The Proposal

I am a ring – a ring any girl would love to wear on her finger. I have an intricate floral design with an M engraved on it. The M is studded with rubies. The craftsman, who made me, must have felt really proud of his work and I was displayed in the show case of the shop window. Not everyone could afford me. I was meant for a really special person. I was waiting eagerly to see who would buy me. Women would stare at me from the window and would squeak in delight, but men would look at my price tag first.

One Monday evening, Ritesh came to the shop with his friend Suchir, looking for a ring and the moment he saw me, he stopped looking anywhere else. He told his friend that he had no doubt Radhika would love it. I was keen to meet Radhika. I was gift wrapped in a beautiful box. He put me in his pocket, but would take me out every now and then to admire me during the taxi ride to our destination. From their conversation, I gathered that they were childhood friends and that Ritesh was now working in the US and had come to India for a holiday. They exchanged news about each other. I came to know that Suchir had a sister, Madhurima, for whom they were on look out for an eligible bachelor.

“What is she doing now? Does she still think boys are immature? asked Ritesh.

“Why don’t you come home and ask her yourself? My house is on the way to your hotel,” said Suchir.

At home everyone welcomed Ritesh warmly and insisted that he join them for dinner.

Madhurima was an exuberant girl and had the knack of captivating everyone with her smile and conversation. I liked her immensely.

“So, you have come bride hunting to India, expecting everyone here to fall over themselves for a chance to marry you?”

“Yes, but I have already chosen my bride and will be proposing to her soon. I don’t know if she will accept me. I don’t even know if she loves me, but for me, there can be no one else.”

She seemed a bit disappointed by the reply.

“What is her name? Do you have a photograph of hers with you? What does she do?”

“Her name is Radhika,” and before he could elaborate on the subject, Suchir said “Why don’t you show them the ring?” Immediately, I was brought out and there were ‘ooh’s’ and ‘aah’s’ all around.

“What a beautiful ring!”

“The girl is really lucky to get this ring.”

“The rubies look so attractive!”

After everyone had a look, I was kept on a side table.

“What is the use? She will not accept you,” said Madhurima.

“Why do you say that?” asked Ritesh.

“You software geeks are not good husband material.”

“That is an unfair assumption.”

“No, it is not. If your wife asks you to find her misplaced car keys, you’ll probably do a Google search. If she asks you to pass her cookery book from the shelf – you will want to know the row and column.”

“What do you consider good husband material?”

“God does not make eligible men anymore”

“No wonder she is not able to settle for anyone,” chipped in Suchir.

Her parents now joined in the conversation as it was their favourite topic. They started telling him about the various marriage proposals she has had and how she would always find an excuse to wriggle out of each one.

‘His expression was not good. His trousers did not match his shirt.’ These were some of her excuses.

Madhurima obviously wasn’t enjoying the conversation and changed the topic.

“Remember the time you acted in a play at our apartment complex?”

“Oh please, don’t bring that up.”

“Suchir here doesn’t know the story. He was in hostel at that time. He needs to listen to it. What a hilarious incident!”

 “Sounds interesting. Why didn’t anyone tell me about it all these days? Tell me now,” said Suchir.

Ritesh gave up. Madhurima continued, “We were doing a play for Durga Puja and as Ritesh could not speak Bengali, he was given a part without any dialogue. He was a doctor who had to examine a patient who had had a heart attack and declare him dead with a shake of his head. Ritesh was keen to do it and started observing doctors on his visits to the hospital and was always with a stethoscope round his neck during rehearsals. On D-day, Ritesh came onstage with a stethoscope round his neck and started examining the patient without putting the earpieces to his ear. Everyone was wondering how he could hear the heart beats without the earpiece in his ear.

The prompters backstage started prompting – put it in the ear, the ear please. In his confusion, Ritesh put the diaphragm in the patient’s ear and the audience as well as the actor playing the patient who was supposed to be dead, started laughing. To save the situation, another actor, with the presence of mind, escorted Ritesh off the stage with his briefcase. The spectators started their comments:

‘He must have passed his M.B.B.S by fluke.’

‘No, by copying in the examination.’

‘Is he is a quack?’

‘He is a butcher.’

‘He should have been a cobbler.’

‘No wonder, the patient died!’

A doctor among the spectators screamed, ‘I could have saved the patient.’”

Even though everyone had heard the story before, they laughed till tears rolled out of their eyes, but Ritesh sat with a mournful expression. He wanted to get his own back. He said, “I’ll share an incident about Madhurima, the one that our spy group discovered.”

She said, “Later please, I have another interesting one. I just remembered how you dressed up as Marilyn Monroe for a fancy dress competition.”

“Please spare me, Madhurima,” came an earnest plea from Ritesh, but Madhurima ignored it. She was enjoying herself. She told everyone how his costume and make up were perfect and he almost looked like Marilyn Monroe, but forgot to wear stockings and people saw a hairy-legged diva. Again there was another round of laughter at Ritesh’s expense.

He began, “You know our spy group…”

Madhurima said, “I’m hungry, let us have dinner.” And everyone rose.

The aroma of food was inviting and we all enjoyed a very tasty dinner. During dinner Madhurima kept the conversation lively with her anecdotes.

It was getting late and Ritesh took his leave, promising to visit again. He, however, forgot to take me. Would you believe it – I was now lying forgotten. I wish I could scream and alert him, but there was nothing I could do.

When everyone had left the room, Madhurima tip toed towards me and took me out of the box and kissed me. She looked around furtively and slipped me on her ring finger. She then admired the look from different angles. I had enhanced the beauty of her hand. I wished I could stay there forever and not be passed on to some unknown Radhika. After playing around and admiring me for a while, she decided to take me off, but I did not let go. I was sitting there snugly refusing to come off her finger. She was horrified.

“What a disaster! How could I end up wearing a ring meant for Radhika? What will people say?” she whispered to herself. “I better get it out with soap.” As she turned around, she saw to her discomfiture that Ritesh had come back for me.
 “I….” he stopped short on seeing me on her finger and to Madhurima’s and my surprise, he smiled.

“I see that it is now in the right place. Does that mean that you agree to marry me?”

“Me! Marry you? How dare you? Don’t you have any integrity? What about Radhika?” she stammered. For once she seemed to be at a loss for words.

“It was meant for you and I am glad to see it on your finger. Will you marry me?”

“Do you expect me to believe that?”

“How can you change your fiancée in a moment?”

“Calm down. I have not changed my fiancée. I have always loved you and came here expressly with the purpose of proposing to you.”

“Why did you say it was Radhika?”

“Just to put people off the track before I knew your mind.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Why would a ring meant for Radhika have ‘M’ engraved on it? If you need further confirmation, check what is engraved on the inside.”

She gave an exclamation of surprise when she turned me around to read the inscription. I remember getting engraved at the shop and thinking ‘this is what it must feel like, when people get tattooed’.

“Why didn’t you tell me all these days?”

“I could not muster up the courage. You with your views on men seemed too much out of my league. Only when I went to the US, did I realise that life without you is not worth living.”

“Couldn’t you guess that I participated in all those cultural programs only because I wanted to be with you?”

“Now, will you marry me dear Madhu? I am asking you for the third time today and hope to be lucky this time.”

“Yes, yes, yes. I have been longing for this day and thought you would never ask.”

“What! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“What is going on? asked Suchir.

Ritesh and Madhurima turned round to see Suchir and her parents in the room and exclaimed
”We are engaged!”

“How did this happen? I thought God did not make eligible men these days,” said Suchir, visibly excited.

 “But he made this one,” said Madhurima, blushing.

I was happy too, to be on Madhurima’s finger and hope to tell you that they lived happily ever after.