Some real life stories are stranger than fiction. Sometimes you should never question why some things happen in your life because you can never get an answer to that.
I grew up in a middle class family in Ramnad in South India. I had a good friend and we were inseparable, almost joined at the hips. Everyone said that we were more like brothers than friends.
Then my friend met this girl.
You will call me a MCP if I say, “And there started the trouble.”
But that is the truth. My friend fell in love with this girl. He was so enamored with her that he could think and talk of nothing but her.
He proposed to her and she, like a good south Indian girl blushed red and told him, “You will have to come to my parents with a marriage proposal. I cannot do anything against their wishes.”
My friend was afraid to tell his own parents about his love till he was sure of gaining her hand. So he begged me to go and talk to this girl’s parents first to ask for their approval.
Foolishly I agreed to do his bidding. When I approached her parents and told them of my friend’s wish, her parents were very magnanimous.
They neither said yes nor no.
They only said, “We have two daughters. We cannot get the second daughter married till the first one is settled. Please wait till my eldest daughter is married.”
Would my friend wait? No. He was in a hurry to marry the girl. He was sure that the girl’s parents were just making up this excuse to hoodwink us. He was distraught for many days.
Then he had a brain wave.
“Why don’t you marry the elder sister?” he said. “Everyone says that we are like brothers. Now we can really become brothers-in-law and we can be inseparable even after marriage.”
I balked at the suggestion.
My father was a stern disciplinarian. He was of the old school of thought that ‘like should marry like,’ in the sense that we should marry people of our own caste only.
The girls were from a different caste from mine and the irony was that the first daughter was much older and not that pleasant-looking as her sibling.
But my friend talked me into marrying the girl. And I had to do so without my father’s approval.
My father washed his hand off me. He has not talked to me these past seven years.
Has my friend married my wife’s sister whom he was so crazily in love with?
No.
Two weeks after my wedding, my best friend, the one who swore that we would be inseparable, met with an accident and …DIED!
PS: My wife’s sister is married to someone else now and leads a normal life. Only I am bereft of my friend and cut off from my parents. My wife is a good woman. But still…!
Story By Venu. Written by Gulsum Basheer @talkalittledo
PhotoCredit:sattva@ freedigitalphotos.net
Photo Credit: africa@freedigitalphotos.net
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Though this is a terribly sad story, the level of sacrifice clearly shows the gentleman was a true friend – which is such a rare commodity on earth. The only bright spark is that his wife turned out to be a good woman.
Sarah, Thanks for your comment. Yes. I am also glad that Venu’s wife turned out to be a good woman.
Yes. this story is stranger than fiction
What a sad story. Your stories usually have a happy ending. Do such friends really exist in this world?
This is a real story as are all the others on Talkalittledo. Got this story first hand from Venu from Ramnad. So such friends do exist.If you can understand Tamil, there is a saying “uir koduppan thollan” (a true friend will even lay down his life for you)
Venu is one such rare friend.
venu is amazing
Wow I’m stunned by this story. What a sacrifice for a friend and the outcome is tragic for all.
Your stories are usually lighthearted, this is a first. Am not sure how to react to this story. It took my breath away and made me sad and proud all at once. Sad for the way it ended, and proud of him for being such a gentleman and a good friend.
You respected the value of friendship,but never expected this kind of ending in your story.I am glad your wife is a good woman.I suspected the saying, but Now I believe “Uyir koduppan thozhan”.