The other day (people like me are infinitely grateful for such phrases as “other day”, makes our inability to remember dates seem so …philosophical) a friend of mine (well she is not exactly a friend, its just that a bunch of us got along very well when we met in Pune when we went there for an interview about 3 yrs ago and have bothered to keep in touch ever since) emailed me (well it was more of a group mail) saying how happy she was with her husband attached a few “hum saath saath hai” snaps of her family (she also very significantly and disturbingly attached a disclaimer to the mail which said that she knows that her husband is better looking than her and she is all the more happier for it)… this particular email was the latest in the series of Latvia ‘s (that’s obviously not her name but I love the ring of it, and yes I know it’s the name of a Balkan country, so I wanna pseudonym my friend after a country…kill me for it) “Great Indian Wedding” series…this particular series started about a year ago when Latvia (tee hee) suddenly out of blue, mailed announcing(much to our dismay) that she is getting married in a weeks time and will not continue with her mass comm. degree from a perfectly respectable institute (I specify the respectability of the institute coz its important for me) …much to the annoyance of the feminists in us she went on to say she obviously wont work after her marriage and will keep house for her “wonderful” husband….this mail was followed by other mails at regular intervals which kept us updated with each and every significant event of her married life…the stress was always on/ in (?) the happiness factor…she would never forget to mention how happy she was …now the cynic in me drew my own morbid conclusions-unhappy, unfulfilled life tantamount to a superficial show of happiness…add to that her “my husband better looking than me comment” and you have a minor tragedy in your hand ( my eyes actually did well up after reading that particular statement) but then is saw the snaps …and she did actually seem ….happy…and her husband really was…better looking (this may seem horrendously politically incorrect but he really was )…

So why then the need to constantly establish her happiness??? I decided to read through our exchanges…and found the answer…it was me...I made her do that (and maybe many other “so called” liberated friends of hers)…my cynicism was so palpable in my mails that its not funny…she was only trying to reassure us that she neednt live up to our definition of happiness to be happy …she has found happiness in what we may think to be a constricting life…who am I /we to question that…
Here is to u and your better-looking husband Latvia …may u always be “happy”….