May the Lord bless them with ‘many more sons’!!!!!

My neighbour’s son has found a suitable girl for marriage from the internet. (It is not through matrimonial sites but through chatting). I went to their house the other day and what I found was the true face of the couple.

First of all let me give you a brief sketch of them. The master of the house is Mr. Cyril who is a retired senior manager and his wife Mary is a house wife. They are staunch Catholics and follow all the precepts of the church (they clam so). They have four sons and all of them are engineers. (Thanks to the private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. If not, none of them could have been engineers!!!) Their eldest son, John is ‘foreign’ educated. He completed his engineering from a private engineering college and went abroad for a six months diploma course. So that is his ‘foreign’ education. The others are working in India for various IT companies.

John found his prospective bride from the internet – to be more precise from Orkut. John is a dusky tall boy (sorry…. man) with sharp features. He is not handsome but I would rate him as just average. He is a very good flirt who can talk very sweetly to girls. He is a very good ‘switch’ too. ( I learned that from his mother Mary who would swell with pride in claiming that her son had many admirers.)

Coming back, Mary welcomed me heartily and exchanged pleasantries. In course of our conversation she told me that John was getting married to his chat friend in Ernakulam. She added that the bride was the only child of an extremely rich Hindu businessman.

Immediately Cyril said, “Arathi ku 100 crores l adhikam swathundu.” (Arathi has assets worth over Rs.100 crores )
I gave Cyril an unbelievable look. The generally quiet Cyril was eloquent. He was describing about her 40 cents of land at the MG Road in Ernakulam and about her other properties. His face revealed his excitement. The middle class family had found a rich bride. I casually asked them how they knew that she had so much property. Mary said that she had asked Arathi about her assets when she had come to their house.(Greedy lady and foolish girl!!!!)

Mary showed me the bride’s photo and asked me how was she to look at. To be very frank she was not half as good John. As Socrates said, “Truth is disturbing” I decided not to pass any comments and said that she was okay. I remembered the old proverb, “The bride's faults are hidden by the dowry.”

Now it was Mary’s turn to sing praise for her would-be daughter-in-law. According to Mary, Arathi was a very well brought up child (that is why she used come to Trivandrum quite often to meet John without her parents knowledge) very simple ( that is why she drives a BMW) very polite and a whole lot of adjectives. I was a silent listener to the entire conversation.

In between Mary remarked, “Arathi aal oru midukki aane. Johnne engane karaki eduthu? Avan pandu Fathima de puruke ayirunu. Fathima l ninnum avalude chechi Farida thatti eduthu. Dee Faridayude kayil ninnum Arathi thatti eduthu.” (“Arathi is very smart. Wonder how she snatched John from others. In the beginning he was after Fathima. Fathima’s sister Farida snatched him and from Farida Ararthi snatched him.”). Mary gave me a wide grin. I was already feeling uneasy.

It was then their second son came back from work. As soon as he entered the house Cyril told him, “Njangal ipol John ne kurichu parayuvayirunu. Avan 100 kodi aa konduvarunne. Nee athilum kooduthal kondu varanam.” ( “We were talking aboutJohn. He is going to bring 100 crores. You should bring more than that”).

What an advice to give a son????!!!!!! I was shocked. Cyril gave me a cheeky grin. The staunch Catholic who preaches and claims to be a true Catholic was giving the most atrocious advice to his son. I wonder what he expects from the other sons. If they have to find brides according to their father’s demand they would better look for Bill Gates daughter or Laxmi Mittal’s daughter if he has one or Ambani’s daughter. I saw the true face of the couple who was blinded by Arathi’s wealth. They never realize that great dowry is a bed full of brambles. I truly feel the Lord should shower more sons on the couple so that they can become the richest couple in the world in no time!!!!!!