Good People: Chapter14: Serious Reflections

All the Chapters

Chapter 1: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-path-breaking-novel-and.html

Chapter 2: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-classic-novel-and-classic.html

Chapter 3: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-romance-with-difference.html

Chapter 4: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-unique-story.html

Chapter 5: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-contemporary-romance.html

Chapter 6: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-story-of-subtleties-of-life.html

Chapter 7: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-interestig-reading.html

Chapter 8: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-global-perspective.html

Chapter 9: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-contemporary.html

Chapter 10: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-romantic-scenarios.html

Chapter 11: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-professionally-right.html

Chapter 12: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-expanding-thinking-horizons.html

Chapter 13: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-modern-romance.html

Chapter 14: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-serious-reflections.html

Chapter 15: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-story-of-human-paradigms.html

Chapter 16: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-dilemma-and-solutions.html

Chapter 17: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-romance-and-tough-decisions.html

Chapter 18: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-tale-of-disaster-and-anxiety.html

Chapter 19: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-prejudices-and-conflicts.html

Chapter 20: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-anxiety-and-love-story.html

Chapter 21: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-love-triangle-jealousy-and.html

Chapter 22: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-interesting-climax.html

Chapter23: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2014/01/good-people-love-story.html

Chapter 24: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2014/01/good-people-finally-love-knows-no-bounds.html

Chapter 14

Medhavi was doing very well with her MS studies in University of California. She was happy convincing herself that she did better with her academic progress when compared to Shaan who stopped his studies just after graduation.

Once she mentioned to her roommate Anjali, “Anji, don’t you think that I am in a better position than Shaan? He is just a graduate from India and I will be a post-graduate that too from a reputed university of America. I am sure to get a great job in USA and he is struggling with his start-up in India.”

Anjali did not comment. Just said, “OK.”

Medhavi remained cross with Anjali for many days after this.

Medhavi started spending less time with Anjali and more with Samskara. Samskara was her classmate.

Samskara also came from India to US to do his MS. He lived in an apartment that was quite close to Medhavi’s. Since Samskara and Medhavi were teamed together to carry out a project they needed to consult each other often. In the process they started frequenting each other’s apartment.

One day when they were at Samskara’s apartment they got talking generally.

Samskara informed, “Our family originally comes from South India, more particularly from Tamil Nadu. I am a chaste Hindu Brahmin.”

“What a coincidence. Our family also hails from Tamil Nadu. And we too are chaste Hindu Brahmins.”

“Do you know why my parents named me ‘Samskara’?

“Tell me.”

“They are very proud of Hindu samskaras (rites of passage, cultural heritage and upbringing). As per them Hindu samskaras have no match in other religions. They wanted to imbibe all those samskaras in me.”

Medhavi added, “And so they named you Samskara. Right?”

Samskara could feel a sense of approval of his credentials.

“Yes. I am proud to say that I lead my life by those samskaras.”

And they exchanged many things describing their personal and academic resumes. They described to each other what their parents did back home. Fathers of both of them held high positions in government jobs. People in India always held high opinion and were in the awe of the persons who grabbed top positions in government departments. To top it all both sets of parents were equally religious.

They were happy to know that their religious, personal and family backgrounds were quite identical. Soon their professional and academic association turned into a personal friendship. And gradually they decided to personally like each other and to ultimately fall in love with each other.

They were convinced that they were a great match.

Before all these developments between the two took place, they were in constant consultations with their respective parents.

Medhavi’s parents sought a lot of information about Samskara’s family background and she scooped it from Samskara at times directly and other times indirectly.

Samskara’s parents also sought a lot of information about Medhavi’s family background and he scooped it from Medhavi at times directly and other times indirectly.

In doing this research work many days and months passed.

And finally when everyone was satisfied that everything was in order, Medhavi fell in love with Samskara and also Samskara fell in love with Medhavi.

As their final examination leading to completion of their MS approached and one day when they were at Samskara’s apartment studying together and took a break to cook the dinner together, Samskara found it a perfect time to broach the subject of his falling in love with Medhavi, “Medhavi, now that we will complete our studies, I think that it’s time for me to declare my love to you. I feel that we should marry soon after I get a job. Of course your consent is necessary.”

“I was about to say the same thing to you,” Medhavi said. “I have also fallen in love with you. I don’t mind if we marry soon after you get a job. By then I will also be having a job. So, that suits me. Then should we inform our parents?”

The deal was done.

“Yes, we should inform our parents. They will need to carry out lots of preparations since our marriage will have to take place following strict religious rituals. They will also have to find out an appropriate shubh muhurtham (auspicious date) in consultation with our guruji (the priest). All this takes time.”

“I too believe in all the necessary religious rituals of the marriage and a shubh muhurtham. Without them, the marriage does not feel like a marriage.”

“You said it. My opinion is ditto.”

Their meeting ended with a perfunctory embrace with some tinge of emotions.

Then both of them got busy with their studies.

They also got busy communicating with their respective parents with reference to their impending marriage.

After consulting the respective priests Samskara and Medhavi and their parents took decision that the marriage would take place in Chennai, India within next six months since that period presented the most auspicious time for solemnizing their marriage. Auspicious time was decided by the positions of the planets with reference to earth.

Medhavi and Samskara started looking forward to the D-day. They started making the necessary preparations to travel to India.

(Get your copy of the novel "Good People" as an eBook from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009BHH37G  only for $ 0.99. You may also like to get its Printed Book from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Good-People-Dream-Boundary-World/dp/1479333085/ref=sr_1_8_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380916602&sr=1-8&keywords=shyam+bhatawdekar%27s+books)

Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/

Good People: Chapter 8: A Global Perspective

All the Chapters

Chapter 1: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-path-breaking-novel-and.html

Chapter 2: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-classic-novel-and-classic.html

Chapter 3: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-romance-with-difference.html

Chapter 4: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-unique-story.html

Chapter 5: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-contemporary-romance.html

Chapter 6: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-story-of-subtleties-of-life.html

Chapter 7: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-interestig-reading.html

Chapter 8: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-global-perspective.html

Chapter 9: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-contemporary.html

Chapter 10: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-romantic-scenarios.html

Chapter 11: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-professionally-right.html

Chapter 12: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-expanding-thinking-horizons.html

Chapter 13: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/10/good-people-modern-romance.html

Chapter 14: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-serious-reflections.html

Chapter 15: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-story-of-human-paradigms.html

Chapter 16: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-dilemma-and-solutions.html

Chapter 17: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-romance-and-tough-decisions.html

Chapter 18: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/11/good-people-tale-of-disaster-and-anxiety.html

Chapter 19: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-prejudices-and-conflicts.html

Chapter 20: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-anxiety-and-love-story.html

Chapter 21: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-love-triangle-jealousy-and.html

Chapter 22: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-people-interesting-climax.html

Chapter23: http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2014/01/good-people-love-story.html

Chapter 24: https://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/2014/01/good-people-finally-love-knows-no-bounds.html

Chapter 8

Kelly was the adopted daughter of a couple recently immigrated in USA. 

The husband Arun- an Indian and mother Yin- a Chinese became the citizens of USA some two years ago.  They got married while doing their research work in a reputed university of USA. Before coming to USA Arun lived in Delhi and Yin lived in Beijing. And they were destined to meet in USA some day later and they did. They had almost similar points of view as far as nationalities, religion, race, ethnicity etc were concerned. They were not much concerned about such peripheral issues. They were quite broadminded. It was good enough for them that they loved each other. 

After their marriage when they found that they were not capable of having a child of their own, they adopted Kelly. Plus they had promised Christie that they would adopt Kelly. 

Kelly’s mother Christie was their very close friend and colleague. She worked in the department where they were pursuing their research work.  But as luck would have it, Christie died of cancer and before she died she entrusted Kelly in the care of Kelly’s present legal parents Arun and Yin. Kelly was fourteen at that time.

In due course they adopted Kelly as their daughter.

Kelly’s biological mother was a single black American, an orphan brought up by an orphanage. Christie was born out of wedlock. She did not know her parentage and her religion. She soon turned into an agnostic. So she gave very little consideration to any religion. She further moved away from any religious inkling after her fiancé, a white, ditched her in favor of a younger girl and without any of her own faults. 

She once commented to Kelly, “Being associated with any organized religion or race does not compulsorily make you a necessarily good person. There are good and bad persons in every religion despite every religion’s commandments. And good people are good because they follow the real good commandments of life irrespective of the imperfections of the commandments of their own religions.”

Deception by her fiancé left deep painful scar on her mind. 

Emotionally torn by this incident, the single mother decided to remain single and nurtured Kelly to become a confident and independent young girl. As per wishes of Kelly’s real mother, Kelly completed her graduation and later her PhD after her present parents adopted her. 

When Kelly’s mother Christie came to know that she suffered from cancer and it was already in the advanced stage she had met Arun and Yin at their home. Arun and Yin already knew about her worsening condition.

She said, “As a good friend can I request you to look after my Kelly as your own child? Perhaps this might be our last meeting at you home.” And she grasped the hands of Yin in hers with tears in her eyes. 

Yin squeezed her hands in affirmation.

“Also let her pursue her graduate studies. I also have a strong desire that she should ultimately get a PhD. I want her to be intellectually, emotionally and economically independent after I am gone. Higher education does good things to people. And don’t worry about the money. I have saved enough and you can use it for all of her expenses,” Christie urged to Arun and Yin.

They promised to look after Kelly as per Christie’s desire.

That was their almost last meeting. Christie could not keep good attendance in the office and Arun and Yin got very busy writing their thesis. They did meet Christie on a few occasions but only for a few minutes at a time as she was already hospitalized soon after the meeting at their house.

After the death of Christie, Arun and Yin coaxed Kelly to stay with them. Knowing her mom’s last wish she agreed. She also agreed to pursue her PhD and with her hard work she completed her studies in just about three years. She also agreed to be adopted by Arun and Yin as their daughter. She had started liking them lots. She thought that they were excellent people.

So by now Kelly was a beautiful and highly learned woman ready to launch her professional career. She was strikingly beautiful with sharp features of her mother and the color that was a perfect blend of the colors of her father and her mother. 

Most of all she was a good human being.

So here was a girl born to a black mom, a white pop and adopted by a couple consisting of Indian American and Chinese American. Perhaps such a thing is probable in very few countries of the world. US could be one such rarity. 

Obviously Kelly did not belong to any religion. Being an independent thinker she had concluded by now the futility of attaching herself to any religion. Her deep studies and keen observations on the subject more than convinced her that no religion could offer or add more value to her existence any more than what she was enjoying being only a human being and not being labeled a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or Sikh or any other. Additionally even her adopted parents did not make any fuss about her non-alliance with any religion because of their own thinking, clarity and broadmindedness in this matter.

And no one dared to ask or probe into her religious or ethnic identity in USA. On paper, since the 1970s Americans tended to agree about the constitutionality and justice of guaranteeing equality of civil rights and liberties to all individuals in the country, regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. 

However, in reality one could always question whether such equality was a real thing in USA. Yet many individuals, societies and organizations did believe in it truly and followed it in spirit and to the letter. Kelly found not too much difficulty in finding a high profile job in such an organization though it was not all that easy.

In four of her earlier interviews, the recruiters tried to pry or probe into her religious and ethnic backgrounds directly or indirectly. Kelly had point blank asked them, “Are you aware of the constitutional stand on it?” Then the recruiters retracted but did not recruit her saying that her profile did not match the job requirements. So there were always some smart and fishy ways of circumventing the spirit of constitution of USA by those who were bent upon doing it.

Finally she had stumbled on her present employer ‘Super Soft Technologies’. Her present employer had the record of disqualifying and blacklisting the interviewers who were found asking questions pertaining to race, ethnicity, religion, sex or other such things of the interviewees. She came to respect this company more and more in due course of her employment there.

And she had maximum respect for her mom who had once told her, “You are lucky to have three different people around you- me as your mother and you new parents-to-be as your parents. You can learn so many different and good things from three different people having three different backgrounds. But make sure not to pickup the wrong things from any one of us from anyone else.”

Kelly always treasured this conversation in her mind.

She promised to herself that she would forever remember the essence of this advice of her mom whether it was related to a person or an organization or an organized religion. Take in good of all and shun bad of all.

(Get your copy of the novel "Good People" as an eBook from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009BHH37G  only for $ 0.99. You may also like to get its Printed Book from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Good-People-Dream-Boundary-World/dp/1479333085/ref=sr_1_8_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380916602&sr=1-8&keywords=shyam+bhatawdekar%27s+books)

Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://management-anecdotes.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/