Short Story - Arranged Marriage

I woke up as the scorching sun began to rise and got ready for school, just as I had done every other weekday morning. I was so eager to go to school and get away from my strict parents who gave me no freedom at all. The school I went to was a private school, which was vastly different from most of the other schools in our small Sri-Lankan town of Ishkambut, mainly because most other schools were co-ed. However, despite the fact that our school was not co-ed, I still interacted with the opposite sex.

I was profoundly in love with Aryan, a boy from a high school nearby.

But this is where things became complicated, and many people may find it hard to comprehend the reason why I have to hide my relationship with this boy. But I was forced to see him in secret as my parents would never approve of me seeing a boy who does not have the same socio-economic status as us.

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I was bought up in a very wealthy and strict family and my parents have high expectations of me and certain requirements of me. It was so difficult to please them, I felt completely trapped and helpless. The only time I was able to be myself and live my own life was behind their back, when I was with the man that I loved.

I couldn’t imagine what my life would be like if my parents found out that I was seeing Aryan because then the only thing I truly care about would have been taken away from me.

This is where my story really begins..... It seemed like just another ordinary day, however what I found out that day was anything but ordinary. One day my parents sent me into my father’s office for a serious conversation which was a rare, unusual occurrence. It was very infrequent that I would go into my father’s office with the exception of exceedingly significant matters. I recall the thought of it terrifying me.

The discussion my parents bought upon me that day was a conversation that I was dreading. They told me that they had organised an arranged marriage for me which could not be negotiated. The boy they had set me up to marry was a boy named Pranav who was from a very wealthy family in our town. I was furious and defensive about marrying this boy because there was no possibility that I would marry a boy I had never met. Although I knew that arranged marriages were a part of our culture and religion, I never really thought about the impact that it would have on me.

But when I realised I would be the one involved in an arranged marriage and that I could never be with Aryan again, the pain I felt was excruciating. After I found out that it was obligatory for me to get married to Pranav, my behaviour began to change in a very strange way. I began getting close to no sleep at all, and I started to become short-tempered, aggressive and I lost my appetite. I felt utterly lost and helpless. My parents became very concerned with all these changes and forced me to see a doctor. I was told I was suffering from severe depression, but as much as I tried to deny it, it was real.

The only way I could deflect that problem and distract myself about thinking what an abysmal life I would have once I was married was by writing stories about Aryan. I would write about how much I loved him, how much I desired to be with him, and the troubles I confronted. I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone about how I felt, so I felt that the only way to cope with this situation was to express myself through writing. So I began writing stories, at first they were just jumbled words on a page but then they came together and not only made sense, but made a story.

Suffering through depression myself, inspired me to help others. I decided to share the stories that I wrote to a group therapy class for people suffering with depression. Part of a story that I told went like this: “... her world felt as small as a tightly closed box with no way out. There was no one there to comfort her, not even her family. She felt like her family completely turned her back on her. It was a very tough experience for her.

There was no light in her life, it was like the grey clouds were constantly trapping the sun from shining through.... The expressions of all the people at the therapy class who listened to my stories were so real, I could tell that they loved to hear my stories. Although the stories were generally about dark matters, they still were so excited to listen, it was like the excitement children had when they got ice-cream! I finally felt like I belonged somewhere, somewhere that people understood me and could relate to me. The feeling of being wanted and helping others was a feeling like no other. It took a lot of braveness to share a story so personal to me.

I was surprised that the people truly cared about the stories I told, but what I was more surprised with was who came to the group to listen to my story. It seemed so unrealistic, I had to hesitate and think about if what was happening was real, and it most defiantly was. It was Aryan. My mind froze as he gradually walked towards me. He gave me a warm hug that I had been longing for, I didn’t want to let go because it felt so comforting. We began chatting away late into the night, it was like nothing ever came between us nor could anything pull us apart, we were like magnets together that could never be separated.