An Excerpt from “Gauri’s Freedom”
Here’s another excerpt from my upcoming collection of stories, CHANCE MEETINGS. This is from the story, “Gauri’s Freedom,” and it’s about when Gauri met Ramji…
Bansi Pandit, the matchmaker had come to Gauri’s home with a marriage proposal. He had found a suitable boy for her named Ramji Raina. Ramji, an architect turned businessman, was from a well-respected family originally from the valley of Kashmir. A self-made man, he managed a successful business importing Kashmiri jewelry, clothing, and crafts to the United States, where he now lived.
“He lives in Amreekah?” asked Gauri’s mother, Maji, who sat next to her husband.
“Yes, Amreekah! If he agrees to this match, she’d be a lucky girl!” Bansi said.
“What about his family? Where do they live?” Gauri’s father, Molaji, said.
“They live in Amreekah. Here! Here in this mansion.” The matchmaker pointed to a photograph that he had pulled from a worn brown leather folder and handed it to Molaji. He held the picture so that his wife could also take a good look at it. They nodded in unison, exchanged smiles, and passed it to Gauri. A handsome man in gray pants and a herringbone jacket stood in a garden in front of a Tudor brick house, partly obscuring a bay window. It definitely was not love at first sight, she thought, but what can one know about someone from a photograph?
Read more about Gauri and Ramji, and discover other stories in CHANCE MEETINGS: STORIES ABOUT CROSS-CULTURAL KARMIC COLLISIONS AND COMPASSION.
Pre-order today!