I'll
Be There Beside You
Chapter
4
Today’s
Idiom – Do's and don’ts
Meaning- The do's and don’ts are what is acceptable
or not within an area or in a situation.
“I
love gardening. In fact I tend to this garden whenever I have time”, Lalitha
replied looking proudly around the small organic garden on the terrace of her
house. I gulped nervously. I had no knowledge at all about gardening. In fact I
don’t think I have as much as planted a sapling in my life. Since she didn’t
ask about my hobbies, I decided to venture the information by myself.
“I
love travelling and trekking. I’m also part of the local trek group in
Bangalore. We organize trips almost every month. Just to escape from the daily
grind of routine office work in the weekends”, I was rambling. Lalitha was
silent all the while. And the lull in our conversation was becoming awkward.
“Why
don’t you tell something about yourself? Do you like your job? What do you do
on weekends?” I asked throwing a barrage of questions at her, hoping that she
would talk about herself.
I
really had no idea how to go about in such situations and Lalitha’s stubborn
silence was only making things embarrassing. Maybe I should have asked someone
for advice on the do’s and don’ts before coming here.
“Look,
I know you’ll have certain expectations from the girl you want to marry. But I
want only thing. I want to work after marriage. My father, as you must have
come to know by now, is very orthodox and he didn’t want me working after my
studies. If he had his way he'd've got me married when I was in college
but my mother intervened on my behalf. I had to fight a lot to get his
permission to work and I had to agree that I’d quit my job if my future husband
or my in-laws didn’t want me to work. I love my job, I love the freedom that I
have because of my job and I don’t want to lose it.” Lalitha looked out of
breath as she finished her monologue. It must have taken her a lot of courage
to speak out. I saw her hands shaking as she reached out for a glass of water.
I
was taken aback by this sudden change in Lalitha’s demeanor. I had judged her
wrongly and I felt guilty for jumping to a hasty opinion.
So proud of Lalitha to speak about about career and her choice.. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love Lalitha's words. It takes courage to speak your mind and the girl did a good job standing her ground :) Will Sudhir accept her now?
ReplyDeleteDouble Jeopardy
I'm loving Lalitha's spunk! So glad she didn't turn into a demure maiden as he initially thought :) Waiting for the next part.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant written. Independence and freedom is what makes us elevated as human beings. Sadly, this conservative attitude still permeates the modern world.
ReplyDeleteRead all your earlier chapters, This story is very interesting. Will be back for the future parts.
ReplyDeleteNice post and was interesting to read, so often we judge people wrongly, it happens to me too.... thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteRead all the earlier chapters now. The waiting for the next part is the saddest... Good going :)
ReplyDeleteI read your earlier chapters too and now am intrigued by the story. Here in America there is a new reality TV show whereby trained professionals match people for marriage. They have to agree to marry who the psychologists and therapists have chosen for them, sight unseen. It just started so I don't know where it's going but apparently they stay married for 6 weeks then decide if they want to stay married or divorce. Very interesting experiment. In your story, things are looking promising at this point. Looking forward to reading more!
ReplyDeleteMichele at Angels Bark
I am so glad to see that Lalitha is not quite spineless as she appeared earlier. Excellent characterisation :D
ReplyDeleteLalitha proved him wrong by speaking up and making her wishes known before marriage. Good for her :)
ReplyDeleteGood for her! I like lalitha more and more and you portrait her so well:-) intriguing story
ReplyDeleteGood that she finally spoke her mind and he realized that he had misjudged her!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this story!
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
Men can't handle an independent woman, can they? Will he be any different? will wait and see!
ReplyDeleteSo glad that Lalitha spoke her mind. It must have rattled him for sure, but then again he did want a working woman. So, there!
ReplyDelete*Shantala @ ShanayaTales*
I love her name! While it is good to have a strong female character. In my honest opinion, when an author has their female characters too strong, it becomes annoying and overbearing (think Marida in Disney's Brave), I love seeing a strong character with weaknesses, it makes them much more relate-able.
ReplyDeleteNot all men hate independent women; my husband appreciates my independence, but I must be humble enough to listen to his desires otherwise our marriage will not be well-balanced. :)
Elizabeth Mueller
AtoZ 2015
My Little Pony
I like where it is going and how :) I was hoping for a revelation about her and you gave it.
ReplyDeleteAww, poor girl ! It must be pretty overwhelming meeting a guy for marriage in an arranged setup and to top that, she has this worry of whether or not her future family will accept her working condition.
ReplyDeleteGood narration about a true situation !
Like the way, the story is progressing !!
ReplyDeleteAm eager to read the next chapters. What an awkward situation to be in.
ReplyDeleteGlad she spoke her mind :-)
ReplyDeleteYay Lalitha. Good to say what's on your mind :) I like her more already :)
ReplyDelete