Ma, I am going out!

Beta wear your masks and take the sanitizer with you!

Ma I am just going out for the groceries, anyways I’ll take it with me and also wear the mask.

Karishma looked around once again making sure nobody was around while she was leaving home. She looked at all the colorful masks hanging in front of her, memorizing the colors one last time. The plain white was her dad’s, the whites, her mothers and hers were different shades of red with an embroidered design providing vibrancy to the other colored masks they had bought over these few months. These masks had replaced some very insignificant things which she had a hard time recalling what they were from the wall hangar. Wearing her mask and arming herself with the brand-new sanitizer she had brought the day before, she stepped out almost forgetting the most important thing required.

She looked behind at her small backpack, giving one last glance at her home. A rush of memories came by her, some pleasant, some ugly but none of them as weird as the ones that happened during the last few months. Wiping a small drop in her eye, she took a step back and took her backpack.

From a distance she heard her mother muttering in an audible tone, – close the door behind you and come back fast, there is a lot of other things to do. Not looking back Karishma left an inaudible bye.

Karishma sanitized the whole of the backseat, kept her small backpack, and checked her phone. “Ma’am your OTP”, “Yes, give me a sec, it’s 4596”.

“The destination is the Airport right ma’am”, “Yes it is”

                                                      ———-

Adi met Karishma at one of his shows. Adi was a musician while Karishma had been at the café where his performance was going on! Several dates and years later they had been going really strong. Adi and Karishma had planned a future for themselves and were thinking of getting married once they both were in a good place in their career.

The lockdown happened and Adi and Karishma both decided to go back to their homes while the situation worsened in Mumbai. Little did they know that this lockdown would bring such a major change to their lives. Adi went back to his home in Chhattisgarh and Karishma to Pune.

Karishma’s lockdown brought her greatest fear back. She had a past that her family was aware of and something that they would not let go of. Society creates an impression that one failed relationship makes it difficult for girls to have a good future or a good marriage. Karishma came back to her parents who were looking for a marriage proposal and wanted her to get married as soon as possible. Caught unguarded, her next few months became unbearable with the pressure to get married rising on her.

Adi supported all this time. His constant support kept her going. One fine day she raised her courage, walked to her parents, and told everything about Adi and that they would marry eventually. 

“We love each other” Karishma ended with her declaration of love.

“Beta you know what happened last time, we took your word the last time, see where it ended. This time listen to us!”

“It’s different this time” Karishma begged

This time her parents were determined – “Listen Karishma, we are not going to listen to you this time. The first time we accepted when your relationship ended we could not face anyone in the society, this time you have again brought someone and that too a boy of a different caste. This cannot happen, don’t argue with us we are doing this for your own well being.”

“Why are you blaming me for the first time, I did not break it, he broke it. I do not want shame to fall upon you, I have just met someone after that incident, and Adi and I just fell in love. Please see beyond the caste!”

“You would not understand Karishma, do as we are saying. A failed relationship and another one from a different caste, can you not see how embarrassing it is! You will marry and go, we will have to answer to the relatives. Karishma, do not argue with your parents. The decision has been made!”

Karishma did everything in her power to convince her parents, while in the meantime they eventually did find a groom for her. To not let her disobey or do anything else, her parents set a date for her marriage. Adi tried to connect with her parents but they wouldn’t pick up his calls. Stuck in the lockdown, and the fact that he did not know anybody in Pune made him feel helpless. He wanted desperately to go there and stop the marriage but nothing was working out.

                      —————

“But we love each other, if it would not have been for the lockdown, we might have gotten married ourselves, please don’t do this”

Adi begged at one of the video calls Karishma had arranged with her parents.

“You look like from a good family, please do not create troubles and let Karishma get married to someone from our caste. You will forget her in a few years”

                        —————

Luckily for Adi and Karishma, flights had resumed in the meantime!

                        —————-

“Mom I am going out”

Karishma went out for groceries but instead took an Uber to the airport and a straight flight to Raipur. The lockdown ensured that her parents wouldn’t dare trouble her in Chhattisgarh

“Hi, Karishma!” Adi greeted her at the Raipur Airport with his parents. A month later Adi and Karishma got married and her parents did come, online though through a video call.