The arranged marriage.

One thing I love about Punjabis... They know how to enjoy life. They're never hoity-toity about being made the butt of jokes and appreciate a good laugh, even if it is at their own expense ... In that matter, they remind me a lot of us Mallus, I guess.
The following is a true story that happened a few months ago and was narrated to us by Raj himself.

The main characters in this incident :
a) Two Punjab da puttur docs Prem and Raj (names altered ). Identical twins too, incidentally, though that's not relevant.

b) One Punjab di kudi - Simran ( her real name - it just adds to the charm of the story, having a girl whose name is synonymous with Kajol's from DDLJ. Remember the movie ? The sweet girl dancing in the rain, the girl who begged her father for one last chance to see the world before marriage, who is horrified of what she may have done while drunk, who is scared to express her feelings till it is almost too late... )

Anyway, the paths of these three would cross primarily via a marriage proposal.. Simran's parents wanted her to meet one of the twins, Raj. Now since the guy couldn't leave Pune to go see her in Chandigarh, she decided not to wait and flew down to meet the guy.

That evening, as she landed, the twins were there to pick her up. In the vehicle, she asked if they could stop for dinner as she was famished.
"Sure", said Raj "I know a lovely place in town."
Along the way, they got around to asking each other the basic details... small talk really. Raj told he didn't drink or smoke ( unlike his brother ), that he was doing his post graduation presently and that his brother Prem had just recently got married. Simran had a younger sister, was doing well in college and loved sports.

Anyway, they ended up at one of Pune's most famous pubs/ lounges - Thousand Oaks. Prem went on to order a beer along with some snacks while Simran, after studying the menu, chose a pitcher of mocktail for herself and Raj.
As they continued chatting, Raj found himself having a great time. He was soon laughing animatedly and cracking p.j's as only he can. He must have wondered himself how he could be so free with a girl he'd just met and wondered if this was love at first sight.
Wellllll...the fact of the matter was, it wasn't actually love. It was more a mix of white rum, vodka, gin, beer and breezers.
You see, Simran had ordered the restaurant's most famous drink - the Barman's pitcher. This was a mix of all the above mentioned which had a much sweeter taste than most alcohols and gave a relatively mild high... unless you're drinking for the first time in your life.
His brother, Prem, had known all along what the drink was and had happily sat back sipping his beer while watching Raj get drunk. It was only when Raj started feeling 'woozy' after 2 glasses that Raj and Simran had a good laugh and revealed to him the reason behind his light-headedness.

Of course, all this led to the most hilarious grand finale - Prem refused to drive while drunk and Raj couldn't drive because he was seeing two of everything ( which is ironic, considering he's a twin and usually, we're the ones seeing two of him. ) That left Simran, newly arrived in Pune, taking the wheel of the Tavera and driving the guys home as they sat in the backseat singing, with their heads out the vehicle at midnight, what I and my ex-co Pg call the Punjabi national anthem - Jee Karda Bhai Jee Karda.

Sadly, Simran and Raj were not meant to be, in this case. The next morning, when the boys had sobered up,  she revealed to them that she already had a guy back home and had just come down at her parents insistence, so as not to appear rude... oh, and also to enjoy Pune for a few days. The three of them had a gala time that weekend, going for movies, shopping and hanging out and parted on great terms.

Times have certainly changed since the days when an arranged meeting between a boy and a girl would include the girl all decked up and serving tea while fielding questions about her college degree and how well she could  stitch and cook, while being scrutinized by the guy's side and goaded on by her mother to sing for them. As for our protagonists, well...
Simran is getting married next year to her guy. Her parents were very supportive, once she admitted she was in love with a guy.
Prem and Raj are still searching for the girl who will sing "Singh is King" to Raj. He hasn't drank alcohol since that day.

Raj and Simran still keep in touch over Facebook.


Author's note : I personally wish they had got married. I couldn't have counted the years fast enough till their kids were grown up so that I could drive all the way to Punjab and sit in the yellow poppy fields where Kajol ran into Shah Rukh's arms , while telling those kids the tale of how Mommy got Daddy drunk on their first date and had to drive him home.