Game for a proposal?

by: Kumaramurthy Sivaramakrishnan   

---

Email this page

Print this page

---

Inspite of the fact, that both our families had been very understanding, she would often worry about having to put up with my non-serious attitude towards almost everything in life. It was one of those peak monsoon days. We had been enjoying hot samosas with tomato ketchup, sweet-sour tamarind chutney and cups of brisk hot tea. Even amidst the jokes and laughter of friends, she had seemed a bit lost. She had later confessed that she had been revisiting the bus stop of a year before. To awaken her from the day- dreaming, I had casually observed a bit loud, that she had the habit of biting her lower lip, whenever she seemed pleasantly undecided. When she had vociferously denied, our ever eager friends had decided that they will be the witnesses while I tried to make her do the same, asking her no more than three questions. It had been my turn to smile the topic off, apologizing for having brought it up in the first place.

The party had died down. There had been some respite in the rain, and our friends had taken a hasty leave despite my sincere dissuasions. She had gotten ready to leave too but had been forced to stay back by the rain which had returned with a vengeance. I had been astonished at the silence between us while listening to the noise of heavy raindrops on the window panes and the melody of the ghazal from the cassette player.

It was then that I had asked her if she was still game for those three questions. She had smiled and nodded. I had switched the cassette player off and said "Repeat the word 'Silk' five times and answer my question immediately." She had been surprised but still went, "Silk Silk Silk Silk Silk." "What does cow drink?" "Milk" had been the reply. She had seemed content at crossing the first hurdle unscathed, but after looking puzzled for sometime at the amused expression on my face, she had realized that she had been tricked into stupidity. She had laughed out loud, at the thought of `cow DRINKING milk!' Then she had tried to salvage some respect, by arguing in vain that 'little cows' do drink milk.

On that, I had commented, "Don't feel unique. All of us are of the same ilk. Sometimes, under constraints of time, rhyme wins over reason, but that is besides the point. At all times, I want you to be the reason of my rhymes."

At that, She had seemed a bit stunned. I had continued, "Promise me that you would give serious thought and take ample time for this question, unlike the previous. Remember, I can definitely take `No' for an answer too." Then I had taken her palm in my hand, had felt the pounding pulse, had run my finger on her line of fate, had looked into a distant future from the window through the downpour and had said aloud "Life poses a million questions, let us together look at them, one at a time" and had chuckled to myself "I would probably cheat sometimes and look just one question ahead." With that, I had posed my second question, "If my third question were 'Will you marry me?', Would your answer to that be the same as the answer to this question?" A moment later, I had told her, "You are biting your lower lip" and she had agreed with an honourable mention about my being incorrigible.

We had heartily laughed and had shared the last samosa while waiting for the rain to relent. Two months from then, we had been married with the blessings of our elders in a simple ceremony.