The Meeting

What does marriage mean? According to dictionary.cambridge.org, it means "a legally accepted relationship between two people in which they live together". This is the official definition of "marriage", but it is a black and white view on the matter. Marriage is very different around the world. In Denmark we have the liberty to choose our spouse ourselves, this is a liberty we are taking for granted. There are multiple countries all over the world, where the custom is arrangedmarriage, one of these countries is India. Exactly this nuance of marriage is seen in the short story “The Meeting”, which is written by Shama Futehally.

The short story is about an Indian girl, whose name is Sakina, and how she deals with the norms of the society she lives in. Like the title says, we are witness to a meeting, a meeting between Sakina, and the man that her father has set her up with. Sakina is 29-years old and isn’t married, which is almost a disgrace to her family this is seen on page 80 lines 31-33 “No one pitied him for his daughter (…), who was unmarried at twenty-nine.” the word “pitied” really sets up a narrative for the way, the Indian-society feels about marriage. If we look at every country in the western world, it is not uncommon not to be married at 29-years of age. The narrative that is shown is disgraceful to once family if you’re not married at 29-years old. Sakina also shows a low self-confidence, and that reflects her way of thinking. This is seen on page 80 lines 16-19 “Sakina lifting her eyes to his, wondered what he was doing. There could be no proposal for her, there had never been any question about it. Not for a girl so fat, so dark, whose Shalwars hung elephantine from the waist” this quote shows just how low Sakina thinks of herself and gives the reader a good idea about her aura in general. If you don't think it is going to happen, it isn't. her cousin called her an "ayah”, which means nanny, this shows that she is seen as the black sheep of the family. Sakina and her father, who is referred to as Abba throughout the story, has a very strange father-daughter relationship. This is seen from the very beginning of the short story on pages 77-78 lines 32-1 “she found herself trying unsuccessfully to overlook the tea-pot’s slightly chipped handle. (…) there was the slight feat that Abba would finally say something about it.” Here we clearly see that she states, that she is afraid of her father. At 29-years old, you are an adult, and shouldn’t be afraid of your parents. So this quote shows an anomaly in their relationship, this has something to do with the norms of the society they live in. Abba is also quite mean and sarcastic towards Sakina this is seen on page 78 lines 17-19 “with a mocking half-gleam. He would address