What is the first gift your fiancé gave you? Was it as unique as this?
This is an old tale and took place in the 1970s. The setting is rural and the protagonist are my cousin and her then fiancé and now husband of many years, Mashood.
My cousin got engaged to her neighbour. The wedding was to take place after eight months. I think she spent those eight months peering out of her window into her neighbor’s compound trying to attract his notice.
Her fiancé was a smart guy and immediately befriended his future brother-in-law who was just ten years old at that time.
Mashood asked the little lad, what his sister’s favourite sweets were. I think the boy reeled off the names of all the sweets he preferred. “Laddu, Mysore Pak, Halwa…”
The fiancé asked the boy to come back in the evening and he would have a box of sweets to give his sister. He spun a big tale of how he was going to town especially for his sister’s sake and he was going to buy all her favourite sweets. The boy was not to tell his parents about it, as this was to be a big secret between the three of them.
But the kid could not keep a secret and it was all over the house that the future son-in-law of the family was going to the city, “just to buy sweets for the bride.”
That evening, as arranged, the boy went over to their neighbour’s house to fetch the first ever-present my cousin was going to receive from her fiancé.
In those days sweets from bigger shops were packed in containers made of palm leaves cut into reeds and woven together. The containers were square-shaped and deep, with enough room to hold a kilo of gooey sweets and had a lid that went all the way over and around the box. Between the palm leaves were small gaps that let in air, and prevented the sweets from getting moldy.
The boy soon returned carefully bearing the offering.
My cousin wanted to open the sweet- box in private but her family would have none of that. She had to uncover the box in front of a motley crew.
She removed the lid slowly and extracted the paper layer at the top.
Everyone peered in eagerly.
There was a rustling sound.
And out popped the heads of two grey DOVES.
There were no sweets in the container. Just the two lovey dovey birds!
The released birds jumped to the floor and looked about in a dazed way. Tied to the legs of the birds were tags bearing her name and his.
The gathered assembly laughed uproariously while the birds just went, wuk… wuk… wuk…
What a unique present!
I am sure our modern youth with all their gadgets and gimmickry could not have come up with a better way to woo their loved one.
Or to coo to their girl!
PS: It is a different story that my cousin had to safe guard the birds, till their clipped feathers grew back and they could be released into the mosque that acted as a sanctuary for doves and had been their home in the first place.
Story By : SB. Written By: Gulsum Basheer @ talkalittledo
Photo Credit:
Talkalittledo - For Life Is Funny 
what a ‘sweet’ ending )
Yes, very romantic, but I am sure the little brother in law would have been very disappointed that he did not get his share of the promised sweets.
Being in Love, kindles one’s imagination beyond belief. Resutant action can be sublime or ridiculous, as there is NO method in the madness of LOVE. Blessed be the couple, at all times. M. J. Manimaran
Life is stranger than fiction! The story is written so well I could not wait to get to the end! Congratulations to the writer, doing a fantastic job!
I was waiting for the twist. a nice ending and I’m glad the birds went back home.
I hope the BIL was rewarded with sweets on the sly