“If she will get married to Mohit, she will die in 21 days. He is manglik.”, This is what the pandit had to say when after countless hurdles of caste and creed, Riya’s father had agreed to get these two lovers together.
But, only on one condition – their kundalis must meet. This one condition proved to be too big to handle for Mohit. As per the pandit, if Riya got married to him, she would die. So, Riya’s father harshly told Mohit and his family to go back. The marriage was canceled. Mohit begged in front of Riya’s father, but of no use. He was not moved even one bit.
In fact, he did not wait for long to fix Riya’s marriage with some guy who was non-manglik and whose kundali according to the pandit was perfect match for Riya.
So, they got married and lived happily ever after.
If you thought this was the ending of the story, then sorry to disappoint but it did not end like this. It went something like this –
After a few weeks of marriage, Riya got to know that the guy she was married to was a drug addict. He was under rehabilitation. In fact, he could not even recognize who Riya was after a week’s time because he was too addicted to remain in his senses.
Mohit could not live without Riya so he decided to stay unmarried for life. Riya, on the other hand, could also never move further. She spent her life with the addict because she was too afraid to see his father’s respected being harmed in the society.
Two lives ended. Why? Because of a Pandit’s claim and unmatched kundalis.
What Riya’s father could never realize was that dosh was not in the kundali, it was the thinking that was wrong. He had matched the kundali with the other guy and according to pandit it was perfect. So, why did all this happen? Why did Riya lead a life of a dead person? Why did Riya’s husband turn out to be an addict? Why she had to suffer all this?
And, most important of all – why did two lives had to end like this?
This is not a fictional story or an establishment of my thoughts. This is the harsh reality of our society and our culture. Believing in religion and faith is one thing, but believing in something that decides life and death of a person just because some person predicts it is sheer foolishness according to me.
Hundreds and thousands of couples have to go through such situation in their life. Some fight, and lose respect from their parents as well the love of their life. Some, like Riya, accept this as their fate and take the burden of saving their father’s so called izzat by sacrificing their life.
Some stand-up against these illogical beliefs, show the courage to rebel and live a life against all odds. But, such cases are few and far between. And, even if there are, they are generally never owned again by their family.
But, is it right? Is this the kind of Indian culture that is touted to be the greatest in the world? Is this something that the parents are proud of? Is this something that makes them feel that their child is happy? Would not the child have been happy if you had given their love a chance?
Think about it!
We need change, and change begins within ourselves. Do share your thoughts.