On The Sacred Knot

So what really happens after? After romance and pursuit and seduction and proposal and marriage, what next? How does ‘happily ever after’ look?

I seem to have gotten preachy recently. And I have zero experience in such matters after all. Hence for a change, I will put aside my wild theories and replay other people’s experiences (with a few nasty comments on the side…what the hell, I am a story-teller!)

Two of my friends are getting married (to each other!). I call them the Barbie n’ Ken couple because they are just so flawless plastic-picture perfect. Of course I’m being catty….they’re a great couple…..oh forget it, let me just get on with the story! I wonder how they’re going to sustain this marriage, especially the ‘quality time’ and ‘bonding’ and all those things self-help books propound. Ken doll is on board a ship for a large part of the year while Barbie works for a BPO and we all know these beings work on a different time-cycle than us lesser mortals….I wonder when they’ll have the time to get hitched. Anytime now I expect to receive a wedding card that reads …

You are cordially invited to the wedding of Sailor-Ken and BPO-Barbie.

Be there on time or be a missed-it-when-I-blinked guest!

Then again, I think of another couple I knew, both call center employees on different time schedules. Apparently they used to wave to each other from buses. Naice, romance flourishes across time and distances.

One of my classmates married his long-time girlfriend from college. She works in Pune while he graces the island city. According to him, he feels ‘even less married’ than earlier since they meet on the weekend (just like teenage sweethearts….how sweet, the romance will live on….*violin music*)

Dinner with an old buddy last month proved to be a delightful experience (as it always is)! She was full of stories about married life. She said “I call him BICYCLE”. “Why?” I inquired incredulously. I never saw anyone who looked less like a handlebar strapped to a frame on wheels. “Because” she said “I ride him and he’s got tyres” Whew….so marriage hasn’t rid her of her sense of humour, what a relief!

Here’s what an older-and-much-married-and-hence-wiser friend has to say about the sacred knot. “Lay down the rules on the first night itself. You’ll never be able to change him later. Everything thereafter will be compared to the first few weeks. That said, sometimes its just easier to get it over with than having to listen to how this relationship isn’t working” This, from the female half of one of the most sorted-out couples I know.

From soon-to-be-hitched to newly-wed to ‘celebrating-a-decade-together-and-still-alive’….I’ll refrain from any more jibes. The only thing that keeps running through my head these days is

Marriage is finding that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.

Since most people annoy me, but not that much, I think I’ll settle for a boring and peaceful existence *Meow*