It was sometime around 1980 that one day I was on a business visit to our company's wholesale dealer, M/S PV Raju & Co in Guntur. Usually pharmaceutical wholesalers stock and sell medicines of about 8-10 companies. When I was at my dealer, in walked Narasimham, a medical representative of another company. He had an agitated look on his face. Since he was a good friend of mine, I sought to know if he was worried about something. He disclosed that a few of his friends brought a man of around 30 years to stay in the room where he lived. The stranger was to get married against his wishes. Narasimham was worried since his pfriends were using his room for some activity which seemed to be very abnormal. I comforted Narasimham saying that things will go well and he will not have to worry about this matter.
A few days later, I ran into my childhood friend from Proddatur, GP (identity deliberately withheld) He was also my classmate in the school (although from a different section since he opted for general mathematics while I was a composite mathematics student) Since I moved to Bangalore for my college studies after my school, I had lost touch with him. But I knew that GP had joined a nationalised bank after graduating from college, through my other friends. He was at that time working in the bank branch in Guntur. I invited him to my house for lunch as we were meeting after about a decade. We could reminisce about our Proddatur days. After a good lunch on a Sunday noon, as we started to chat, he confided that he had some serious matter to discuss with me. He wanted to share some important events in his life. Before his transfer to Guntur, he was working in Vijayawada. His parents were living with him. He had fallen in love with a Hindu non-brahmin girl in the neighbourhood there. His parents were planning to marry him within our community (he belonged to Brahmin community) and were expecting a good dowry since he was well placed as a bank officer. When that girl started to press for marriage, GP started to avoid her because he had second thoughts and because his parents were pressurising him to marry within brahmin community.
The girl's family was aware of the love story and had approved it. But when GP started to avoid the girl, she informed her brothers about it. Angered by this development, the brothers picked up GP and took him to Guntur in a car (all in a filmy style) and forcibly performed his marriage with their sister in a temple. GP was dumped by the brothers in Narasimham's room in Guntur with a warning that he must accept their sister as his spouse. GP returned to Vijayawada a day after receiving the threat and confinement in Guntur room. His parents were unaware of the temple marriage and continued their search for alliances within brahmin community. At this juncture, GP was transferred to Guntur. It was then that I met him in Guntur.
A few days before GP came for lunch, I had received a letter from my wife's aunt about a marriage proposal for her daughter working in postal department in Chennai. They wanted to know the background of a boy working as an officer in a nationalised bank. Since the boy was from brahmin community, of my age and a native of Proddatur, they surmised that I would know all details about the boy. From the letter, I could easily recognise him as GP of this story. Only I had lost contact with him since I left Proddatur in 1967 after schooling. It was a great coincidence that I met him in Guntur within a few days after I received that letter from my wife's aunt. During our post lunch chat, after disclosing all his matters, GP requested me for advice as to how he had to sort out his problems. I suggested that he should solemnize his marriage with that girl and live with her. He should inform his parents regarding his decision to accept that girl as his wife. I cautioned him about the consequences like legal issues and even dismissal from job in the bank if he decided to marry a second time any another person to please his parents. Luckily he took my advice. I could suitably inform my wife's aunt to look for another match for her daughter since the boy in reference was already married. Bizarre things happen in this world!
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