Astrology

part 1

"No I would die but I would never do such a formidable thing"

"I have affection for you but what you are asking is too much and this may spoil our life too, please do give a thought" I was saying all this but my wife was not listening to my cries.Its how it all began - My name is Shailesh and I stay in Delhi, India and I got married to Pooja around 7 years back and we have one daughter. We live with my parents and I have one sister named Naina and Pooja has one brother named Raj.

As Naina's and Raj's age were same and were to be married so our parents got them married to each other. This is a normal custom in our community to get married in known relatives, this was a perfect match and both the families knew each other so it was decided to get these two married. It has been around one year of their marriage and they seem to be very happy and enjoying their married life I as a man lead a very simple life who believes in family culture and values. I being the elder one commanded respect from all and I never compromised on my principles.

My wife had to touch my feet daily in the morning as sign of respect and any young person like Raj and Naina also used to touch my feet whenever they used to come and meet us. I always kept a distance and never used to divulge in laughter or fun. My sex life was also simple with sex only once in every month and used to do a simple one with no love making and no postures. Pooja always felt incomplete but she dare not express her thoughts.

Everything was going well till recently Raj started falling sick frequently, this was a matter of worry for Doctors said it seems normal fever but why does it come back, they have no answer for it. As the fever
continued, Naina's Mother-in-law consulted a Renowned Astrologer for a solution to cure Raj.

The Astrologer or as we call him "Guruji" after a lot of studying of Raj's horoscope gave us the shocking news that as per him Raj may not live long. This news put all of us in a shock and Naina just could not stop crying. We all had assembled in the living room of Raj and were sitting around this Astrologer who was deep engrossed in his manuscripts looking for a solution. We all were eagerly waiting for his words for we believed a lot in Astrology and we felt God could show us a way.

Finally Guruji spoke, "There is one route but it seems difficult and this is a very primitive way but if everything goes on well then Raj may live on a 100 years."

We were all eagerly waiting for Guruji's next words and at least all of us heaved a sigh of relief for we now know that there is a solution. Guruji spoke, "To come to the main point, the only solution feasible to me and which may work is that Raj may have to remarry but ..." There was a long pause and this remarry word had already brought pain to Naina who was looking shocked. Guruji then after having a glance at all of us and creating high level suspense, spoke again, "Raj may have to remarry but with a man who will be have to be his wife for atleast 1-2 years but this man has to be married and his horoscope should reflect that this man is blessed with a boon of "Always Married" which means that this man would die as a married person and this man's wife's horoscope should say that she will also live long. This implies that this man would die as married and as his wife will live long so automatically this implies that this man will also have a long life and his spouse will also live long. Thus, if this man marries Raj as a wife then as this man is blessed with long married life so Raj may live longer for Raj may not die young for his wife (man) will live long and she is blessed with the boon of "Sada Suhaagan" in India (Always married). Further, this man after marrying Raj will l have to become a righteous wife and pray for her husband's long life and build a strong bond between them including physical and mental. If everything goes well then the negative stars should soften sooner and if the bond is not built between the two then we would have to extend the years or we may even loose Raj for if there is no bond of love and affection between a husband and wife then it means no marriage and the logic of "Always married" will fail."

All were silent and were trying to take in what all they heard. We were all a bit confused and Raj was looking shocked, he shouted, "No way, I am not going to marry a man and I am not gay, I can die but I will never deceive Naina, I love her and let me die young but I will not go through all this nonsense." Guruji very calmly said, "If you want to live then you would have to go through this or be ready to leave the world." Raj's mother and my mother both pitched in and said "Don't worry Guruji, Raj will do exactly as you say." Raj's mother hugged her son and said, "I love you a lot and cannot bear the pain of loosing you, so promise me that you would do as Guruji says or before you I will die." Seeing this emotional outburst of his mother, Raj reluctantly said yes and left the hall.

It was now action time to save Raj. It was decided to call our close relatives and ask the married men to send their Horoscopes. We were all busy finding out the right man for Raj, this was difficult and making a married man agree for this experiment looked impossible. However, we found one of our distant cousins whose horoscope did match to a certain extent but not all the features but this was the closest. The cousin was called and we were all sitting in the same living room begging him to agree to marry Raj as his bride. The situation became very fiery and the cousin became angry and started screaming and he was about to leave declining this marriage proposal. All this filled so much anger in me that I in rage got hold of our cousin's shirt and was about to hit him when the cousin shouted, "Why are you forcing me to do this, you are also married, why don't you marry Raj?"

After this he shrugged off his shirt from my hand and left the place. The cousin had left, leaving us all in grief and pain as what to do next? I was also not sure what to speak for he had asked me to volunteer and I had till now not even thought of this. But the thought brought a shiver down my spine and I quietly left the place fearing if somebody asks me to show my horoscope to Guruji and if I am selected then what would I do?

But the hint was enough for my family members and the very next day, my mother and Pooja took my horoscope to Guruji without informing me and thus it happened what I was dreading for. Guruji was overjoyed and confirmed that the horoscope of Raj matches 100% with me and I am perfectly made for him and as I was his sister's husband and his wife's brother so this close bond makes this match a "Match made in Heaven."I and my wife, Pooja were in our bedroom and I was saying - "No I would die but never do such a formidable thing."

Pooja was crying and begging me to agree for this marriage for this great sacrifice of mine will not only save her brother's life but also the life of my sister's husband. I was in a serious dilemma and was not knowing what to do. I shouted, "what about our life, our daughter's life and I am not gay." Pooja came forward, took my hand in hers and said, "This is only a temporary arrangement and once Raj's life is stabilized then we can continue with our normal life." I said, "Pooja, you think all of this is easy, for me to change my identity, my work, my daughter and what happens if I have to stay as his wife forever or if I don't want to change, then what will happen?

Pooja smiled and said, "If this be the case then at least Raj will live, why you want to be the murderer of my brother." I was alarmed at hearing this for Pooja is now converting me into a murderer. I said finally, "No I will not do this and went out of the room." On coming out I found my entire family including my father, mom, Naina and her in-laws were standing out. Naina's mother-in-law came to me and fell on my feet and begged me to agree to this marriage for this will save her son, then I found Naina on my feet too and then my father bent down, this was suddenly too emotional for me and a sudden thought came to my head that my family is begging me and expect me to marry Raj and I suddenly felt a pang of guilt coming over me and then I realized that this is the least I can do for my family so after a lot of reluctance and emotions, I said, "Ok fine but I will not carry on this drama for more than one year." Thus began a complete new chapter of my life....