When Amaya meets Atul

Mummy 😡

“Golu, love marriages are forbidden in our family”, Vandana hollered at her son. She was mortified at the sudden revelation that Atul wanted to marry a girl of his choice.

The mother-son duo were sitting together in the living room sipping the evening tea. The living room of Bansals was elegantly furnished with contemporary styled furniture. It was minimally decorated with some abstract paintings giving elite vibes. 

Atul had reached home in the afternoon and was elated to relish the delectable lunch his mother had prepared for him. His father Manoj had not come back home yet from his office. Being a government servant, Manoj was a diligent officer in Municipal Corporation of Saharanpur who still had two more years to retire.

Atul was dumbstruck looking at his mother who seemed to be irrational. He coaxed his mother, “Mummy, you know the girl”.

“If it is Neha, we are not allowing this alliance because my friend told she is characterless”, Vandana snarled fuming in anger. “Her fiancé broke off with her after knowing her scandalous ways”, she jibed looking at Atul in disgust.

Atul, on the other hand, was too pissed off to see the unchanged obnoxious thought-process of his mother. He wondered how easy was it for his mother to insult a girl just because her engagement was broken.

“Mummy, first of all, it is not Neha and secondly, you have no right to call her a characterless woman. She is a sensible girl, for God’s sake, stop maligning someone’s character.” Atul yelled angrily. He was done with the judgemental nature of his mother and for the first time, he decided to object her firmly.

“Whoever is she, forget her Golu. Your father will not agree.” His mother cautioned him ignoring the fact that her son was despising the way she was insulting Neha. Having born and brought up in an orthodox household, Vandana believed in all the rumours that floated about Neha.

“Mummy, do you remember Aggarwals?”, Atul inquired trying to introduce Amaya as his love interest. He dreaded the fact that his mother would judge Amaya too, much to his dismay.

“Yes”, Vandana jibed scornfully after all, how could she forget that disgraceful girl who had allured her son for a second meeting too. When Atul smiled gleefully, she glowered, “Their incorrigible daughter asked to meet you again that too without an engagement”, in distaste.

“Mummy, Amaya is a gem”, Atul boasted ignoring the glares of his mother. He had realized that this conversation had a long way to go, after all, convincing his parents was not easy at all.

“I want you to talk with her parents and fix our wedding”, Atul declared as he got up and walked to the kitchen to keep his empty cup in the sink but not before picking up a coconut cookie and munching it.

“You were in touch with that girl, Atul, after we had rejected their proposal”, Vandana fretted glaring at her son. She was burning in anger, hating that disgraceful girl who, according to her, had allured her innocent son in the trap of so-called love for money. Closing her eyes in despair, she sighed exasperatedly, “I am truly disappointed”.

“Mummy, she is a good one. You will love her.” Atul mollycoddled his angry mother as he sat beside her on the sofa. He realized his mother was disappointed at the idea of love marriage but he was not aware of the judgemental thoughts his mother had for the innocent Amaya.

“O! My God. Golu, she has wrapped you on her pinkie”, Vandana exclaimed in horror getting away from her son as if Atul was suffering from some contagious disease. “She is such a wicked woman”, she mumbled incredulously leaving Atul baffled at the sudden change in his mother’s demeanor.

“Mummy”, he thundered angrily gesturing with his hand to warn his mother that she should control her tongue before he lost his mind. Enraged at the turn of events, Atul was fuming in anger.

“So, you will fight with me for that brusque girl”, Vandana challenged her son. She wondered what magic had Amaya done on her innocent son. Little did she know that Amaya was actually an amazing girl who had taken pains to see beyond Atul’s looks and bank balance.

“I love her, mummy”, Atul pleaded. Even before he could tell his mother about the impeccable nature of Amaya, Vandana interrupted him, “It is not love, my child. She is using you.”

This was the moment when Atul realized that his mother was judging Amaya to be a gold-digger. He lost his patience at the incredulous thought-process of his mother. He wondered Amaya was someone who valued self-respect. He was disgusted at his mother who was insulting Amaya and labelling her a gold-digger which was entirely wrong. Moreover, he was annoyed at himself for not revolting against the unacceptable perspective of his family which they carried over under the name of patriarchy.

Angrily, he snapped at his mother, “Goddamit! She has a lucrative job in the industry. Why would she lure me?”

“Golu, these office-going girls are really peculiar. They work hard to earn and then, they spend their hard-earned money partying all night. She needs money now so she is using you.” Vandana ranted elucidating the lack of knowledge she had. Being a keen audience of the daily soap operas, her perspective about life was restricted.

Being an old-schooled woman who was married off by her parents after completing her schooling, Vandana followed the ideals of her husband blindly without even realizing that her husband had chopped off her wings very intelligently chaining her into the household chores ultimately killing her dream of being a teacher, which she aspired for, once upon a time.

“You know, you have lost it”, Atul hollered. He was beyond irritated at the relevant reasons of his mother. He was beyond puzzled. He was short of words because he had realized no matter how much he tried to explain the idea of woman empowerment, it was going to be fruitless discussion after all, it seemed impossible to change the patriarchal mindset of his family which was ingrained in their minds over generations, that too, overnight.

“Golu”, his mother tried to coax him. She had tears in her eyes as she disliked the agonized tone of her son. She was used to the anger of her husband as Manoj often snapped at her every now and then but she had never expected her son to holler at her brusquely that too, for a vile girl.

Immediately realizing his mistake, Atul toned down a bit. Wiping the tears of his mother, he spoke softly, “Not a word about her, mummy. I love her and I will marry her, only her.”

“Is this your final decision?” Vandana demanded as she got up to walk in the kitchen primarily to hide her tears feeling humiliated after the argument with her son.

“Yes and you will have to convince Papa to visit the Aggarwals and fix everything”, Atul replied as he followed her. She began to wash the dishes while Atul began to peel the skin of boiled potatoes that were kept on the shelf.

“When you can love a girl then why do you need your father to fix the alliance?” Vandana mocked at her son.

With sarcasm laced in her tone, she commented, “I am sure, you can fix your wedding yourself, right?”

“Mummy”, Atul protested staring at his mother unbelievably.

“Stop howling at me and don’t expect me to do anything especially for that vile woman”, Vandana shouted at her son smacking his arm as she said, “And get out of my kitchen”. As much as she liked the idea of her son helping her in the kitchen, she knew it was time for her husband to come back home who despised the idea of males working in the kitchen.

“Why are you calling her names?”, Atul asked politely as he continued to help his mother. He despised the idea of his mother toiling all alone, completing the household chores so whenever he was at home, he helped her every now and then.

“Because she has allured you”, Vandana murmured cleaning the sink as she was done with washing utensils.

“How can you speak so disgracefully about a girl, mummy?” asked Atul. “How can your conscience allow you?” he bombarded his mother with another question while Vandana felt ashamed for a moment but soon her rational thoughts were replaced with the same patriarchal thoughts.

“Golu, now you will question me for that girl?” she glared at her son as she walked out of the kitchen.

“Mummy”, Atul protested a little loudly as he followed her mother but before, he could help her overcoming her misconceptions, her father interrupted him, “Golu, why are you shouting?”

♥️♥️♥️

Hi everyone

How's my attempt to bring out the thought process of an old-schooled household where people are stuck at gender roles?🤔

I don't endorse such toxic behavior in the families but I am sure, it has the tidbits of sad truth faced by people. 😐

Irony of this chapter: Despite a contemporary styled house, the people are orthodox in a negative sense! 🙁

Do share your views, I will try being back around the weekend!!😘

Don't forget to hit the ⭐ button and please share your views on the chapter.🥰

Love you all
💜