Salutations

Sunday the 16th of August turned out to be a very memorable day for me. When asked by Kumar to accompany him to a betrothal ceremony, I was hesitant. Since I had not seen any of the people involved in the said ceremony, I wondered if my presence was needed. There have been times when I go to places and see people for the first time and during most of these occasions, I just get to say a “hello” here and a “how are you” there and a “what is your name” kind of routine. The reason for this stilted situation could well be mine as much as the other party involved. It is just that after a certain age it becomes difficult to make overtures in the first meeting itself. The single reason that motivated me to go for the betrothal was the fact that the girl and the boy were both deprived of hearing and speech. My purpose was to congratulate them on having reached this stage in their lives and in my own way to show my support.
It was a very small gathering which included the families of the boy and the girl. The only outsiders were Kumar and me. The reason for this privilege was because the girl’s father has a Travel Agency in Delhi and he and Kumar are co presidents of the same organization. Yes the girl is a Punjabi. However as custom did not require her to be there, she was not present nor was her mother. The father and a handful of his family members had come from Delhi for what they call the “Rokka” ceremony. The boy was from Chennai but even then, the number of members on his side too was limited. I had no clue of what the boy did for a living or his family background. Since we reached the venue before the girl’s family, we were met by the boy’s people and thus began my tryst with some of the finest people I have met.
The first to introduce herself was a cousin of the boy. She seemed more like a grandmother to him. (She told me that she was referred thus by his friends). Here was this elderly person so full of life who had taken it upon herself to raise the boy. The boy’s mother had passed away while he was very young and his father was not educated. This cousin took the boy under her care and brought him from the village and gave him the special education that he needed. She saw him through his school education, then got him to do a diploma in engineering and even supported him till he was placed in a proper job. The boy is now employed as a programmer in a soft ware firm in Chennai. What impressed me more was the fact that the boy rides a bike and travels more than 30 kms daily on the death traps that our roads have become. I could not but gawk at this achievement. He is also the proud owner of an apartment which he has purchased on a bank loan. It is truly a worthy achievement considering that the boy is only 29 years of age. On hearing all this, I was at a loss for words; in fact I even considered prostrating at the feet of this marvelous woman who had given more than just a life to this boy. To him she must surely be a living God. I deemed myself lucky to have had this wonderful opportunity. The lady in question was so humble and unassuming that even congratulating her would have been a cause for embarrassment.
The next person to interact with me was an aunt of the boy. She was enthusiastic and seemed more in tune with the ways of the world. I learnt that she was a retired professor from one of the women’s colleges in the city. She too it seemed had played a pivotal role in the life of the young gentleman. As if that did not suffice, she had under her wings a charming young girl with speech disabilities. This young girl had come into her life when she was about eight and now she is 22 years of age. She is a Mathematics graduate and is proficient with computers. She is well employed and is also pursuing a correspondence MBA. I was introduced to this charming young lady but was tongue tied before her perseverance. I could only admire these two ladies but I am sure to them it must have been the most natural thing to do.
The boy in question was composed and dignified. I had thought that I could show my prowess in sign language (something I had learnt from an uncle who also had a speech and hearing disability) but that was not to be because he could lip read beautifully. I congratulated him and wished him the very best. There were a whole lot of things that I wanted to convey to him, but I knew I would be embarrassing him if I did so. Thus wishing everyone till we meet again at the wedding, I bid farewell.
The farewell was just a temporary action for I am certain that what I saw and learnt in those couple of hours can never be erased from my mind. That day I learnt the importance of commitment and selfless service. I also saw the glow on the faces of the two ladies whenever they mentioned their wards. As for the wards, the look on their faces was proof of the high esteem in which they held these wonderful women. I am glad I attended the betrothal, for it brought in me the reassurance that goodness still prevails in this world. Once again I got an opportunity to admire qualities like simplicity, selflessness and humility, which are rare occurrences of our times.