Pappu.... Its Office time !!!

Pappu is a 'small boy', only 25 years old.It is a different story that guys his age elsewhere in this world are grown up MEN taking care of their families. But he is a little boy to his parents and his extended family which includes his aunts, uncles, grandparents and many more. So, it was great news when Pappu cleared his intermediate exams with not so great 70% of marks. Crackers were burst when he cleared his engineering exams.But, now the scene is a bit more extravagant and tensed as well. Before you jump to conclusion its not marriage, it is Pappu's first job. Its office time for him and the whole household.

Now, that Pappu needs to be on time to office, everyone else needs to be on time too. Right from the milkman  to the household help everyone has to be on time. His mom needs to be up too, and so should Pammi aunt to prepare breakfast for the little boy.His father needs to be on time too, completing his newspaper, to give him any updates if need be.

All this is possible, only if Pappu gets up on time,which is an herculean task in itself what with his commitments to various social networking sites and his craving for a movie each day.But being the good kid that he is, he gets up and gets ready nevertheless.Now, how can a boy work hard if his family does not support him in their small way possible? So along-with him, everyone gets their act right too .

Pappu finally reaches office. It would have been appropriate if his boss would have come to welcome him. But, he is a good mannered boy so he makes do with the customary calls he receives from his house.It is not the boss's merit that he is a good man  who believes in giving due credit to his employees.It is all Pappu's good nature that has the power to change even the most ruthless person to a loving soul.So, he slogs the whole day giving the sweat and blood to his work. Its a different story that the sweat was due to a loose connection which resulted in power shutdown for a couple of hours and the blood , which the lone mosquito managed to suck.

And when Pappu calls it a day, the files and used tea cups lay as symbols of his great conquest.Tomorrow is waiting for him and so is another fort waiting to be conquered. And his reception back home is no less than that of a warrior. After all Pappu has successfully completed his first day in office with a flourish.Here is Wishing Pappu all the luck in all his endeavors. The world is waiting for you.

P.S: And people say I always complain about the patriarchal society, when all I'm trying to do is to be nice to Pappu :P

The Great Indian Match-Mak(fix)ing !!!!

We Indians love our culture and festivals are an integral part of our culture. Holi, Diwali, Dushera,and many more. We have festivals for each season and every region has its share of festivals.But there is one occasion that beats the glitz of all these festivals and that is "MARRIAGE ".Well, marriages happen all over the world with much glitter,preparation and fanfare. But, this the "GREAT INDIAN ARRANGED MARRIAGE" I'm talking about.

The parents of the bride and groom introduce them to each other and not the vice-verse like it  happens else where in the world. Most of the weddings here happen like this, so that is not special too.The special part here are the "aunties and uncles" who aide the parents of the bride and groom to help find a suitable match for the sons /daughters. Well , you might rubbish this off as an old custom or practice.But mind you, these match makers belong to the techie age. Armed with an iPhone and the world wide web they are out to create the perfect Matches or to put it in their words "Fix matches"(pun intended )

The alert areas include marriage functions,social gatherings, birthday parties, holy places of worship and even condolence ceremonies.They size up every pretty girl(Girls they find pretty !!) and mentally match them to guys depending on their prettiness quotient. The prettiness quotient to the Guy's Bank balance. In some cases the vice - verse happens too. The girl's father's bank balance to  handsomeness of the guy.Their tastes, preferences, compatibility or their interest in marriage is hardly a point of consideration.

The hunt then begins for the parents of the "Thus imagined perfect couple".If they already know each other then, the straight away get down to the business. If the parents don't seem to recall the relation they don't mind a rather long stroll down the family hierarchy tree till their relation is found in one of the distant branches.The iPhone makers, even in their wildest fancies wouldn't have imagined its use to 'FIX' marriages. Connecting people is a different story altogether. This is all about forced connections (forcing people to connect).

Talk about arranging a video chat of the prospective couple or running a character check by scanning their social networking profiles, the tech savvy match makers seems to do it all.Their success rates are pretty high too, leaving many big matrimonial sites behind.Barring a few black sheep of the family ( I top my family list ), the other young boys and girls seem to find them very friendly too. Unlike the few, who find them an intrusion in their private lives.And before we know the match is fixed.They help out even with the preparations. It is a different story their suite is always the best one in the whole hotel.The most important aspect, they don't charge anything at all. All they want is a good future for the kids (the bride and groom).

After a marriage,the aunties and uncles  move on with equal ease to fix someone else's wedding.  Doing good deeds and cementing their place in heaven. Such a noble thought !!! The "match makers " are here to stay and in a big way !!!

P.S: hoping this won't stand out as a black mark in my marriage profile !! :P