My #IndianWeddingTale is a letter to my father.

Dear Daddy,

I am getting married in a few weeks and I see you going berserk over completing the arrangements in time for The Big Day. My Day. My Dream Wedding.

I see the huge wedding hall, the over-the-top decorations, the exotic food menu, the finest of wines, the most expensive of souvenirs for the guests, the gold & silver plated wedding cards. I see how you are spending your entire life’s savings to please a few hundreds of people, whom you have not seen for a while and probably would not see again for a long time.

Yes, Daddy, I do see you buying those pieces of designer clothes for me, and those exquisite jewellery sets. I know you want me to be the most beautiful bride of all times and you might think that the clothes & jewellery will do the trick.

I see you, Daddy, I see everything. But you don’t see what I want.  But you don’t see that I am your flesh & blood.

Ripping you off of your life savings is not going to make me happy.

Those overpriced items, this lavish wedding, the grand gestures are not what your daughter is going to remember when she steps into her new life. Those people I just saw a glimpse of, their opinion of the decoration or food or music or venue won’t matter too.

You don’t notice Daddy, the jewellery and clothes won’t make me prettier. It is just going to add a minuscule amount of charm to the beauty that I get from within. The glow of goodness and kindness you taught me to harvest, the confidence that you nourished me with, the values and morals you nurtured me with - those things make me pretty and they are what I will always carry with me.

So you don’t see Daddy. This is not the gift I want from you. I want your time - spend with me, these last few days of time, giving me undivided attention. I want security - make sure you take care of yourself and Mom in my absence so I am not worried sick about you. I want your faith in me - believe in me that I will not do what pleases everyone, but what is the right thing to do. I want assurance - tell me that I am gaining a family, not losing one. I want a promise - promise me that I will always be your daughter and you will always love me no matter what surname I use.

Tell me that I should go ahead with a new family, love them and live with them, knowing that I am there by choice that you have given me. You have given me so much love that I am ready to share it with them.

Assure me that if things were to go wrong somehow, I will always have a choice and I will always have support.

So dear Daddy gift me the Right to be your Daughter first, and always. And there is no gift more valuable than that.  

Let my Daddy’s Gift to me be a promise.

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