First things first

‘Why do I need to do a post-graduation, Ma? Is my MBBS degree not good enough for me to start my own practice?’

I asked the day I graduated. I was on cloud nine after having slogged for five and a half years to earn the coveted degree and was now ready to settle down. But my parents had different plans for me.

‘So many of my friends have either started giving out wedding invitations or announcing their engagements on Facebook. Do you guys really want me to be left out?’

‘First things first, dear. Trust us, in a few years when all these friends land up with comfortable jobs as Specialists, you will be the one left out,’ they said.

Begrudgingly, I went on to give my multiple post-graduate entrance exams and within a year secured a seat in a faraway Government medical college. Three years later with my MD Dermatology degree in hand and (in my opinion) an old maid of twenty-eight years, I posed again the question of my matrimony.

‘Have you heard back from any of those job recruiters after sending out your resume?’ they asked.

I shook my head.

‘First things first, dear, settle down into your career first,’ came the reply yet again. Though not thrilled, I heeded their advice and went on to take up a lucrative job offer. A year after this, my parents started slowly sending me matrimony profiles of prospective grooms. I soon was happily engaged to a software engineer. When talk of the wedding ceremony came up,

‘I too am very much for a simple wedding ceremony at a temple, uncle, just as you said, rather than a lavish one,’ said my Fiance, dashing my dreams of a fairytale wedding.

‘My parents do not really love me. If they did, why would they deny me the grand wedding I deserve? What could be more important than that?’ I lamented to him on our honeymoon.

‘Trust me, there are much better ways to spend one’s money than throwing it away on an event for a thousand nameless people who do not even care for you,’ he said.

A couple of years later, in an unexpected turn of events, my husband got laid off from his software firm and it was on me to support our present family of three. After all these years, I finally understood the importance of having a secure and well-established career.

As time passed, old age took my parents away to their heavenly abode, one after the other. A few weeks after their passing, my dad’s solicitor came to meet me with some documents.

‘These are the papers to a fixed deposit that your parents had started in your name, the day you were born. It has now matured to a sum of fifty lakh rupees,’ he said, as I stared open mouthed.

My husband gave a knowing smile before saying,

‘Now you know why they did not throw away money for the so-called fairytale wedding that you wanted. They were saving it up for your future!’

First things first- give your daughter education, give her the confidence to stand on her own feet and invest in her future!

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