Oviya Ravi Week 4; The Promise of Anna University
In 1995, an 18-year-old girl in Vellore, Tamilnadu got invited to be a part of a program. This program allowed first-year college students to transfer to a government college for 2 years with the promise of being able to attend Anna University (one of the top colleges in South India) for the remainder of their college years. The girl accepted this program and transferred to the government school 2 months into her first year of college.
3 months later, she met a 3rd year college student from Coimbatore, Tamilnadu (a city about 250 miles from Vellore). He dared her to put a ping pong ball under the school bus (she refused) so she instead bought him a coffee from the coffee stall across the street from their campus.
They got to know each other and eventually, he asked her to marry him. She said no. He asked again. She said no. And then he asked one more time and she finally agreed. (To be fair, she didn’t say no because she didn’t like him; she was worried about what her family would say.)
Because her dad died when she was very young, she was raised by her mother, grandparents, uncles, aunts and practically everyone else in Vellore, so naturally, they were very protective of her. The engagement was kept a secret.
He then left for the United States to pursue his Master’s degree so they were long distance for about 3 years. Over this time, a member of the girl’s family found out about the engagement and told her grandmother. This was the biggest scandal any of her family members could fathom; her grandparents didn’t talk to her for months after they found out. Her grandmother eventually forgave her after making her promise over and over again that she would forget about him. She called him the very next day.
The two of them never gave up. After years of persistence, lots of arguing and a considerable amount of convincing, the two of them got married on February 18, 2001.
This is the story of my parents.
I come from two people who are incredibly stubborn but it stems from the fact that they hold so much love in their hearts for the people around them. They will not rest until they have done everything in their power to ensure the well beings of their loved ones.
These are the people who raised me. They brought so much laughter and fun in our house and made sure that me and my sister knew that they are here to support us no matter what. They raised me by encouraging me and making sure that I put my happiness and my joy above everything else. That’s just who they are.
I am more than thankful for the childhood I was given and I will forever be grateful to the Tamilnadu government for convincing my mom to move to a college without which I would not exist.
Oviya, this read was beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI think the selection to share this story was really powerful, and showed a side of your character that I wouldn't have known otherwise.
I loved your usage of parenthesis to further detail some parts or share a "side-note" kind of perspective of a voice that is different than the main one telling the story. The "she said no" paragraph was especially meaningful. It like intensified the persistence of your dad while seeming almost humorous to me; I liked reading that part.
I want to also mention that the structure of this write was chronological, allowing it to be understood easier than if it it wasn't. In the future, I want to write a blog that follows this theme, and want to use various dates throughout the past to illustrate a story, if applicable.
I also relate in the sense that my grandparents were reluctant on allowing my parents to get married, but similarly to your parents, their love was so strong that it did not matter as they eventually got married.
Overall, I really enjoyed your voice through this read as it was casual while still remaining informative and entertaining.
Oviya, the way you tell your stories is so captivating! I thought the use of parentheses throughout the text was really well done as it gave us some background to some of the aspects of this story from your present point of view. I loved the part about your mom's constant refusals and your dad's persistence as it highlights the sentence further down in your story about how they never gave up on each other through everything.
ReplyDeleteOviya, the way you’ve approached this blog by narrating the story of your parents was a captivating read!! I love the little detail about the ping pong ball—it seems so miniscule compared to the events of asking for a hand in marriage three times but it really captures the essence of the little things that blossom into a steadfast love. The stressful environment of your mother’s protective family must have been overbearing for her, and it’s wonderful to see how your parents overcame this through their long-distance determination. Recalling some details you’ve revealed about yourself in past assignments, I can see how your parents have encouraged your happiness as a priority in life and it’s just nice to see where such supportive parenting is derived from. This was a wholesome read and I guess you could say that a government was (partially) the reason for your existence today.
ReplyDelete