Hunting for a bride

In the years gone by arranged marriages were common unlike the present times where women are more emancipated and there is greater mingling of members of the female gender with male friends and a higher proportion of love marriages.

Maniam uncle, me and Ratha a mutual friend got into a hired Morris Minor to head to Telok Intan where Ratha’s heartthrob was residing. We accompanied our friend to check if the bride was a suitable prospect. Maniam was driving as he was the only one able to drive. The car had a hand held clutch where the clutch was attached to the steering column instead of the foot area. We reached the prospective brides house some two hours later. In those days the roads were narrow and winding. If there was a Hindu shrine the road would go around it as the Chinese contractor who was commissioned to pave the road dared not flatten the road as he feared reprisals from the deity and not so much from the villagers living around the area. The hand held clutch gave way half way up the journey. Not to be let down Maniam inserted the clutch in its place and got his passenger sitting next to him to hold it in place whenever he needed to use the clutch. Anyway we had completed our mission and the prospective groom was happy with the prospective bride and reported to his mother to arrange the nuptial.

The mother did her duties, a date was chosen and invitations in the form of a betel leaf a few betel nut shavings and a pinch of white lime - ingredients required for chewing betel leaf are presented to relatives and close friends. The auspicious date arrived the groom sat on the dais awaiting the arrival of the bride with the sound of drums and fanfare of music from trumpets. At last the bride came but the bridegroom was upset as the prospective bride wasn’t the same girl he had seen. The mother had mistakenly gone to the neighbors house and proposed the union. But my friend was quite happy with what he saw and the marriage was solemnized.

all content (c) Ganapathy Ramasamy, mynameisgana@blogspot.com

image (c) freepik.com

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