He Wards Off His Marriage Proposal

It often happens in real life that a boy or girl faces a dilemma of deciding to marry or not, or marry now or later, or marry a particular person or not though chosen by relatives. It becomes a delicate situation needing careful handling to avoid fraying of tempers and adverse reactions from abrasive personalities.

It has got be handled with care as in the case of removing a thorn from a rose flower or plunging a needle into a ripe banana. Family relationships have to be preserved. Some persons succeed nicely without any ill will whereas some others resort to crude methods of effecting their escape. We have a story of a boy who tried this experiment and succeeded. The names are imaginary.

Ganpat is a boy in his late twenties for whom marriage proposals are considered by his parents. The boy does not have any girl in view but has clear idea of what he wants. His parents are eager to proceed with proposals emanating from wealthy families of status and influence. If any such proposal materializes it will bring a windfall. For them looks of the girls and her educational qualifications are secondary.

Meanwhile Ganpat's uncle, who has a vested interest in hooking the boy, approaches his father Gopi with the request to consider Ganpat for his daughter. Gopi wants to save embarrassment. He is keen to give his daughter in marriage to Ganpat. He fixes a date for the boy and the girl to meet, in consultation with his parents, but without prior information to Ganpat who wants to scuttle the proposal. Ganpat does not like pressure being applied on him but devises a novel and ingenious plan to ward off the proposal which he considers as a calamity.

Ganpat has been actively participating in theatre performances and has in his custody dresses, weapons and accessories he uses on various occasions. The girl's parents arrive with the girl for a meeting .This takes place in a friend's house.Ganpat goes to his dressing room, selects a dress he wore during a scene acting as monkey king. Wearing a perfect matching realistic dress he makes his appearance with a mace in his hand. He jumps at the uncle and salutes him traditionally uttering a few words of respect.

The relatives present are shocked to see the feat of the boy. The uncle viewed the act as a show of madness. The girl protests and walks out. Ganpat gets what he wants. The proposal is dropped. Thus he wards off the marriage and is happy over his success and achievement.