Discovery: Day Three

 June 26

10:30

The duo woke up late in the morning after all of yesterday's fatigue and feasted on a hearty breakfast to prepare for the day's drive. They had planned to reach Meher's place in Delhi well before sunset by embarking upon an uninterrupted four-hour drive to Agra and then another three hours to their destination for the night, halting periodically only for restroom breaks or to switch drivers. Whereas Vidhi was eager to be back behind the wheels after missing out for an entire day, Akshaya was pleased to let her drive to her heart's content while she gazed at the landscapes and processed her thoughts in peace. Vidhi had already taken the car out to get it refueled nearby and by the time the clock-tower struck eleven, they were ready to rock and roll ahead.

The Pink City really lived up to its name in the way everything, literally everything, was drowned in pink. From compound walls to metro pillars and from the magisterial Hawa Mahal to the stately Jaigarh Fort, shades of romantic pink were charmed across all of them. It was no wonder then to Akshaya that hordes of tourists, from within India and beyond, flocked to this appealing place to mingle with its playful spirits. The welcoming pinkness of the environment around them, which they had inevitably failed to notice in the dark upon their arrival last night, placed the couple in a very jovial mood and raised their optimism over the long drive ahead. The splendour of Jaipur's numerous havelis reminded Akshaya just why the city was one of the most preferred destination wedding locations for the who's who of this country. Naturally, not everyone could afford to pay for the glamour on offer and send their lives spiraling in debt. In fact, it must only be a life grounded in privilege and luxury which can spare the time to even dream about getting hitched in a palatial wedding resort. Akshaya was someone who had had that privilege from the day of her birth, and thus, her mind sprinted immediately on to the fantasies of her own marriage that she been harbouring ever since she got the idea of authoring a piece on the subject.

"I am thinking about writing on marriage for my next column," Akshaya dropped these words into the void very randomly.
"Huh! What was that again?" Vidhi was pleasantly surprised because they almost never spoke to each other about Akshaya's work. The latter never willingly shared her writings with her partner and for good reason - neither did she enjoy hearing any silly, bloated reviews from Vidhi, nor did she want a lawyer's confusing, burdened ideas to interfere in the unrestricted movements of her free-spirited pen. Inescapably, however, Vidhi would come across Akshaya's columns somewhere or the other and then proceed to make her squirm in agony with her comments and teases.

"I said that I'm pondering over writing on marriage once we get back from Manali."

"Ohhhh... well, that sounds like a pretty good subject to talk about."

"That's it?"

Vidhi shuffled her eyes a couple of times between Akshaya and the traffic lined up ahead to ascertain whether the gravity in Akshaya's tone was true in all seriousness or if it was merely a trap to get her worked up.

"Yes babe, that's it. What were you expecting?" she finally asked, trying to play safe to the extent possible.

"Alright, its true that I haven't really given too much weight to your ideas on my writing in the past, but this might just be something where you can pitch in and help me conceptualise perhaps," Akshaya requested earnestly.

"Awwww, how moving," Vidhi jeered. "Stop playing with me, there is no way you need my two cents on your work. We've been together long enough for me to realise and accept that."

"There is still such an awful lot that we don't know about each other, isn't there?"

"Someone's woken up all philosophical today!"

"Hahaha.. I surprise myself too at times honey. But honestly, there really is a deep gulf of mystery between us, don't you think?" Akshaya asked.

"I guess the gulf is a bit of an exaggeration, a pool would suit your description better."

"It's called taking creative liberties. Oooohh, how would you know about that, wouldn't it be contempt of court for you lawyers to even think about taking such creative liberties in your work...being perennially stuck in those archaically drafted plaints and losing yourself in an ocean of verbosity," Akshaya mocked with a smile.

"There's no disagreeing with that," Vidhi resigned.

"Does it not feel suffocating to be held up in this prison of vanity?"

"It does, a lot. I presume this is also why so many lawyers are actively engaged in other kinds of creative pursuits where their energies can be channeled fruitfully."

"What about you Vidhi, what's your coping mechanism?"

"I don't have one yet. I can sense that quite a lot of my frustrations at the workplace can be attributed to this factor of being locked up mentally. It does begin eating me up time and again that my work essentially contributes to the incomprehensible and inaccessible nature of legal systems in India."

"So, do you ever feel like you have entered into the wrong line of work?"

"Not really, no. You've correctly labelled many dimensions of advocacy as being no less than a perilous prison, nevertheless, I still carry a youthful optimism of change and overhaul. Anyway, it has never been my idea to devote my whole life to this profession, there are far bigger dreams in store to be chased in this pursuit of happiness. In a nutshell, babe, you don't need to start worrying about me just yet, I'm not going anywhere right now but to the court, haha!"

"My my, you look so adorable talking about those dreams and desires," Akshaya expressed her delight, "...these are exactly the type of dynamic little things about each other I was speaking of earlier which are still a mystery for us. It's not enough to learn them once and for all, we must keep abreast with the changes in each other and revise the syllabus, so to say."

"You have such a knack for being right, Ms. Wisdom," said Vidhi, "even so, enough of me, let's learn some little things about you then."

"Ummm, alright Ms. Wit. Shoot your questions."

"Okay, for starters, tell me a characteristic or habit in people which you completely abhor. It goes without saying that I shouldn't be aware of this already, so think hard."

"Great question! I don't need to rack my brains to answer this one though, there's quite a list. First off, I find people who whisper among themselves at the dinner table absolutely disgusting. I mean, when there are other people occupying the table along with you, it's basic table manners to engage with them all rather than to exclude them from your world altogether. Unfortunately, this happens so very commonly that if you were to give me a hundred rupees every single time, I would have collected enough money in the last three months to purchase a new smartwatch... and that's a very casual hint about what I want for my birthday, wink wink. Moving on, there is the peculiar nature of some shallow, two-faced human specimens to impose themselves into your lives totally uninvited and behave like parasites, no matter the depths of politeness you employ to try cutting them off. You probably know exactly who I'm talking about here, don't you? It's depressing to see how quickly they desert ship once a better host beckons to them," Akshaya ranted.

"Wow... how long have you been holding that in? It seems like you're carrying a lot of despondency on your shoulders," Vidhi inquired with her eyebrows arched up sharply out of concern.

"No no," Akshaya insisted, "I quit fretting over these things a long time ago. It makes me angry, but I've accepted that there's nothing more to be done about any of it."

"True, we can be a bit more confrontational though with those parasites who devise to use us and stop putting in efforts to get along with them all the time. Anyway, tell me more about what you have in mind for this marriage column."

13:15

Akshaya breathed a heavy sigh of relief on finally managing to get Vidhi invested in discussing her ideas on marriage. She carefully collected the numerous strands of hair which were flying out over her eyes to tickle her nose and slowly tied them into a low bun. She was well aware of how seductive this made the nape of her exposed neck seem to Vidhi, who already couldn't help but steal a few admiring glances. The light blue hue of the hair-band she put on was also one which Akshaya knew to be one of Vidhi's favourite colours. Coupled with the striped red-white crop top and black half-rimmed glasses she was sporting, Akshaya created a spectacularly nerdy look which appealed greatly to Vidhi's senses and was a feast for her eyes. After a few moments of silence in which Akshaya simply watched Vidhi out of adoration without stirring even a bit, she suddenly whizzed back to life and told Vidhi to stop the car.

"What, why? Don't tell me you have to empty your bowels again Akshaya, please!" Vidhi giggled.

"You'll see, come on, just stop by the side."

"Alright, here we go."

"Okay, I want you to step out now and stand a bit further ahead. I'll join you in a minute, oh and be careful while opening the door over there honey," Akshaya continued her tirade of strange instructions.

"I have no idea where this is going, but it better be good," Vidhi obliged and walked out a few meters just as she had been told. She was beginning to get impatient when almost two minutes had passed but Akshaya was sitting still inside the car with her eyes closed, most likely in some deep, rambling conversation with herself. She yelled at her to ask for the meaning of all this but her words drowned out immediately even to her own ears amidst the imposing noise of fancy cars and beastly trucks tearing through the howling wind. Yet, she finally saw Akshaya step out and move towards her with a tense gusto in her movements. Vidhi couldn't quite make out whether Akshaya was walking unsteadily or if it was the spring in her step that made it appear so.

"Vidhi, honey, will you marry me?" Akshaya fired this bolt from the blue at the instant she caught up with her partner. Her eyes shone with anticipation of glory in the overarching radiance of sunshine that was emanating from almost directly over their heads. Those glittering eyes spoke in a language of their own and were earnestly demanding an answer from the set of eyes in front of them.

"Excuse me!" Vidhi was astounded.

"I..I have been wondering if you would like to tie the knot with me?"

"Woahhhhh, woahhhhh...this is really very unexpected Akshaya. Is this why you've been fixated on talking to me about this column on marriage the entire morning? And when I finally came around to discussing it, you popped the question..."

"Well, no. Not exactly, I didn't really plan anything out, the thought came to my mind spontaneously when you asked me to talk about the column. But I really do want to marry you Vidhi, truly, it's not the case that this is the first time I've dreamed of this moment - the proposing part, obviously, not of it happening on the roadside of a national highway somewhere in Kotputli," Akshaya broke into half a peal of laughter before correcting course upon facing Vidhi's deadpan countenance, "so, what do you think?"

"No," Vidhi laid bare quite flatly and painfully watched Akshaya process this rejection as her expressions transcended from that of hopeful joy to absolute denial and ultimately to that of an incomprehensible shock. Vidhi's face reflected a sympathetic look which was frightened of the events that had just unfolded and also of those that were about to take place. The colour of her nose attained one of the shades of pinkish-red which they had seen so prominently the same morning in Jaipur. However, far from offering any sense of comfort, this time around the pink was symbolic of anguish and embarrassment.

"Ummm, I don't understand why, is there something wrong going on between us? Do you not love me the way I think you do? Are you reluctant to commit to this marriage because it would be illegal in the present framework, or perhaps because it's considered as immoral by the society? There's no real problem if that's so because we can work around that, in fact, that's one of the facets on which I'm going to write in the column. You know we can even think of relocating to another country where no one would bat an eyelid at us getting married, it wouldn't be too much trouble..." Akshaya could have kept going on without pause had Vidhi not interrupted.

"Hold on Akshaya, hold on, it's not what you think," Vidhi pleaded with butterflies bouncing vigorously in her stomach.

"What is it then? I think you owe me a proper explanation, at the least. Please."

"I cannot stress it enough how important it is that you interpret me rationally on this without mixing it up with any sentimentality. There's no doubt that you are by far the most integral part of me, because, simply put, I cannot even begin to fathom a life devoid of your love. Sometimes I wonder how monochromatic the picture of my life seemed like before you splashed colours into its palette! It's not as if I wasn't happy before, but there was always some spare drive in my heart remaining to go on a greedy quest for conquering more happiness. Its different now though, I don't feel the need to be any happier than I already am and that's because at some point of time during the past four years, I realised that the quest had been left far behind. I am no longer in a race to be the happiest, for I had already become a winner the moment you trespassed upon my heart's empty space and made it your own," exclaimed Vidhi as a couple of tears began to roll down the contours of her face.

"G..Ggo, go on," Akshaya stuttered, overwhelmed with emotion.

"So, my point is that you are definitely not the reason I said no, and there is definitely nothing wrong between us. This will probably sound crazy, yet here goes - I'm not saying no to you, but to marriage altogether," she continued. "The institution of marriage is totally against whatever principles I stand for and take pride in. To actively participate in such an abomination as is marriage would surely be the death of me. Hear me out...what is marriage in essence but a contract of patriarchy? Take the example of any marital relationship you have had the chance to be intimate with and run your mind through it. Sooner or later, you'll see that it's always the woman who ends up subdued in all sorts of ways, be it physically or emotionally. It's the woman who is always expected to sacrifice her dreams and desires without entertaining any second thoughts. For a woman, happily married is quite the oxymoron. Once married, she is nothing but a possession who cannot have an individual sense of existence separate from being her husband's wife. Those fighters among us who don't readily succumb to the oppressive constraints of this marital fabric are morally spat upon by society for being too difficult. It's terrorizing for me to imagine how many women are raped by their husbands every night without any fear of consequence because their marriage has provided them the license to do so. Many of us educated folks put this abhorrence down to a failure of the drafters of the law to account for this, but I believe that's all hogwash. The law has deliberately been crafted in this manner to provide men with the right of sexual access and remove any impediments which may come in the way of imposing patriarchy. After all, who drafted these laws in the first place? Men. There can and have been varying degrees of reform within the confines of those patriarchal norms which apparently seem to make conditions better for women and emancipate them step-by-step, nevertheless, they are akin to a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank. Until the handcuffs of wedlock are not snapped off completely, there cannot be liberty and equality in love."

Vidhi's long explanation was met with an equally long silence from Akshaya as she took her time to let all the words sink in properly and interpret their full implications. Evidently caught up in long consternation, she suddenly held her hand out to Vidhi and said, "let's get back on the road, shall we? I'm driving."

15:25

They were now in Agra to visit the Taj Mahal just as they had decided upon the previous day. Vidhi had been pretty excited in the morning to revel in the breathtaking architecture of the famed temple of love, however, the sudden ongoing turmoil within their lives had made her comprehend the Taj Mahal from the perspective of a tomb that it actually was. A tomb which was conceived out of grief and embodied a strong metaphor of love. She was feeling some guilt in the manner in which she had to turn down Akshaya's manifestation of love, but appeased herself by augmenting her belief that she was in fact doing this to protect the sanctity of that very love. Sitting comfortably with their legs outstretched in a garden adorning the marble pool stretching out from the Mahal to its gateway, Vidhi taunted Akshaya by saying, "Tell me something, you knew we were to come here in a simple matter of hours and yet you chose to propose the question of marriage on a highway rather than at the Taj Mahal, that's unbelievable! This would have been such a picturesque spot, a thousand times better than where you actually did it. Couldn't keep it in your stomach, I guess?"

"I would say I'm pleased with myself that I didn't hang around longer to do the deed over here only to get spurned by my beloved," Akshaya recited her tale of tragedy with a tinge of humour.

"Touché!"

When they began to walk out of the heritage monument towards their vehicle after a quick photoshoot, Akshaya seemed to be on the edge of a precipice, ready to jump back into the conversation they had left off. Once they were en route again, she proceeded to speak her cluttered mind with as much clarity as was possible at that point. "Okay, listen, I get where you're coming from and this gives a lot of perspective on why you didn't even flinch before rejecting the idea of our marriage. It's obviously a massive relief to my heart that it wasn't me who you rejected, but marriage altogether, as you put it earlier. Even so, I still want to try and change your mind about this, let's hope I can present a sound, compelling argument against a lawyer of your caliber," Akshaya winked as she finished her sentence. "The thing is that I agree with all the points you've so eloquently put forth, but find them irrelevant to the subject-matter of our marriage. That's how you do it in court, right, sieving through the relevance of arguments to the facts-in-question? See, I am a jack of all trades, haha. Our marriage is far different from those run-of-the-mill patriarchal ones that you've been referring to. Why? Because our union itself is a challenge to the traditional proprietorial notions of wedlock. There is no man involved in this relationship who can assert dominance over his spouse. We are two adults freely entering into a contract of marriage that has its foundations in equality and balance. In fact, two woman tying the knot would be such a fascinating act of defiance against the patriarchy, they're going to hate us for it and we will cherish this for the rest of our lives."

Vidhi, who had been wandering restlessly in a jungle of silence for some time, responded, "You do make very persuasive pleas these days Akshaya and I believe the entire credit for this development is owed to me. I concede that because we are both woman, a marriage between us would inevitably be more equal in respect of neither of us having any higher authority over the other, but if you think about it, it will still only be a more equitably distributed contract where both of us have proprietorial interests in each other's bodies. It definitely is a big leap upwards from the current marriage set-up and must be encouraged for those willing to settle into such a framework, but I don't want us to be caught up in these restrictive tangles. Let's be free birds instead and flap our wings as much as we want. It all boils down to whether you honestly think that we need to get married in order to be happy? Do we require societal acceptance and validation for living together?"

"Hmm... That's a lot to think about honey."

"Yeah, it sure is. The one who pops the question is usually the one to say this but regardless, there's no pressure from my side babe, take as much time as you need," Vidhi laughed maniacally.

"Oh how the tables have turned! I can't believe you have lawyer-ed your way out of a marriage proposal."

"That's my job. What a trip this is turning out to be, wow! By the way, what was it exactly about your column that you wanted to discuss with me Akshaya, we never got around to that earlier, did we?" poked Vidhi with a gentle smile.

"Never mind about that, you have already given me more thoughts to process than I required. That monologue on why you oppose marriage was golden, it's still ringing in my mind and tugging at my notions of the nuptials. Besides, if today has been any indication of how you plan to serve as a sounding board for my ideas, then there are definitely going to be lots and lots of opportunities for you to weigh in on my work."

"Ahhh, I would love that," Vidhi yawned, "I'm feeling so exhausted right now that even the exhaustion is tiring. I can give up everything at the flick of a finger for a chance to snuggle into bed right now against the warmth of your body babe."

"At this rate, I feel like by the time we arrive in Manali, you might sleep away the entire trip."

"In this drowsy state of mind, that sounds like a plan for the perfect-est vacation ever!" Vidhi had entered into a blissful state of sleep as soon as she finished speaking. To Akshaya, it appeared as if even these last words were spoken from within a dream or trance. She glanced at Vidhi's drooping head, leaned slightly towards her and pecked her lovingly on the cheek. Perceiving this tactile stimulus, Vidhi looked at the mischief-monger with heavy eyes that were burdened with sleep and remarked in a low tone, "You should see yourself blush Akshaya, how beautiful," before returning to the welcoming arms of sleep like a prodigal child.