The Proposal: Part 1 of 4

This is absolutely funny, Zara thought.

So not only were employers looking at education as criteria for screening, prospective grooms were too! Tier 1 B School? Really? Had I known this, I would have definitely studied harder for my entrance exams!

‘Zara, listen to this’, her mother said with mirth in her eyes.

‘Tall, thin, fair, beautiful girl wanted’, her mother read,’ for a tall, broad, fair, handsome boy’.

Zara and her mother burst out laughing. All ads read the same. It was as if they all wanted the same girl and apparently, for the same boy!

‘This one looks good’, her mother said and handed over the newspaper.

So this fellow was obviously confused. First engineering, then law and then an MBA. Most parents saw highly educated when they read a lot of alphabets following someone’s name. But this education seemed confusing to say in the least. There was no correlation in the degrees pursued.

Zara’s parents were very liberal and they had willingly accepted when Zara had brought home Rahul. They did not belong to the same community. But neither families had any strict regulations about religion and marrying outside the community definitely carried no stigma. Rahul’s family had not only let her keep her name, she was also allowed to follow her religion openly.

They had gotten married at the first opportune moment and the families had got married as well. She wished the same for her younger sibling. But seeing such psychotic descriptions just made her worry.

Naima was everything a boy would want. She is perfect in every sense. Yes, she was biased towards her sister. But then who isn’t ? These people who advertised clearly thought a lot about themselves. Some of the men she had met, just matched the gender from the original description. Such liars them all.

And to trust such maniacs to take care of my baby sister. Especially this one, strictly no.

As if on cue, her sister snatched the paper from her hands and settled comfortably in the chair by the window.

‘None circled this week, huh?’

‘Your sister does not approve of this one’, her mother walked over and pointed out.

‘I can see why. Apart from his salary, there is nothing else specified here…! That is so shallow!’

‘Not that one. The one below that’.

First engineering, then law and then an MBA. Interesting. I would like to know where he went for his career counseling, Naima giggled to herself.

‘He is the right age, he is educated, lives in the same city. You can at least give it a shot’

‘Di, why didn’t you like him?’

‘Just didn’t feel right’

Why doesn’t ma leave the room, Zara thought.

It is only when Naima had reached the contact details did a gong go inside her head. It was a familiar number. There was a point in time she called the number more than ten times a day. He had not changed his 'lucky' cell number...!

A shiver went down her spine as she read the advertisement again: for someone who hated studies, he had managed 2 additional degrees. He still stays in the same area, she thought and started reminiscing about the time spent in his colony.

Wonder how he is doing, Naima thought.

To be continued…