Meera's Husband!

Chapter 12

Mobile phones had only made an entry then. Pagers were the more popular device when one was outside the house or office in order to be contacted.

Sagar always waited for a page from Meera's phone in order to call her back and talk to her. And that continued for hours until once they were caught red handed by the duty supervisor at Meera's workplace.

She was working at a Tiles' Showroom then, as an Accounts Assistant. It was located on the Airport road in Al Rashidiya. Sagar often visited her on his way home from work.

He learned that she was privately studying for a graduation course on a distant education programme. He thought of her as highly talented and clever.

'How come you are all alone here in this desert, my love?' He had asked her once.

'...was waiting for you, my Knight in Shining Armour...!' she would joke.

She was very lively. Very sociable and friendly. She seemed to know about everything under the sky. And he adored her for that.

That she was a Muslim, was actually a late realization for Sagar. But that never made any difference to the way he felt for her.

He was introduced to her uncle once, Rafeek, who worked as a taxi driver. He was the only relative she had in Dubai, she said.

She said she was an orphan and came to Dubai on a job visa sent by her uncle Rafeek.

'No way, Sagar. You cannot marry outside our religion,' his mother told him firmly for the last time. He was on phone with her, trying hard to convince her his decision to marry Meera.

' But maa, she belongs to our nearby village. She speaks like us. You should at least see her once...and..,' his mother cut the line on her side. They were devout Brahmins.

Brahmins never married any low caste Hindus. How come he be allowed to marry a female who is an 'outsider'? His old mother could never accept his choice of a bride.

They were three siblings- he and his elder brothers. Well educated and well placed in different cities near-by. He was the youngest. Both the brothers had already announced their disapproval for such an alliance with the 'cow-slayer caste'.

It was on a Monday he remembered, that both of them got married at the Indian Consulate in Dubai. It was also his birthday.The only witnesses were Rafeek, and Mansy, Meera's colleague and best friend. And, they began their journey together.

=====================================================================================In the beginning, Sagar and Meera shared a flat with Mansy and her husband. It was a two bedroom flat. Mansy had a two year old baby girl. Her husband used to work as a clerk at a Telecom company. 

After a few months, Sagar suggested moving out of the flat. He couldn't feel free in the flat shared by many people. He felt his privacy was being compromised. Though Mansy and her husband were decent people, they used to have many family friends. Weekends used to be very noisy with friends and partying. Mansy's husband used to drink. Initially sagar used to give him company. Slowly, he realized that he was a drunkard. He had no control over drinks. So hadn't his friends. 

One weekend, as usual the noisy gathering had reached its zenith at around midnight. A slight remark by one of them, a bachelor from Mansy's husband's workplace, about Meera, was not taken easily by Sagar. That was the moment of realization that his and his wife's privacy were being compromised. 

He found a small one bedroom apartment near his workplace and moved there within a few days.

" What will Mansy think?" Meera had asked.

" What people think is not my problem Meera. You should learn to stay strong. People are not to be trusted by their looks," That was the end of conversation.

They started their life once again, in their new flat, guarding their privacy and happiness.