Saturday, April 4, 2015

April 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge- Chapter 4- Do's and don’ts

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.

You can read the previous chapters here-
Chapter 1

22 comments:

  1. So proud of Lalitha to speak about about career and her choice.. Beautiful!

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  2. I 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?

    Double Jeopardy

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  3. 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.

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  4. Brilliant written. Independence and freedom is what makes us elevated as human beings. Sadly, this conservative attitude still permeates the modern world.

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  5. Read all your earlier chapters, This story is very interesting. Will be back for the future parts.

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  6. Nice post and was interesting to read, so often we judge people wrongly, it happens to me too.... thanks for sharing

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  7. Read all the earlier chapters now. The waiting for the next part is the saddest... Good going :)

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  8. I 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!
    Michele at Angels Bark

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  9. I am so glad to see that Lalitha is not quite spineless as she appeared earlier. Excellent characterisation :D

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  10. Lalitha proved him wrong by speaking up and making her wishes known before marriage. Good for her :)

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  11. Good for her! I like lalitha more and more and you portrait her so well:-) intriguing story

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  12. Good that she finally spoke her mind and he realized that he had misjudged her!

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  13. Men can't handle an independent woman, can they? Will he be any different? will wait and see!

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  14. So glad that Lalitha spoke her mind. It must have rattled him for sure, but then again he did want a working woman. So, there!
    *Shantala @ ShanayaTales*

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  15. 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.

    Not 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

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  16. I like where it is going and how :) I was hoping for a revelation about her and you gave it.

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  17. Aww, 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.

    Good narration about a true situation !

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  18. Like the way, the story is progressing !!

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  19. Am eager to read the next chapters. What an awkward situation to be in.

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  20. Yay Lalitha. Good to say what's on your mind :) I like her more already :)

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