A zero percent return or a 100 percent return?

Written on Feb 3rd, 2010 Personal Diary

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

This post relates with reflecting light on some of the loopholes of our society. Finding a proper match these days has become too difficult. People are sacred of cousin marriages and its problems, so have decided to move to matches outside their family and relatives. It’s something good from medical point of views, but trust is too meager. Mostly people rely on marriage wali ladies, who keep on advertising in different newspapers. My mother and some other friends of hers, whose daughters have crossed 30, have contacted such women. Some of them are very professional, and talk to the point. One day, an old friend of mine, suggested meeting such a lady, whom she considered was a specialist of finding matches. She did the right thing and insisted a lot on meeting her. She gave us the number too. Upon calling her, the lady sounded very polite and nice-natured. She asked my mother to take me along with her and pay her a visit. She met us very nicely, took our numbers and got the money. After almost seven or eight months, my mother gave her a reminder call, “Bhabhi, have you done something? We came to your place about some months back.” “Aaah, I don’t remember you”, and she hung up the phone quite rudely. My mother felt bad and asked some other women who had contacted her. She contacted her again, she said, “I don’t even remember you and your daughter.” Mom left the topic and decided to visit her personally after a year. She was shocked to see her condition: She got her son married in a very rich family and his in-laws threw him out of the house. He got divorced. The lady’s husband died in great pain suddenly and she herself was diagnosed with cancer. Anyhow, mom didn’t say anything to her, upon looking at her miserable condition. When she came out, some neighbors of hers she met. “She is just a big fraud and fools both the parties, whether boys’ family or girls’ family. She has taken money from many poor parents too and never responded to call back. She is having a taste of her own medicine. Ask other people, never to trust her.” Last week there was a tea party session and my mother discussed about her with some of her friends. They said the same about her being fraud. Had taken money from them and never responded back. This lady used to have a very good reputation some time back, but now I don’t know what’s wrong with her. I was reluctant meeting her and already told my mother that such women were great frauds. At times, parents don’t listen to their kids and think what they are doing is very right for their kids. It’s not always correct to trust everyone blindly.

What is the lesson from this story? We simply don’t know whom to trust, as our parents at times become too emotional. I think it’s a lesson for those who trust everyone. And secondly, she is almost bankrupted and has little running cash for her daily expenses. Her son is a divorcee, she has become a widow and a cancer patient, plus the financial condition has deteriorated badly too. What you sow, so shall you reap. The money may not be a big issue for us, but some lower middle class people might have paid her with difficulty. You decide what return did she get: 0 % or a 100%.