Yeong Ai

HAI SHI SHAN MENG

~"A love, as high as the mountains climb, as deep as the oceans dive,
An eternal vow we pledge, for as long as we live"

~Chinese translation~

Swara smiled to herself, gently, in her sleep. This was the best moment of her day, or rather night. It was her happiest moment, had been for every night of hers, for the past six months. If someone had asked her what was her happiest moment or moments, a few months ago, she would have simply smiled and given an answer which was more aimed to satisfying the questioner rather than being the absolute truth. But then, those times she was not where she was now, so they were not very false either.

Her life had changed almost a year ago, when she had married Sanskaar Ram Prasad Maheshwari, the scion of the Maheshwari Industries. The match had been determined by their families and though they had known each other for two years before they had married, they really did not love each other. Her marriage saw a series of changes, some not very welcome, some surprising and still others that left her in awe.

The first thing to change was her lifestyle, her mother in law, Sujata Maheshwari was far more liberal thinking that her parents had been; her parents had instilled a few strong traditional values and one was regarding the mangalsutra she had to wear. Swara had no problems with that rule, though she preferred one made of a slim gold chain and tiny beads with a small diamond pendant, the chain was of such a length that the pendant gently rested in the hollow of her neck. She would also apply a tiny dab of sindoor in the parting of her hair that was only faintly visible. As none in either of her families seemed to notice it nor did they raise any objections; in fact, Sanskaar remarked that he liked the understated look of the elegant mangalsutra and the tiny dab of sindoor, so she felt it was appropriate and acceptable.

But a couple of months later, when Laksh and Ragini got married, Swara had her doubts. Ragini would streak her entire hair parting with a thick line of scarlet and wore a mangalsutra that was made up of nine rows of black beads and sported a solid gold pendant, which to a sarcastic mind would give rise to a suspicion that it was actually a small idol. Sujata had appreciated Ragini's appearance too, and that had increased the doubts in Swara and after a month, she hesitantly questioned her mother in law.

Swara discovered how liberal Sujata was in her firm answer.

Sujata had thought for a few minutes and then answered, "it is your choice, Swara, whether you choose to wear the mangalsutra and sindoor, even when and how to wear it, I do not wear either, for I believe that I need no symbols to prove to the world that I am Ram's wife and he is secure in the fact that I love him, he does not need those symbols either. Neither me, nor your father in law will care and believe me, neither do my sons. Ragini wears a very visible streak of sindoor and a heavy mangalsutra because she likes to do so. So you alone, Swara, get to decide for yourself; what, how and when you wear the sindoor and mangalsutra."

It had left Swara in tears and awe for her mother in law.

Then came the adjustment with Ragini; Ragini was a homemaker, which again caused guilt in Swara, for she felt she was shirking her duties by not helping out in the kitchen and she would try to make time for that, which only led to unpleasant results.

For this time round, a visibly upset Ragini confronted Swara and cried, "Swara, do you think I am a bad cook or is it that you do not like my cooking? I have always been told that I am a great cook and actually would have made a great chef too. And do you also think I cannot manage this house?"

At Swara's bewildered face, Ragini toned down her voice but allowed those tears to fall even as she continued, "it is just you insist on helping me out in making breakfast and the preparations for lunch and dinner. Instead of allowing me to do some of the household tasks, you insist the staff take care of it. I can see how flustered you get when you do that, most of the days you are late for work, the phone is stuck to your ear and I worry that you would end up hurting your shoulder. I did try to tell you that I can manage but you sort of brush me off and lately I am suspecting that you do not like my cooking. It disturbs me a lot so I thought I would talk to you."