A Significant Milestone in an Epic Journey

It’s been a while, a month to be exact. A month since my last blog post. 

But this one’s special, very special. 

I should have posted this a couple of days ago but couldn’t. Never mind. 2 days is no big deal in a journey that has been 25 years old.

An epic journey.

If you’re still wondering, I am talking about my parents who celebrated their 25^th Wedding Anniversary on Feb 14^th (Thursday). A glorious Silver Jubilee. This post is dedicated to them and to marriage in general.

25 years ago, two semi-orthodox families came together and decided to get their wards married. Their wards were nearing their thirties and it was high time they got married. And so it happened. 

No marriage is without troubles. This was no different. This young couple did not have a smooth start. They had to undergo turbulent times for atleast a year until their son arrived. The very son who’s writing this post and making you all read. This couple learnt to be on their own and their son brought them joy and fortune.

 In another 4 years time, another son arrived. The journey, though not as easy as they would have expected it to be, continued. 

It went on and on until they had to face some torrid times. It was harsh. It was rough. It affected them badly. Financially and emotionally. The ripples were felt even by the kids and yet the couple made sure that the kids were shielded completely from their troubles. Despite their own differences, they held on and fought bravely. 

Little by little, their troubles vanished. They recovered and came up stronger like never before. It did give rise to some new opportunities. They made use of it. Time got better. Their kids were brought up well and they did manage to show their prowess in different fields. This delighted the couple. 

The new opportunity did separate them but this only made the family bond stronger. They got better in every sense. And the journey continued. That journey is now 25 years old.  It continues.

Wow!! 

What an achievement!! 

“Why all this ado?” you may ask.

 Is this celebration necessary?

 My answer would be a big YES. 

In an age where there is a talk of how the institution of Marriage itself has become redundant, it’s definitely an achievement that’s worth celebrating. 

People talk of how stupid the idea of an arranged marriage is. I don’t agree. Yes, in the present age, the idea of getting married to someone you got to know only because your parents/guardians insisted on meeting them does sound crazy. Also you might have known them for barely a month or two. So we may not agree with this concept but those days were different. 

They mostly had arranged marriages then and most of them were very successful unlike the marriages today. Yes there might have been those unhappy marriages which last owing to compulsions like kids, financial security, etc., but there were also a lot of successful and very happy arranged marriages. So please don’t take to dissing   arranged marriages. You may not like it and you may not prefer it but dissing all arranged marriages in general is just taking it too far. Leave it, if you don’t like it. 

So under such circumstances, an arranged marriage to have happily lasted for 25 years is indeed a great milestone in an epic journey. Yes, there were fights, differences of opinion, sacrifices, fall, rise, joy, hate, pride, envy and every other emotion that you could think of. But this journey is about taking it all in its stride and moving on and moving forth. It’s ultimately about how two people held on to each other despite all the bumps in the ride.

Hence it definitely deserves a celebration!!

As a proud son, I propose a toast to my wonderful parents who had given me everything that I could hope for – a comfortable life, good education, a healthy body and a sound mind. With these, I can even conquer the world. 

Thank you Amma and Appa and wish you a very happy Silver Jubilee. Here’s to the next 25 + years…. 

Cheers.

-Ashwin Murali