No opulence please! I’m a universal donor

When you are working in a newspaper office, you are always looking out for offbeat and human interest stories, besides the serious ones, of course. Guess what? Three weeks ago, I found an interesting off-beat story in our office itself. Our senior sub-editor, Manoj More, who is an integral part of the Pune Newsline team and is well-known for making those bright and delightful Page Ones of this city supplement, got married.

Now, what’s unusual, you might say! Well, it is the way he went about it, that got him heaps of digs and comments from his colleagues, instead of the usual gifts! As usual, he reported to work at 3 p m. When he had finished for the day at around 11 p.m., he left a message for the rest of us, on the terminal, which we read the next day. Can you believe it, when he reported for work that day at 3 p.m., he had just tied the nuptial knot, bid goodbye to his new bride and appeared at this newspaper office, carrying on work, as usual. In his own quiet manner, he showed a revolutionary approach, to an institution, that often drains a father off his lifetime’s savings.

No, it was not a marriage, with that heartstopping drama of an elopement, but a plain and simple arranged marriage. And that’s what makes this innocuous way of getting married, unique. He had actually convinced two families, to depart from the routine style. No ornaments, no rituals, no celebrations….he had explained his philosophy to his bride-to-be. Says he, “It is a mindset that there should be so much hullabaloo about marriage. Why have so much pomp and show just because it is the done thing in the society? I wanted it to be very private – just her parents and my parents were present. No presents, from either of them too.”

And, then of course, he cracked a PJ. “How can I accept a gift from anyone when I am a universal donor? My blood group is O’ positive!” Very funny.