Kathmandu:

I have been married for seven happy years. However, getting my parents to agree to my decision to marry my husband was a tug-of-war in itself.

Though ours was an arranged marriage, my folks would have preferred if I had married their choice and not the one that I stuck on to.

As my younger sister had gotten married before me, my mother was adamant that I get married as soon as possible. I was also eager to get married. At that time I was doing my last year of Masters.

We received proposals from two families. One was from Mr X with an MA degree, was from a reputed family with a sound economic background and serving in the high school established by his father. The other proposal was from Mr Y with a weak economic background as his father was unemployed, doing his MA in English.

Both visited my parents’ place and very obviously my parents opted for Mr X, while I opted for Mr Y. I found Mr Y to be full of confidence and ambitious about getting a good government job. I knew that Mr X was going to be a teacher for his life, and if I said yes to him, then I would also have to serve in the same school leaving no space or scope for the development of my personality.

My parents opposed my choice. They also had one more point in their favour — the difference in our physical appearance. Mr Y was tall, dark and slim, while I was fair, chubby and of average height. However, as they say ‘opposites attract’, the two of us were attracted to each other.

I remained firm in my choice, and my parents were almost ready to say yes to my decision when our family priest approached saying, “Horoscopes don’t match.

The boy has Mangal. They can’t marry. If they do, then the life of one could be in danger.”

The war started all over again.

“Why do you insist on marrying Mr Y when so many things are against him?” was my parents’ argument.

“Why won’t you allow me to marry the boy of my choice when I am mature, educated and capable of understanding all my responsibilities?” was my answer.

When all seemed lost, one of my friend’s father came to my rescue. He told my parents that horoscopes do not matter much if we add one more ritual to the marriage rites.

Finally, with added rituals we got married. And as I had believed and expected, my husband got a good government job. With his sincerity and hard work, he climbed the ladder of success and getting one promotion one after another.

Today he is the head of the personnel department.

And we are leading a happy married life.