Destined by Chance

Chapter 16

"You have met sixty four boys with the purpose of getting married and not one single person said yes for you," Neil's voice boomed across the room in incredulity. But there was anger too. What were all of them? Morons?

Simi smiled. Wryly.

"The family of the sixty fifth boy called up and said 'no' to my mother today," she told him.

And Neil looked at her weirdly. Okay, first he was still coming to terms with the fact that after staying in the US for as long, her parents were still trying to arrange a match for her. So it was just her mother probably as her father was a busy man and couldn't be concerned with his youngest child as she couldn't meet his expectations by either becoming a doctor or a lawyer.

Neil would like to meet her father and tell him a few harsh truths but never mind. And her mother had made a spectacle of Simi by presenting her as a show piece to several families with the mindset of getting her married. Why couldn't Simi choose her own partner? Or find someone for herself? But he understood the traditions her family followed. It didn't matter that they had been settled here for so long, they had kept their values and family systems very similar to the ones they had been brought up in. He hadn't been off the mark when he had deduced Simi to be traditional. There was nothing wrong in it. Several marriages across the globe were arranged. But sixty four boys...make that sixty five that was a bit too much to digest.

And what about the boys she had met? Most hadn't respected her for her choice of profession. Just because her father was a neurosurgeon, and one of the best, her brother a lawyer and sister a gynecologist didn't mean she had to be one too. And what was wrong with being a teacher? He didn't understand. To reach a stage in the education system everyone needed a teacher. Her father must have had one. Her brother must have had one. Her sister too. Every single boy she had met must have gone to school as well. Teachers put the foundations for every single child in the world to become who they eventually go on to be. It was a respectable profession. They wouldn't have reached the heights had none of them had had teachers to teach them the skills. And yet they thought low of her. Neil was disgusted. But when Simi didn't have support from her own family in the choices she made what could anyone say to the outsiders.

"Is that why you are so upset?" Neil asked quietly.

"Who likes rejection Neil," Simi said quietly too. After telling him her history she felt better. She wasn't as angry anymore.

"Did your mother call up to tell you this?" he asked again.

"Yup, she did," Simi said and smiled sadly, "she was so angry. At me," she told him, "as if it is all my fault. Maybe it is. I am not as successful as my brother or sister. I am a teacher. And it doesn't pay as well," she said, "I just make enough, to live my life, the way I want to, that's all," she went on. She wasn't looking at Neil or she would have seen him tighten his jaw, "With the name of Dr. Prem Sardana for my father it gets a bit strange for people to understand why one of his children is so lacking," she said and sighed, "coming from a traditional Sikh family, my folks want me to get married into a similar one. There are several of them on the continent only their demands and list of attributes are different," she said with a hint of cynicism, "and then maybe it is not just my profession that is such a big deal, it is the whole package," she said, "me. I am not as beautiful so it doesn't make up for lack of a great professional degree. Then I am not smart enough, too simple for how one might want their life partner to be. Even my lack of having a boyfriend is a problem," she said sardonically and would have continued when Neil interrupted her.

"Wait, how you not having a boyfriend is a problem," he asked surprised, "I mean, since you belong to a traditional setup for a family and most families you are looking at are similar, then it should be a plus factor," he said hoping he was putting it the right way.