"...jaisa aap kahen" (...whatever you say...)

A getaway with friends and more importantly with "a friend" has been long overdue. But when on the phone Shimla came up as one of the possible destinations, I wasn't that gung-ho about it. Not for anyother reason but I have practically been there once / twice every month while I was working in Chandigarh. I must say though...that few hill stations have the kind of charm that Shimla has for me. I simply adore that place...

This post is, however, not meant to be another of the Tourism Ministry's efforts to strengthen the "Incredible India!" campaign.

Since I was a lil' boy...I've always been taught to not poke into other people's business and worse...to overhear other people's conversations. But that evening while I was walking with my family on the famous Mall Road of Shimla, I couldn't help but having my ears tuned to what seemed like some kind of a course in manners. The conversation was apparently not between strangers but the whole thing was quite...what should I say...mannered & formal!

"...kya khayengi aap?" (...what will you have?)
"...jo aap ko pasand ho... (...anything that you like...)
"...nahi fir bhi...kuch toh bataiye... (...still...tell me something about your choice...)
"...jo aap kahen..." (...whatever you say...)

Now it was too much for even my military upbringing...to restrain from around and find out the source of the "lessons in hesitancy & manners". So very slowly...almost pretending to check out the array of hawkers on the other side of the street...I turned my head. And there were the culprits!
As I saw them...I tried so damn hard to not break into a laugh...a grin did escape my lips though...

About 10 odd steps from where we were standing...there was this newly married couple standing infront of an eating joint. The whole conversation that I was now privy to...was apparently about deciding what to eat for dinner. The problem was quite simple. The couple quite obviously had an arranged marriage...something thing quite common in this part of the world. Matrimony where one day suddenly you are told that you shall spend the rest of your life with so-and-so-person. Period.

So what you have...are two young people trying to make friends with each other from the time they get married one way or the other and at times over-doing the part where each tried to be the ideal groom or the ideal bride. In this case, the bride, apparently under strict instructions from her Mom & her Mom-in-law to wear bright reds and such "bridal colours" along with all the jing-bang of bangles, jewellery, bindi, heena and the works...was dressed up like a mannequin in a bridal showroom's window! And the young man was dressed much more...normally...so to say. Each one fighting hard the ackwardness of a complete stranger entering their lives...so abruptly and so very completely. Their efforts were genuine. Their being shy yet trying to overcome it and display a "I'm-in-control" look was a creditable effort I must admit. Above all...they were really cute together in the whole situation...

As I walked I could faintly hear them again,

"...kahin aur chale fir?..." (...so should we go somewhere else?)
"...jo aap kahen..." (...whatever you say...)