22-12-2018, 01:26 PM
Swati Gets Married
Satish & Swati had met at a party and fallen hard for each other. Satish had everything that Swati wanted in her man: the looks and build of a bollywood hero, a background of wealth & privilege and a to boot! To cap it all, Swati had been "shafted by his shaft drive motorbike" as she ruefully put it many years later while resting in my arms. Satish on the other hand was utterly captivated by the bright, smart, self assured, sexy, articulate young Swati who was so totally unlike any girl he had met till then.
They were soon inseparable. They bunked college and spent many an afternoon together, chatting in coffee shops, watching matinee shows, going on long drives on the powerful BMW bike and once in a while making out in the privacy of an obliging friend's bedroom. Although Swati was as passionate & hot-blooded as they come, she never allowed Satish to "go all the way", in spite of his desperate pleading & entreaties. She was very firm that to attain that prize, he would have to marry her first. This was a blow to Satish's pride; he had rarely had to take a no for an answer.
Weak willed & indecisive as Satish was, he waffled and procrastinated for a long time before finally proposing marriage. Swati was only too glad to accept, and immediately demanded to be introduced to his parents. Satish was realistic enough to know that his parents would never accept a "half-caste" Maharashtrian girl as their bahu (daughter-in-law). He didn't have any idea how he was going to broach the subject with his parents. He kept putting the matter off until one day Swati served him an ultimatum: there would be no more meetings until she was introduced to his parents. Fortunately, Satish was spared the pain of breaking the news to his parents when Satish's married elder sister accidentally found out about the relationship. When confronted, Satish had sheepishly admitted that he wanted to marry Swati.
With this, all hell broke loose in Satish's house. His hypertensive mother threw the mother of all tantrums and took to bed, refusing all food and drink, reducing Satish to a quivering lump of jelly. His father Santosh Kumar had a sound appreciation of his son's capabilities & character and knew that he would never be able to make the grade in the civil services entrance exams. He had therefore nursed dreams of setting Satish up in business and had even short listed marriageable girls from wealthy families of their own caste who could bring in a large enough dowry for the purpose. He was not prepared to see his dream shattered by an uncivilized, upstart half-caste ghati (a derogatory term North Indians sometimes use to describe Maharashtrians) girl. He was a powerful, influential bureaucrat with connections in high places. He immediately called his good friend, a highly placed security officer officer and asked for help to try and scare the girl off or, if absolutely essential, to bribe her to leave his son. His friend listened and promised to see what he could do. When his friend called back the next day, Santosh Kumar broke into a cold sweat.
"Do you know who her father is?" His friend asked Santosh Kumar and then proceeded to describe the reach and power of Laxmanrao's connections, right up to the highest political levels in New Delhi. Santosh Kumar was left in no doubt that Laxmanrao could be really bad news for anybody who dared to cross his path and that he was quite capable of ruining not merely Satish's life but also Santosh Kumar's career if he chose to.
"It is best to reach a compromise" was his last piece of advice as his friend hung up on Santosh Kumar. This left Santosh Kumar in a pretty pickle. He thought long and hard trying to find a way out. He made some more discreet enquiries about Swati & her family, probing for some weakness. He soon came to know about Swati's mother & Laxmanrao's hunger for assimilation into the upper caste society. He developed an even greater appreciation of Laxmanrao's wealth & political connections. Gradually, it dawned on him that there was a real opportunity here. His spoilt, good for nothing son might actually have hit the jackpot, he realized.
Santosh Kumar's illustrious forefathers had been adept at reading straws in the wind and ingratiating themselves with ascendant political forces early on. That had been one of the secrets of the clan's great success. This faculty seemed to have curiously deserted the clan elders when in the late nineteenth century the forces of nationalism had risen from the ashes of their defeat in the 1857 War of Independence and slowly but inexorably gathered strength in the twentieth century, eventually resulting in the overthrow of the British Empire. As a result, there was not a single member of the clan in the nationalist movement in the pre-independence era and none in the political establishment, post Independence. Santosh Kumar had had to face many occasions to rue this grave omission. Being a hard nosed pragmatist, he now saw an opportunity to set the matters right by gaining a toehold in the political establishment. Thus it came by that Santosh Kumar decided to approach Laxmanrao to ask for Swati's hand in marriage for his son!
How Santosh Kumar managed to get his wife to agree to the match is an interesting story in itself but it need not detain us here. Suffice it to say that he succeeded as he usually did when he really put his mind to it.
***
To her credit, Swati never thought of using her father's power & influence to coerce Satish's family to accept her. Having delivered her ultimatum to Satish, she stood fast and waited. Her parents didn't have any inkling about this storm in her life. She called her father only after she had been dropped back to her hostel by Santosh Kumar and his wife after a high tea at their residence, during which they had formally welcomed her as their future bahu.
Soon, Santosh Kumar met Laxmanrao and all matters related to the forthcoming wedding were sorted out. Laxmanrao was very happy for his eldest and favorite daughter. She had done him proud; he could hardly have picked a better groom for her had he tried. He was determined to use this occasion to display all his wealth, power and connections. Needless to say, the wedding was a grand affair, running to five days. It continued to be the talk of our town for many years. After the wedding in our city, there were glittering receptions held in Mumbai as well as in New Delhi, attended amongst others, by prominent state and national level politicians and cabinet ministers. Even a usually blasé Santosh Kumar was dazzled. The brilliant display of power & wealth also served to nip in the bud incipient murmurs of protest by Santosh Kumar's clan brethren about the caste of the new bahu.
The newly weds eventually settled down in New Delhi where Santosh Kumar had been transferred to, on a plum posting (one of the early benefits of the recent alliance). Satish soon started an import-export business and became sole selling agent for several large European companies. Canny and farsighted Laxmanrao had ensured that Swati's name was included as an equal partner in the business. Apart from the huge profit the business generated on its own, it also served as a convenient conduit to siphon Santosh Kumar's "other" income to safe havens in Swiss banks. It was a dream arrangement that benefited everybody at the cost of the poor Indian taxpayer.
Although outwardly things were hunky dory for Swati & Satish, clouds had soon started appearing on the horizon. It had emerged that Satish had an inordinate fondness for liquor and an inability to hold his booze. Worse still, there had been whispers about his dalliance with other women. Not one to take things lying down (with one exception!), Swati had kept a careful watch and caught Satish red-handed. He had failed to convince Swati that he was "merely trying to comfort an old friend". There had been a flaming row and Satish had finally tearfully asked her forgiveness, promising to behave himself & never to stray again. It was in such circumstances that Swati had decided to take a break and arrived in our city to spend a week with her parents.
***
Satish & Swati had met at a party and fallen hard for each other. Satish had everything that Swati wanted in her man: the looks and build of a bollywood hero, a background of wealth & privilege and a to boot! To cap it all, Swati had been "shafted by his shaft drive motorbike" as she ruefully put it many years later while resting in my arms. Satish on the other hand was utterly captivated by the bright, smart, self assured, sexy, articulate young Swati who was so totally unlike any girl he had met till then.
They were soon inseparable. They bunked college and spent many an afternoon together, chatting in coffee shops, watching matinee shows, going on long drives on the powerful BMW bike and once in a while making out in the privacy of an obliging friend's bedroom. Although Swati was as passionate & hot-blooded as they come, she never allowed Satish to "go all the way", in spite of his desperate pleading & entreaties. She was very firm that to attain that prize, he would have to marry her first. This was a blow to Satish's pride; he had rarely had to take a no for an answer.
Weak willed & indecisive as Satish was, he waffled and procrastinated for a long time before finally proposing marriage. Swati was only too glad to accept, and immediately demanded to be introduced to his parents. Satish was realistic enough to know that his parents would never accept a "half-caste" Maharashtrian girl as their bahu (daughter-in-law). He didn't have any idea how he was going to broach the subject with his parents. He kept putting the matter off until one day Swati served him an ultimatum: there would be no more meetings until she was introduced to his parents. Fortunately, Satish was spared the pain of breaking the news to his parents when Satish's married elder sister accidentally found out about the relationship. When confronted, Satish had sheepishly admitted that he wanted to marry Swati.
With this, all hell broke loose in Satish's house. His hypertensive mother threw the mother of all tantrums and took to bed, refusing all food and drink, reducing Satish to a quivering lump of jelly. His father Santosh Kumar had a sound appreciation of his son's capabilities & character and knew that he would never be able to make the grade in the civil services entrance exams. He had therefore nursed dreams of setting Satish up in business and had even short listed marriageable girls from wealthy families of their own caste who could bring in a large enough dowry for the purpose. He was not prepared to see his dream shattered by an uncivilized, upstart half-caste ghati (a derogatory term North Indians sometimes use to describe Maharashtrians) girl. He was a powerful, influential bureaucrat with connections in high places. He immediately called his good friend, a highly placed security officer officer and asked for help to try and scare the girl off or, if absolutely essential, to bribe her to leave his son. His friend listened and promised to see what he could do. When his friend called back the next day, Santosh Kumar broke into a cold sweat.
"Do you know who her father is?" His friend asked Santosh Kumar and then proceeded to describe the reach and power of Laxmanrao's connections, right up to the highest political levels in New Delhi. Santosh Kumar was left in no doubt that Laxmanrao could be really bad news for anybody who dared to cross his path and that he was quite capable of ruining not merely Satish's life but also Santosh Kumar's career if he chose to.
"It is best to reach a compromise" was his last piece of advice as his friend hung up on Santosh Kumar. This left Santosh Kumar in a pretty pickle. He thought long and hard trying to find a way out. He made some more discreet enquiries about Swati & her family, probing for some weakness. He soon came to know about Swati's mother & Laxmanrao's hunger for assimilation into the upper caste society. He developed an even greater appreciation of Laxmanrao's wealth & political connections. Gradually, it dawned on him that there was a real opportunity here. His spoilt, good for nothing son might actually have hit the jackpot, he realized.
Santosh Kumar's illustrious forefathers had been adept at reading straws in the wind and ingratiating themselves with ascendant political forces early on. That had been one of the secrets of the clan's great success. This faculty seemed to have curiously deserted the clan elders when in the late nineteenth century the forces of nationalism had risen from the ashes of their defeat in the 1857 War of Independence and slowly but inexorably gathered strength in the twentieth century, eventually resulting in the overthrow of the British Empire. As a result, there was not a single member of the clan in the nationalist movement in the pre-independence era and none in the political establishment, post Independence. Santosh Kumar had had to face many occasions to rue this grave omission. Being a hard nosed pragmatist, he now saw an opportunity to set the matters right by gaining a toehold in the political establishment. Thus it came by that Santosh Kumar decided to approach Laxmanrao to ask for Swati's hand in marriage for his son!
How Santosh Kumar managed to get his wife to agree to the match is an interesting story in itself but it need not detain us here. Suffice it to say that he succeeded as he usually did when he really put his mind to it.
***
To her credit, Swati never thought of using her father's power & influence to coerce Satish's family to accept her. Having delivered her ultimatum to Satish, she stood fast and waited. Her parents didn't have any inkling about this storm in her life. She called her father only after she had been dropped back to her hostel by Santosh Kumar and his wife after a high tea at their residence, during which they had formally welcomed her as their future bahu.
Soon, Santosh Kumar met Laxmanrao and all matters related to the forthcoming wedding were sorted out. Laxmanrao was very happy for his eldest and favorite daughter. She had done him proud; he could hardly have picked a better groom for her had he tried. He was determined to use this occasion to display all his wealth, power and connections. Needless to say, the wedding was a grand affair, running to five days. It continued to be the talk of our town for many years. After the wedding in our city, there were glittering receptions held in Mumbai as well as in New Delhi, attended amongst others, by prominent state and national level politicians and cabinet ministers. Even a usually blasé Santosh Kumar was dazzled. The brilliant display of power & wealth also served to nip in the bud incipient murmurs of protest by Santosh Kumar's clan brethren about the caste of the new bahu.
The newly weds eventually settled down in New Delhi where Santosh Kumar had been transferred to, on a plum posting (one of the early benefits of the recent alliance). Satish soon started an import-export business and became sole selling agent for several large European companies. Canny and farsighted Laxmanrao had ensured that Swati's name was included as an equal partner in the business. Apart from the huge profit the business generated on its own, it also served as a convenient conduit to siphon Santosh Kumar's "other" income to safe havens in Swiss banks. It was a dream arrangement that benefited everybody at the cost of the poor Indian taxpayer.
Although outwardly things were hunky dory for Swati & Satish, clouds had soon started appearing on the horizon. It had emerged that Satish had an inordinate fondness for liquor and an inability to hold his booze. Worse still, there had been whispers about his dalliance with other women. Not one to take things lying down (with one exception!), Swati had kept a careful watch and caught Satish red-handed. He had failed to convince Swati that he was "merely trying to comfort an old friend". There had been a flaming row and Satish had finally tearfully asked her forgiveness, promising to behave himself & never to stray again. It was in such circumstances that Swati had decided to take a break and arrived in our city to spend a week with her parents.
***
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