I had to marry now, its high time and nobody would have tolerated a "No" from me for any reason. Finally I agreed to the pressures from my big family after words of wisdom from most of them. Prasad bhai, a relative, suggested me to contact a person called Mirvankar for patrika matching of any girls who had the potential to become my wife and tolerate me for the whole of her life without complaints.
Matching a patrika in Hindu marriages is like validating the skills of the candidate whether they match your requirement. This is kind of a requirement document with the designs not yet in place. Even before a girl meets a boy, their patrikas should meet each other. I did not have very good ideas about patrika matching, however for an arranged marriage you had to believe on something and I thought Patrika would be the most reliable of all. At least better than the fake human behaviors.
I called up on the number prasad bhai gave me and took an appointment. The person spoke with a puneri dialect and told me the address
Mutheshwar chowk, shaniwar peth, Pune.
Mutheshwar chowk, shaniwar peth, Pune.
I was amused by the way he spoke. He asked me to come on Thursday at 7:25 pm "sharp". I thought "This fellow must be a busy man or like most punekars behaving as if he is busy". In any case I had to face him.
Okay, Mutheshwar chowk, shaniwar peth. Going to any address in "peth" is like going to a Thrill adventure park. Small streets with people behaving like streets have been built for them, making life as tough as possible for anybody who pays road taxes, as if foot paths are built only for couples to be in their own comfortable positions and yes for bikes to go over when there is a traffic high tide. Any non-punekar going there for the first time pleads to the RTO, "Take double road tax, however please build a special highway to bypass peth". In short going to Jayant Mirvankar's place is going to be a 7D ride and that too for free.
I reached the address told by Jayant with some bike heroics which Rohit shetty would have envied. It was a small old building, however new by Pune Peth's standards. I thought it can't be this smooth in a Narayan Peth in Pune and then from no where while parking the bike I heard a loud voice.
"Arey eee.....He kai vahan tal vatla kai tumhala....Vahan taal JM roadla kinwa patrya maruti jawal ahey, tikde park kara" (Hey, do you think this is paid parking?, Parking places are present on JM road or near the patrya maruti). It was the watchman, at least he looked like one from his clothes.
I said, "Me ithe kunakade tari alo ahey"("I am here at someones place".).
He, "Nav naslela manus hai kai??"(Does he not have a name?").
Staying in Pune I too had learnt a bit of Punekar bashing.
I reached the address told by Jayant with some bike heroics which Rohit shetty would have envied. It was a small old building, however new by Pune Peth's standards. I thought it can't be this smooth in a Narayan Peth in Pune and then from no where while parking the bike I heard a loud voice.
"Arey eee.....He kai vahan tal vatla kai tumhala....Vahan taal JM roadla kinwa patrya maruti jawal ahey, tikde park kara" (Hey, do you think this is paid parking?, Parking places are present on JM road or near the patrya maruti). It was the watchman, at least he looked like one from his clothes.
I said, "Me ithe kunakade tari alo ahey"("I am here at someones place".).
He, "Nav naslela manus hai kai??"(Does he not have a name?").
Staying in Pune I too had learnt a bit of Punekar bashing.
I said, "Me ithe Jayant Mirvankarankade alo ahey......Kaam pan sangu kai ataa??" (I am here looking for Jayant Mirvankar....Do you want me to tell the personal work that I am here for?)
And I left the place towards the stairs looking for the name.
I saw the name "Jayant Mirvankar" with names like Joshi, Apte surrounding it. The staircase was such that barely a person could pass through. Finally, after the pune traffic bike heroics, the watchman bashing and squeezing through the staircase I was at the doorstep of Jayant Mirvankar. I knocked the door with some fear of meeting a Punekar.
I entered the house. There was something different about that house. The house was clean, with "Gondavalekar Maharaj" overlooking you from the left and curtains on the right hiding the kitchen and bedroom from outsiders. Though the flat was located in the midst of honking pune traffic, there was a sense of calmness about that place. Jayant came from one of the rooms to greet me with his wife following him and guiding him when need arises. He does not need support or guidance all through as he has been independent all his life and his wife knows this very well and offers help only when he absolutely needs it.
I was sitting in the living room thinking what I should expect. I knew it would be a typical talk like I have had earlier with many match makers. They would look at the "Patrika" and tell me which planets are suited and which are not and conclude whether I should take steps further up towards marrying the girl whose Patrika I had given.
Jayant was a busy man, he had only 15 minutes for me. from 7:30 to 7:45. So he came directly to the point and asked me for both the "Patrikas". As his wife read out both the patrikas to him, I could see him listening intently and asking her to read it again whenever needed. Probably he was making an image of the patrika in his mind as his wife read out the patrika to him. I was continuously staring at the couple with a "That's awesome" expression lit up all over my face.
We are in so much distress and pain, always complaining about small things we don't have in life. "I need car", "I need a Promotion", "I dont like the work here", "I am frustrated with the traffic in Pune", however here was a person who did not have one of the most important organs with him and was the happiest person, happier than all of us who had all we need in life and still crying about things we did not have.
By the time he finished and gave me advice that I should not marry the girl. I found his advice very practical. He said "Patrika is not a final verdict, it is just a probability of how well your life will be with that girl as your partner". So according to him though we should believe in the patrika's verdict, we should not be obsessed with it to such an extent that we ruin our lives. This was the first time that I heard a very logical view about match making.
I learnt a lot in this first visit of mine. Though I was a little sympathetic about Jayant, my respect for him was far more than the sympathy and he surely did not require any sympathy from anybody. Wonderful human being, brave, practical and logical person is what I had concluded of him. I did not knew then that I will be meeting Jayant many a time in the future to come.
Stay tuned for the parts to come....
I saw the name "Jayant Mirvankar" with names like Joshi, Apte surrounding it. The staircase was such that barely a person could pass through. Finally, after the pune traffic bike heroics, the watchman bashing and squeezing through the staircase I was at the doorstep of Jayant Mirvankar. I knocked the door with some fear of meeting a Punekar.
I entered the house. There was something different about that house. The house was clean, with "Gondavalekar Maharaj" overlooking you from the left and curtains on the right hiding the kitchen and bedroom from outsiders. Though the flat was located in the midst of honking pune traffic, there was a sense of calmness about that place. Jayant came from one of the rooms to greet me with his wife following him and guiding him when need arises. He does not need support or guidance all through as he has been independent all his life and his wife knows this very well and offers help only when he absolutely needs it.
I was sitting in the living room thinking what I should expect. I knew it would be a typical talk like I have had earlier with many match makers. They would look at the "Patrika" and tell me which planets are suited and which are not and conclude whether I should take steps further up towards marrying the girl whose Patrika I had given.
Jayant was a busy man, he had only 15 minutes for me. from 7:30 to 7:45. So he came directly to the point and asked me for both the "Patrikas". As his wife read out both the patrikas to him, I could see him listening intently and asking her to read it again whenever needed. Probably he was making an image of the patrika in his mind as his wife read out the patrika to him. I was continuously staring at the couple with a "That's awesome" expression lit up all over my face.
We are in so much distress and pain, always complaining about small things we don't have in life. "I need car", "I need a Promotion", "I dont like the work here", "I am frustrated with the traffic in Pune", however here was a person who did not have one of the most important organs with him and was the happiest person, happier than all of us who had all we need in life and still crying about things we did not have.
By the time he finished and gave me advice that I should not marry the girl. I found his advice very practical. He said "Patrika is not a final verdict, it is just a probability of how well your life will be with that girl as your partner". So according to him though we should believe in the patrika's verdict, we should not be obsessed with it to such an extent that we ruin our lives. This was the first time that I heard a very logical view about match making.
I learnt a lot in this first visit of mine. Though I was a little sympathetic about Jayant, my respect for him was far more than the sympathy and he surely did not require any sympathy from anybody. Wonderful human being, brave, practical and logical person is what I had concluded of him. I did not knew then that I will be meeting Jayant many a time in the future to come.
Stay tuned for the parts to come....
