The Tryst of Truth and Lie

When you see the father looking up at the roof, mother doing indiscriminate poojas and bhajans, unknown faces pouring into their house every weekend,; you should get the hint that their daughter has turned 23 and the time has come to pack her off.

                 If you want to buy a car you check things like mileage, color, after service& after sale. But when it comes to marriage there are people who go all the way in knowing the direction of Jupiter and Saturn of the bride and the groom were 25 years back. Yes, I am talking horoscope and the role it plays in getting people together.

                 When I was 23 I came to Chennai took my first job and had set out to find my knight in shining armor. Later in few weeks my parents got me registered in shaadi.com, bharthmatrimony.com and all other .coms whose founders become rich connecting millions of desperate individuals. I traversed thorough the length, breadth and depth of these .coms and filtered out “the best ones” and forwarded them to my parents to initiate the next step. After a couple of days my mom called up and said none of these profiles have through. I asked Why? Am I not intelligent? Am I not good looking? How could all the guys turn me down. It seemed that one of the experienced family astrologer had conjured a esoteric remark saying that the girls Saturn is rotating so fast that it obstructs the movement of the boys Mars which would hinder our growth in future. These astrologers are so intelligent that before even the girl and boy would meet/talk they would predict the problems they can face as a couple.This is not once or twice, it happened every time I found an interesting guy, every time my intuition said “He is the one.” Do you really think these stars can respond to what heart/brain feels??

              Anyways I was disappointed and had resigned after all this, it was now my parents turn in choosing my man and I was very curious to see what is that the stars have to say !!. I was sent across photo and profile of a BITS-Pilani guy settled in US. But that was not the best part in him ,it was his 10 stars matching with my 10 stars. And our dear astrologer had confirmed that this unison will bring prosperity and happiness for both of us. Do you think I need stars to be happy in life?? . But somehow I was convinced to see this prospect. And I was instructed to behave nicely and more specifically behave like a girl to impress him. He wanted to meet in this Chrompet temple. I was dressed up in my favorite peacock blue suit. I carried my horoscope with the nine grids as an identity proof in case he fails to recognize me by face. He came in a white dhoti with a blue striped shirt and as he came closer I noticed the three streaks of vibhooti that ran across his temple. I had already imagined the Pluto and Mars surrounding him that would ensure our compatibility Though I could see the personality mismatch still I waited for him to talk something.. He introduced himself and said(In a mallu accent) “This side of the temple is blocked.. Why don’t we go to the back side and talk.” Oh! I wished my Jupiter were displaced a little to the east and I wouldn’t have needed to meet this prospect. We continued to talk sometimes about the “college days” (in mallu accent) and sometimes “the fun we had at copy”. He failed to keep me interested even for 5 minutes. How do I spend my entire life with him? I know my dad would not be happy with my decision but I had to ask this question “Why should stars decide? Why not hearts?” It is a high time that the previous generation understands that we are born to question, on the stars on the horoscopes and everything which they believe is true. We do respect their values and their cherished beliefs. I can very well see my mother and father happily married for 25 years after an “impeccable horoscope screening”. But is it just because of that? Whenever they fight do they say “Our horoscopes match so you better be nice with me” In fact those nine grids become a forgotten story once the knot is tied and it is the understanding, the love ,the mutual respect that binds them together.

Coming to my story “There behind you sits the prince charming whom I chose and my parents approved. Its going to be an year but we never had any major conflict. And our stars have said nothing to us as we never matched him. But I have something to say to the singles who do not believe in horoscopes “You ll very soon find your star girl/boy” and for the believers of horoscopes “Please be ready with the question that the generations to come will ask as I did” “WHAT STARS DON’T SAY”