Jodhpur walking

Location: Jodhpur, India

I got a marriage proposition today. And no, not from the lucky man himself. But from his father. And actually, I have never met my prospective husband.

It started out like this. There I was, minding my own business, walking the little streets of Jodhpur. And Jodhpur is blue by the way. Just like Jaipur is pink, Jodhpur is a bright blue.

Anyway, between very blue doorways, out popped a jolly rotund indian man, in his 50s. He came right out to shake my hand and asked me how i was and where i was from. After chatting for a while, he invited me into his home. Hmmm. I was hesistant. What if he tries to rob me!? But when I peeked into his house, the open bright outdoor sitting area (right by the main entrance actually) seemed lovely enough, I accepted and thanked him. I met his wife too, all smiley and jolly and equally round. I declined drinks but they both seem happy enough to just talk. He then started to show me pictures of his son and started telling me all about his brilliance. Apparently he is some MBA student somewhere. This man then started to grill me, on my education, work and family. I told him, without revealing specific details of course. At some point, his face brightened and he asked me, all seriousness, now tell me sister, do you like indian boys? I thought I knew where this was heading so I decided to play along. Yes, I said, especially if they are highly educated, and actually more specifically with an MBA. At this point his eyes got big. He then reached across and patted my head and stroked my hair (oh my goodness, ok ok, im going to take back all my words now). Maybe you would like to marry my son he declared. Then you can go live in Singapore. Really? I replied. Yes, he said, give me your email address and I ask my son to email you. You are such a good girl, so polite and so clever and Singapore is such a nice country, so clean and high tech. All I ask for is grandson. Actually 2 and I will be very happy. You can also have all the jewelery you want.

Right. Nice try buddy.

He was almost about to ask more about my parents when I interrupted him. I said, actually, my boyfriend is waiting for me at the top of the fort, I must go. Then his face fell. Oh, so you have a boyfriend. You’ll marry him then? Pity for my son. I didnt say anything but indicated that I had to go.

But he was nice still and walked me to the door. As I was leaving, he pressed again, but do you think you will marry your boyfriend? His eyes all hopefull.

I just laughed and thanked him for the conversation and went on my way.

I wonder how many times he has tried already to marry his son off to tourists.

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I also got invited into another person’s house a couple of minutes later today also. But not for proposals of marriage (well, i dont know if i can handle more than 1 marriage proposal per day) but just for conversation.

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While Jaipur is pink, Jodhpur is blue. Apparently, the blue is to repel mosqitoes. They do not like the colour blue for some reason and therefore the people of the city decided to paint their houses blue.

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I still cant quite figure out why people are so fixated about marriage. Maybe because its strange for a girl (who looks indian according to all the indians i meet here, more so if i wear indian clothes) to go tramping about the place all by herself. They then ask the marriage/boyfriend/husband question to check if I am all that crazy and unstable and abnormal. They ALWAYS look relieved when I ascertain the fact that YES, I do indeed have a boyfriend/husband. Ha, sometimes, you gotta love these people.