The Morning After

‘She looked beautiful in the red zari lined sari that she had bought from a budding designer a few days back. In a week of hectic shopping she had allowed her feminine instincts to take over her heart and had indulged herself with expensive jewelry and waistbands. For a change going out with ma was so much fun. The boardroom meetings that she chaired were not so interesting anymore. She was looking forward to a life of pure marital bliss in New York in the hands of a handsome investment banker, his educational pedigree equal only to her own. She had faint memories of him in IIT and then in IIM where he was a year senior to her, but it was only when they had recently met at a banker’s convention in London that their relationship had grown stronger. In a whirlwind courtship that lasted only a week they explored the highlands of Scotland and visited the castles of England. And they on a cold winter morning while they were savoring a breakfast of fish ‘n’ chips on a restaurant boat on the Thames he took out a glass case in which was the most beautiful diamond ring that she had seen.

As they took their rounds around the golden fire she glanced at his face. His lips were pursed tightly which meant that there was something bothering him. Maybe, she thought, he is wondering if the honeymoon plans are ‘risk free’. She often chided him for his constant preoccupation to ‘derisk’ all important engagements. After the priest had finished chanting all the verses they stood up and walked to take the blessings of the family elders. As she bent down to touch her father-in-law’s feet she saw them moving away from her. As she stood up she found that there was a frown on her father’s face.

After the guests had gone, she waited for him in a room decked with roses and orchids of different colors. She had dreamt of this night for so long – since the time she was read her first M&B .. He soon came into the room, looking a lot disoriented. As he walked towards her she could see his fiery red eyes and smell alcohol in his breath. Before she could say anything she saw a liquid being splashed on her and the only sensation that she could remember before passing out was her skin burning.

The next morning she was woken up by the wails of her parents. Her father told her that her marriage had been annulled since he had not been able to pay the dowry demanded by her husband. Her father had transferred all the money in her back account to her husband but he wanted more. Her to be husband had lost all his financial holdings in the sub prime crisis and he had contacted her father and demanded a hefty dowry failing which he would refuse to marry her.

She looked out of the window and at the morning sun and wept. She had been teased about her ‘morning after’ by her sisters but little did she know that she would be lying on a hospital bed, with a scarred face ,penniless and with aging parents to care for.’

-- Shalini Joseph has just finished recording an interview of Preeti Sharma who has been accused of murdering Nishant Malhotra outside his house in Chandigarh. The case has brought to light the prevalence of dowry even amongst our urban elite and the inability of our society to deal with it.