Good People: Modern Romance

Over next many months Shaan and Kelly kept meeting outside their offices. Sometimes the meeting was at the school’s conference room and other times in some restaurant over a dinner.

Shaan felt convinced about the boundarylessness of ‘Humanity Forum’. He saw that the philosophy of the members of this forum matched quite well with his own one-liner guiding principle of “feel, think and do good to self and others”.

He did not have to wait too long to decide on actively starting his association with the members of the group. He started attending every meeting and soon started taking part in its work. He gave his free dates to the group’s office when he could undertake group’s projects.

He easily won the trust and confidence of rest of the group members of ‘Humanity Forum’ in no time.

Soon Shaan wrote to his parents in India about his professional activities as well as his association with ‘Humanity Forum’.

He also wrote about Kelly, “Mom and dad, I met this girl Kelly. She is interesting in many ways. She is very intelligent, highly educated- a PhD, carries a thinking head on her shoulders and I find her very beautiful. Works as an executive in the world-best software company ‘Super Soft’. A black single mother named Christie brought her up; later adopted by a couple. A white guy, Kelly’s father had ditched Christie in marriage. Now Kelly’s legal mom is a Chinese and the legal father a Hindu. Christie died of cancer after handing over Kelly- then a teenager- to her office colleagues and friends Yin and Arun. Don’t you think hers is a beautiful profile?”

Yusuf and Alice read Shaan’s email with lots of interest and replied promptly, “Hey Shaan, a perfect wifely material, we suppose?”

Yusuf and Alice keenly looked forward to Shaan’s reply.

Shaan wrote back promptly, “Come on mom and dad, no kidding please. I am just not ready.”

Yusuf and Alice did not pursue it further.

Around this time Kelly was telling her parents about Shaan much more than what little they knew about him so far. She described, “I did not know Shaan’s personal and family background till recently. My company policy does not allow us to probe into such details of any individual we hire. Over a period of time we have become good friends and yesterday while we were having dinner together, on my asking him he told me a lot about himself.” Then she paused for a minute or so to assess her parents’ interest in listening about Shaan.

Kelly’s parents looked at each other with meaningful glances and encouraged her to pour out more info about Shaan, “Please go ahead, we are listening.”

“Mom and dad. He was born a Hindu orphan. Then a couple, man Muslim and female Christian adopted him. Theirs was a love marriage. They could not assign any religion to Shaan because of their perennial indecision on this issue. Shaan grew up an adult while the parents were still indecisive. Finally they suggested him to adopt Hindu religion as the orphanage had certified him to be a Hindu. But Shaan saw the futility of affiliating himself with any organized religion and lives like a free but utterly responsible bird. Highly educated. Highly intelligent. A great thinker and doer. A doer because he runs his own IT company from USA and India. How’s that?”

Kelly seemed keen to learn Yin’s and Arun’s response.

Yin and Arun exclaimed almost simultaneously, “An impressive guy, Kelly. Not a bad husband material I suppose. We must see you getting married to a right boy- that was one of Christie’s last wishes too.”

Kelly blushed but spoke decisively, “No ways, I am not marrying anyone. Mom had suffered a lot attaching herself to a man.”

Arun and Yin did not pursue the matter.

Next time soon when Kelly and Shaan met each other their respective parents’ recent comments loomed large on their minds. It showed in their behavior pattern to some minor extent though not very alarmingly.

Just for the sake of maintaining some conversation, Shaan said, “You had told me that the Porche belonged to your mom, you mean Yin?”

“No, not Yin, my real mom, Christie. She was very fond of stylish things. So she settled on this cute little car and its color. She was quite choosy in selecting her dresses too.”

“I can see that her daughter has picked up those qualities.”

Kelly felt flattered at Shaan’s comment. She thought she was willing to fish many more such comments from Shaan.

“You are right. I like wearing all kinds of beautiful and sophisticated dresses provided they are decent. And Shaan you too dress up pretty impressively.”

“I think we are turning into a mutual appreciation society.”

“More crudely put- you scratch my back and I scratch yours. What?”

And they laughed uproariously at the same time. The conversation was lighter with overtones of softness, delicacy and innocent humor. That day they enjoyed each other’s company much more than they did earlier.

Their life continued this way. Yet, they remained focused and busy mainly with their professional work.

Some three years went by.

(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/

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Good People: Chapter 7: Interesting Reading

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 7

Shaan did not reach his hostel room. Under the circumstances in which he was, his trained legs led him automatically towards the rocks at the bank of the huge lake some distance away from the hostel. Whenever he needed to think over any issue of importance he went to these rocks near the lake. The recently concluded meeting with Medhavi’s father and more so, Medhavi’s sharp reaction presented an important issue.

He needed to think. He needed solitude. The serene atmosphere of the rocks and the lake facilitated in bringing home the clarity of thinking he needed. For a while he sat there all alone camouflaged by the rocks. Before he could start pondering on what happened at Medhavi’s place, he heard the giggle of a girl from another rock some distance away from where he sat.

“Why are you giggling like mad?” asked another girly voice.

The giggling girl somehow controlled her giggle and answered, “Wait a minute. Let us settle down on these rocks and I will tell you everything. I needed to share my victory with you. You are after all my best friend. Good thing, you were in your hostel room and I could drag you out here. I was impatient to spill out everything.”

Shaan’s curiosity got aroused as if it was a scene from some mystery movie. He shifted closer to the rock where the two girls were sitting. He made sure that they did not see him. He could not see them nor could he put a finger on whose giggle and whose voice he heard.

Then he heard the giggling girl say something in whispers, “Anji, boys are real fools. And if the boy is weird one claiming that he is religion less, he acts still a bigger fool.”

The last remark made Shaan to bring his ear closer to the rock behind which the girls were whispering now. He wanted to hear more.

Obviously Anji could not have made out what the other girl was hinting at as she enquired, “Come out straight Medhavi, don’t talk so mysteriously and stupidly.”

Shaan got a jolt. He thought, “Oh! Then these two girls are Medhavi and Anjali (Anji for her short name). So Medhavi is trying to leak out secretly something about me to Anji- her best friend who lives in the girls’ hostel nearby.”

“This boy thinks that just being a topper in the university makes him eligible to propose me,” Medhavi quipped.

“But I thought you two were already in love with each other. What’s wrong if he proposed?”

“Anji, the love thing was a put-on from my side from the very beginning. The fool thought I was in love with him. I wanted him for a short while for myself, but for an entirely different reason. I wanted to learn the tricks of trade from him so that I could achieve my ambition of topping the university.”

“And you missed it and you are annoyed with him and want to take the revenge on him? Is that true? You are a first rate mercenary.”

“The reason cannot be exactly the way you put it. The main reason is I never thought of loving him or marrying him because I knew about his social background. He has no social background- he is a religion less creature.”

“What do you mean?”

“Anji, Shaan does not belong to any religion. A couple- wife a Christian and husband- a Muslim adopted him from an orphanage.”

Anjali interrupted Medhavi, “The he must be either a Christian or a Muslim.”

“No. His legal parents were undecided about it. Though they themselves had got into an inter-religion marriage, for some reason they could not muster enough courage to decide the religion of their adopted son. So he grew up without being given a religion.”

“But he can now embrace anyone of his legal parent’s religions. He is quite an adult and has freedom to do so.”

“And Shaan has decided. He does not believe in being a part of any organized religion. He is weird. As per him he wants to remain liberated, does not want to be constrained by the narrowness of the existing religions, their lack of generosity and their enforced rituals.”

“Oh! It’s definitely a problem then for you. I cannot visualize even myself getting married to a religion less person. But why did you encourage him? And you talked about your victory. What victory?”

“Oh. I was mad. I wanted to take my revenge. This year again he did not let me top the list. This was our final year and my last chance to be the university topper. Topping the final exam has been my biggest ambition all these years. As usual Shaan put a spoke in my ambition. I cannot pardon him.”

“So, where comes your victory? It is he who really won. He topped again.”

“No. I wanted to hit him harder than he did to me. I pretended that I was in love with him. Finally I encouraged him to talk to my parents and he did today. I knew that my parents would never agree for this marriage. They are devout Hindus and cannot think of marrying their daughter to a boy who belongs to any other religion. And Shaan is a far cry from it- he does not belong to any religion whatsoever.”

“My, you are a heartless person. So finally your parents refused. And you must have refused too by saying that you cannot displease your parents? Is that true?”

“Not exactly that way. My parents have been more civil with him than the way you put it. They have requested Shaan to give them some time to think and I reiterated the same to Shaan.”

“Will Shaan meet your parents again? He must have been mighty upset with you for not supporting him in his meeting with your parents. You towed your parents’ line.”

“Yes. Yet he will meet my parents. I am sure he will. He has deeply fallen in love with me. But I will pose helpless when he visits them next. My parents will declare their decision and I will go along with them somewhat indirectly. I will want to see his face getting disappointed in his ambition of marrying me. That will equalize.”

“But tell me had you topped the university would it have made any difference. Then there wasn’t any case of a revenge.”

“Revenge? No. But even then it would have been the same way. I can never think of marrying a person who does not belong to any religion. And of course I will always prefer a Hindu boy that too preferably from my own community.”

Shaan listened to this entire conversation between Medhavi and Anjali quite intently. Initially he felt hurt but soon controlled his emotions. By the time he heard their conversation up to this point, he became quite at ease with himself.

He enquired to himself, “How could I ever fall in love with this kind of crooked girl? I now feel as if I didn’t know her at all. The real Medhavi was a stranger to me.”

But he also felt downcast and dejected.

However, he was glad too that before he made a fool of himself in yet another meeting with Medhavi and her parents he came to know all of Medhavi’s intentions. So his job was done. He saved another meeting with Medhavi and her parents.

Medhavi would soon go out of his system.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Good People: Chapter 6: Story of the Subtleties of Life

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 6

In the living room of Medhavi’s house, it was time for conference between Shaan and Medhavi’s father where Medhavi and her mother also presented themselves.

To Shaan everything around him looked bright and nice. The setting of the drawing room appeared very congenial to Shaan. He noticed the subtle decorations in the room and he felt pleased. His thoughts got filled with anticipation of a positive outcome.

While it is normally dreadful for most of the sons-in-law in the making to meet their prospective parents-in-law, Shaan was the exception. In fact he was looking forward to meet his future parents-in-law.

Shaan knew that it would be a cakewalk. After all Medhavi loved him so much. She would have shared that fact with her parents and the conference was a mere formality.

Medhavi introduced Shaan to her parents and her parents to Shaan little more formally today, though Shaan had met her parents a few times earlier as a friend who was guiding their daughter in her studies. Then Medhavi’s father broke the momentary silence that prevailed in the room after exchanging the usual introductory pleasantries.

“Shaan, my daughter tells me that she likes you a lot. She is all praise for you that you are a brilliant student and the university topper. She told me that she just couldn’t match you in her grades despite her very hard work at the studies all these years. I am sure that with your extraordinarily bright career, you will bag a very good job and flourish in life. Yet, just like any other father of a daughter in addition to getting to know you, I will also like to know your family background. Hope it’s OK with you.”

“Sure. Do you mean about my parents?”

“Yes about your parents, other relatives. Your brothers and sisters. The usual stuff.”

“My mom and dad are very fine parents. They are very well placed and highly educated. Both of them are M.D. My father is a surgeon and my mother is a gynecologist. They are quite reformed to the extent that they had an inter-religion marriage in the days when even talking about it was a taboo. I am an adopted child brought home from an orphanage. I have no brothers and sisters. My dad and mom were outcast from their respective communities after their bold act of entering into an inter-religion marriage and so I cannot claim to have any relatives too.”

Medhavi’s mother went into a shock to hear this description of the background of the candidate for their future son-in-law. Medhavi’s father was shocked too but he controlled his body language. Medhavi had not supplied this background information of Shaan to her parents deliberately, as a part of her plan.

Medhavi’s father continued, “Just as part of some curiosity, what are your parent’s religions? And did they know your religion when they brought you from the orphanage?”

“My mom follows Christianity and my dad adheres to Muslim faith. They had decided this kind of arrangement at the time of their marriage. The orphanage had declared me a Hindu I don’t know on what basis. My parents did not hesitate adopting a Hindu child. They were quite overboard then, didn’t mind these petty things.”

“Then, what religion they decided for you?”

“Frankly they could not. In bringing me up, they could not decide on many issues for me. While marrying each other and in adopting me they had shown enormous maturity of mind, but they could not cross the threshold level of maturity that was required for deciding on various things for their adopted child.”

“I don’t get you,” Medhavi's father obviously wanted a detailed explanation on this sensitive issue.

“For example, there were serious differences of opinions among my mom and dad regarding some rituals. Should I be ‘circumcised’ like a Muslim or ‘baptized’ like a Christian or like a Hindu should I be administered through ‘yagyopavit’ or ‘upnayan’? Then there was the question of what should I eat or not eat- each religion has some restrictions and some permissions. Which ways I should pray and should I pray Allah or Jesus Christ or the Hindu gods? They would argue a lot and finally give up keeping the matter pending for decision at a later date. They went on postponing decisions on such matters and also my affiliation to any religion. They were afraid of losing each other if they did.”

“You mean to say that you do not follow either of your parent’s faith?”

“No. They were quite undecided till late. Since I am an adult now, recently they allowed me to decide on this matter.”

“Then it’s easy for you. You can adopt Hindu religion. You told earlier that you were a Hindu as per the orphanage’s record. So logically you could adopt Hindu religion since it is on records.”

“How does it matter? Even that might be incorrect. How did the orphanage ever know if I was a Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Sikh or some else? Some one had left me at the orphanage’s doorstep on the second day of my birth. The orphanage in-charge just gave that tag to me as per his own thinking which I do not know. Therefore I have decided that I will not like to attach myself to any organized religion.”

The conference was definitely taking a serious turn and everyone in the room was becoming aware of it.

Medhavi’s father declared in the midst of such seriousness that he and his family would need some time to think.

“Does my religion less status bother you? I wonder if it bothers Medhavi. She loves me and I love her- that should be quite sufficient. My brain, skin and blood are no different than that of her and all of you. This expression may sound like a cliché to you but I mean it.”

Shaan looked at Medhavi, he needed her support.

Medhavi interjected a bit sharply, “Shaan, hold on. Give my parents a chance to think. They are quite broadminded and it will be OK finally.”

Then the conference got dismissed abruptly. Shaan wondered at Medhavi’s stance.

Medhavi did not even escort Shaan when he walked out. Shaan sensed indecisiveness in the body language of Medhavi.

But he was not hurt. He had the practiced realization that it was happening again. He was refused jobs during campus placements and other job interviews despite being a topper and he was now on the brink of refusal from his sweetheart and her parents.

He walked to his hostel room all alone.