If you have kept up with the news recently, you might have heard about the story of a less than pleasant the Indian wedding. Let me tell you what happened. In New Deli, India, there was a wedding. Like most other weddings, there was the groom and bride. When it came to the part where the priest asks if one’s fiancé would like to take the person to be his or her spouse, the woman asked an unexpected question. “Wait a sec. What is 15 plus 6?” Let’s pause. 15 plus 6 is 21, okay. Instead of answering 21, the groom answered 17. After that, the wife-not-to-be walked out and didn’t look back.
If you are wondering why the woman tested the groom, there is a simple answer to that. In India, there are a lot of arranged marriages. That means that parents and family must find a bride or groom for their adult children (I heard there is also a lot of child marriages). Normally, adults usually meet, fall in love and get married, but this can be different in other countries. An arranged married is not bad, but it takes time to fall in love. In the countries with arranged marriages, the family must go and searched for the right man. He must be intelligent, handsome, and kind. We don’t know if this was an arranged marriage but there is a 50% chance it was.
I am going to take you back into the day where things were way different. Not too long ago but back then, what mattered to people was if there was money home every day. This was acceptable for back then, but now it is sort of different. The men would go work; they would leave early in the morning and come home at around 6:00 pm. The children would go to school every day. The thing is, the woman stayed home. They would clean the house and prepare the dinner for the children and men when they come home. Then they didn’t care about the education that the men had. It was if the men could bring money to the table, which would be used for food, shelter, and more basic necessities.
Today, it is way different; the men and woman have to have the intelligence because it is needed to help the family. I personally don’t know how a man with no mathematics skills e.g. addition, subtraction, multiplication and division can be employed let alone be self-employed. You need to have the brain, the skill, and many other characteristics to work a regular job. The Indian woman showed us that we don’t only need the money but we also need to have the life skills and intelligence to run a family, something this man probably did not possess. I think that what the woman did was fine; cold and heart-breaking but fine all the same. If you can’t answer a simple mathematics equation, what makes you think you can be a husband, a father, or a worker? I think she did the right thing.
Message to all Watotos: When your parents are teaching you things be it life skills or school related, listen. You do not want to be like that man who couldn’t answer the simplest addition question properly. School is there to help you prepare for life. When you go back to school next week after the March Break, go up to your teacher and say thank you for everything you have taught me. Say thank you to your parents too! Be thankful!
What do you think, did she (bride not-to-be) do the right thing? Please tell me in your comments.
Angela-Acaye.