“Hare Srinivasa ! Heng idi Gopi ? “ (Salute to Lord Srinivasa. How are you Gopi ?) is the routine dialogue every Sunday Evening at Mr . Srinivasachar’s place. Mr. Srinivasachar ,a typical North Karnataka Brahmin (Vaishnavas Especially) as usual in his typical Lungi and Shirt sitting on a chair and watching some regional channel mutes the TV volume ( hoping God would have given him some button to controls his wife’s volume) smiles gently nodding his head awaiting his wife to finish the conversation and prepare some Tea for him.
Though Mr. Srinivasachar had been deaf towards the conversation “Idu yen maadiyo Halkata ? Ayyo Srinivasa ! Gopi yen maadbitta ! “(What did you do you morn ? Oh Lord Srinivasa why did Gopi do this !) , the words pierced his eardrums and gave him a jolt initially.
Rushing towards her husband , Mrs. Padmaja Srinivasachar , Look what our son has done ! With lot of hopes we had sent him to study in U.K and he is roaming around with some girl Amby. What shall we answer the society , what about the tradition and culture that has been upheld by our family ?
Mr. Srinivasachar , leaving his wife at the chair and quietly nodding his head , went to his room and smiled gently locking his door with a little tearful eyes. Carefully inspecting the stack of old Panchanga (Hindu Almanac), he pulls out one and smiles a photograph of a beautiful young AngloIndian girl in her prime youth.
Mr. Srinivasachar , in his college days loved that girl very much but never expressed it to her as he knew he can never marry her since he was from a very conservative and orthodox family. Nevertheless , Mr. Srinivasachar was happy since he could sense that he can realize his dream in his son getting married to Amby. Mr. Srinivasachar always fancied being in the circle of people with modern thoughts. Seeing his wife approaching towards the room he swiftly put the photograph in the Panchanga and rearranges the stack and says "Well Padmaja , lets get him married to the girl of his choice , we have to change with the time and ofcourse society will say what it wants but we want his happiness . Isn’t it ?" and Padmaja somehow gets convinced.
Padmaja as instructed by her husband now calls her son to inform about the couple’s decision. “ Hare Srinivasa. Gopi ?? “… A couple of moments later “ Houdu ? Khare na ? Ayyo Madala yak hellila ne ?” (Salute to Lord Srinivasa. Gopi?? … Is it so ? Really ? Then why didn’t you tell me earlier ? ). There was a huge smile on Padma’s face and Mr. Srinivasachar looked confused !
In a stunning revelation , Padmaja informs Mr. Achar that the girl’s name is Ambujakshi and she belongs to the same cast as theirs. This was absolutely an anti-climax to his anticipation. All the old-gold feelings which had blossomed in his heart were crushed in a moment! Padmaja was so relieved , unaware of what lies ahead. Since Mr. Achar had agreed to get them married , there was no chance for him to revert the decision
.
Now it’s time for both the families to meet as per tradition and check if the horrormones ( the stars , rashi etc ) mentioned in the horrorscope (oops ! Horoscope ) match. Here the lady luck kisses Mr. Achar who has secretly wished that this marriage doesn’t happen. It’s revealed that both the love birds belong to the same Gotra (Clan) ! Gosh ! According to the tradition people belonging to same clan cannot marry , as they are treated like brothers and sisters.
But Mr. Gopi was hell bent on marrying her , the community had come to know about their affair since Mrs. Padmaja had agreed for marriage and they used to roam around in the city ( they had come here to convince Amby’s parents) and were seen by lot of eyes ! At this juncture ; Mr. Achar says ,
Ayyo onde aaitu Gotra, ( Oh , now the clan is same )
Avalu aaguvalu , tangi maatra, (she can only be his sister )
Bantalla Gandaantara , (Now that’s a big problem)
E preetine one thara ! ( Love is just blind )
Now everyone starts thinking on solving this problem. One suggests lets hide the fact and some says lets make a pact. And now the time comes for Gopi to act !
Change maadi Gotra, ( Change the clan)
Aaga badalaaguvudu paatra, ( now her role will be changed )
Aaguval avalu tangiaala , hendati maatra, ( she ain’t my sister anymore but a wife )
Dayavittu munduvarisi , e shastra ! ( you all please continue the discussion and finish the family discussion ritual )
“How is this possible?” asks someone. The priest who had earlier made a pact with Mr. Gopi (This guy seems to have done a lot of background work huh !) to solve this clan issue informs that if the girls maternal uncle adopts her then the clan will change and the marriage is then possible.
Well time to end the tale, and now everything is set and they got married and … ( I won’t say they lived happily ever after )
And …. Life is going on ..
Note: All characters appearing in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Also I am not against any language, religion , cast , creed or clan. The word AngloIndian is used in lighthearted manner , and hence I cannot be accused to be a racist. The kannada word 'halkata' is also used in lighthearted way and is not to be taken seriously. In my view all religions are one and same and I respect all religions and Languages. The use of the name of the geographical region U.K is to represent a foreign geographical region and I don't have any disregard to this group of nations that U.K comprises. I do not disregard any language.
