The Matchmaker of Prayag
Tags: Literary Impulse, Fathers, Indian, Relationships, Marriage

Not to quote my favorite Ms Austen here in anyway but, a single person in India, however, rich or poor, must get married, irrespective of the person's age, religion, opinion, or manglik dosh. In my part of the world, she/he will never be normal/happy if he/she decides to stay single. In short, it’s a sin to die a single person.

We grew up with this great lesson of life. Along with some other great lessons that you need to learn all the skills to be a great wife/homemaker/multi-tasker; never depend on your husband for money/help at home and the best lesson— always be around when your parents need you. Yes, we did have a very confusing childhood. But this is not about my childhood. I will have to write a book on that. Today, it’s all about the greatest matchmaker of my time.

My father likes happy endings in movies. In fact, unlike my stories, his bedtime tales to my boy, his new year greeting card limericks, the poem in my wedding card etc, they all end at a positive note - either with a blessing or a wish for a better future.

And just like his stories and poems, he thinks people to need a happy ending — by getting married. Which is probably why he likes to fix up people, irrespective of their age, religion, their willingness to get married. In fact, he very often ignores the horoscope warning.

It used to be a minor hobby for him - He sees a single boy/girl and due to the numerous wedding parties he attends all year round, he instinctively figures out the best match for the poor soul and then he approaches both the families for an alliance. Don't get him wrong. He doesn't get paid for this. In fact, he recently retired from a Government job where he was quite well respected. But when it came to matchmaking, he gets slightly obsessive.

Sometimes, in his zeal to fix up single people together, he would call them up and force them to just do a first meeting. If you are an Indian who was born in the 60s, 70s, and 80s then you would know that I am talking about those strange first meet-ups in places of worship. But for obvious reasons, not always do they agree for such formal meets. So he invites them over for an informal tea. Again, if you are in India, you know tea doesn't mean just tea. It means serving tea with samosas, biscuits, pastries, mithai, pakore etc. Growing up, this used to be a quarterly affair. Because sometimes we would host the second meeting also to finalize the talks. Till date, I don't know why he was so keen to get people married. Almost makes me believe he found some merit in his own marriage to do this for others. I think there are nearly 30 such "happily married" couples who credit him with their nuptials.

Though I now wish he had stopped there. Fixing up people for marriage I mean. Since his retirement, he has started the 2nd edition of his matchmaking business - jobs and businesses. He now has this new thing where he tells a relative/family friend that this person can help you with expanding this business or why a certain person will have a better fitment in a different job role.

Do you see where I am going with this? I am right now torn between organizing an intervention for him and running away from all this to that dreamy rental home in the Himalayas. So guess where I will be tomorrow?