Paraaya Dhan...

The sister-in-law of a friend of mine will be getting married soon.
She has been staying with them for some time now, and gotten to know all the rest of us rather well.
Though a little shy in the beginning, she has made a place for herself in our gang, with her wit, humor and basically because she turned out to be as crazy as the rest of us.

There is quite a bit of hustle bustle around their household these days with regards to the preparations and planning and everything...
Recently, during a chat, my friend generally mentioned in the passing, that "yaar, soon she'll be gone"...
And it struck me that yes, suddenly there will be one person less in the house !!!
And to top it all, this one will be flying off to the US after the marriage, as her fiancee is based there. So its gonna be quite some time before we get to see her again.

And I realised that I'm gonna miss her too...had kinda gotten used to her being there.
My trips to Pune were often spent at their place, and she was good fun to have around.
Primarily because she was our common punch-bag, the poor thing used to bear the brunt of most of our practical jokes, but more so because she was a jolly good sport.
Soon, it'll just not be the same again !!! There will be a void left behind. And nothing can fill that up.

How much more difficult must it be for her parents ?!?!?

Now this friend has a daughter, who is 15 and half months old.
An absolute darling...she has me all tightly wrapped around her little finger.
And when she gives me her dimpled smile, I inadvertently look around, in the hope that if her parents aren't looking, maybe I could just scoot her up and run...
And it rips my heart to think that some time in the future, she also will come of age and go away with her husband.

And if this affects me so much, what must the parents go through ???
How do they console their hearts ? That the one they have brought up with so much love and care, has to be given away to somebody else...a veritable stranger !!!
Aise kaise koi apne jigar ka tukda kisi aur ko de de ?

I fell in love once, and the girl knew that her parents wouldn't ever accept me.
And I wanted the girl to come away with me, all the time promising her a lifetime of love and care and nurturing and pampering and tenderness...and soft toys and chocolates and...books and music...and rhythm and dance and...
But she didn't want to rebel against her parents, said she wouldn't...

And today, I said a silent prayer for her, blessing her for doing the right thing.

As it is, the parents go through this whole lot of heart-ache...the least we can do is make it a little easier for them.

I used to love her, yes, but then, sometimes, love is not enough.