee of World Bank, New Delhi.) A post-graduate in English literature from Delhi University, she is an ardent traveler and a globe trotter. Her passions include music and classical dancing. She specialises in Mohiniattam. She has taken up writing as a hobby after retirement. With a vast amount of experience, knowledge and wisdom gained by loads of travelling and working around the globe, she ventured into penning down life stories and wishes to share and express herself in the form of her writings. Published her first book “Emotions Unleashed” in February this year. She is presently working on another book of short stories. She was awarded the best debutant author for her book “Emotions Unleashed’ by Asian Literary Society. She has also won various poetry competitions on online platforms.
