The Tryst of Truth and Lie

Mauritus – thatched roof huts, crystal clear skies, pristine sand flashed before my eyes as my fiancée explained about Mauritius. What made things more exciting than these is that my fiancée promised that we will be going to Mauritius for our honeymoon. I quipped “but isn’t that going to be expensive?”. He brushed that off casually - “honeymoon is all about setting the stage for the next 40-50 years of life and I want that to start on grand note.” After I hung up the phone I found it hard to get sleep amidst the sound of waves crashing against beach.

I spent the next few weeks preparing about our Mauritus trip. I checked out the weather, what sort of clothes I should wear and whether the color would go with the scenery. So I brought up the plans once again with my fiancée and gleefully mentioned all the background work I have done and when are we booking the tickets – either individually or going with a tour operator. There was some silence in the other line and “hmm..there has been some development…errr..you see, the gift expenses have gone too far and eer you know the gold prices eer the worldwide economy, the situation in Australia, Taliban etc. So he apologetically asked “why don’t we scale back our plans?” So I was like “OK, so you mean reduce from number days from 8 to 5? “No, I was thinking more like chose a bit of nearer place like..Kerala”..

Gosh Kerala was definitely a steep drop from Mauritius. So much for opening one’s married life in “Grand” note. I asked him “But what about Maurtitus and opening things in grand note.” He was like “Oh honey these are just trifles. Does place even matter? If you are with me even Marina Beach is Mauritius to me”. Oh these men..All they know is making promises !! Never trust them..Well I thought of all things to stay positive about honeymoon in Kerala – its going to be terribly raining, possibly somebody from the family might want to tag along since its near TamilNadu, three out of five people u ask would have had their honeymoon in Kerala and the rest two are not yet married. Gosh, there isn’t anything positive about Kerala..

Ok I thought let me get a grip of myself and I am sure the situation could be worked out. Ok let start with the constraints. How much is the budget. He said well the budget has been reduced by which he meant the budget been terribly slashed down thanks to his parties in Bangalore.. So the irony of life - things that fit within budget you tend to invariably not like and the things you love are out of budget.

I kept calling different tour operators and website which gave glossy pictures of honeymooners having the time of their life with a price tag that didn’t suit my fiancés delicate budget. I wish the geography teacher who thought about different countries of the world had given an indication of flight expenses so things would have been simple. And just when I thought “Kerala here I come” a friend suggested Nepal. Kathmandu with its scenic beauty, Pokhra with its lakes, canoes and flight trip around Mt Everest fit the bill perfectly. And the fact Nepal rupees is cheaper than Indian currency clinched the deal with my fiancé .

I don’t know what I missed in Maurtius but Nepal was extremely fun save for the nuisance of my fiancée or rather my husband with his laptop and entering every expenses the next nano second in to the excel sheet. Right from the small danglers that I bought of the phone bill for the half an hour ISD call that I would make home !! We shot past the budget but it was fun.

Now for the third marriage anniversary he is promising we will go to Switzerland. Knowing him as much as I do over these years I am hoping “budgetary constraints” won’t make our plans dip too much below and probably after all I will get to see Maurtius. Keeping my fingers crossed.