The Retouched Truth

A Piece from Collection of Short Stories…………………………

By

Sadaf Fayyaz

Razia was an ordinary looking daughter of an upper middle class couple. She wasn’t fortunate enough to have strikingly beautiful features and complexion. As she grew older, her mom became more and more worried about her marriage. Her worries were multiplied with the remarks of her friends and relatives. Razia was sick of all this highly dramatic process. The process usually started with a strange and weird call from an old lady, over the phone for long hour.

“Oh My God, Not again, I will have to go through all that nonsense again.” She thought sadly.

She usually hated the kind of atmosphere over the arrival of such people. One day, a reference lady called her mom and started talking nicely about some people.

“Don’t miss this rishta; the guy is an MBA and very good looking. The family is decent and father is a retired Army officer. The guy is 5-9 in height,” said the reference lady to her mom.

Her mom asked some other people about the guy, “Oh yeah, he is not 5-9, but 5-7. I have seen and met the people,” told another reference to her.

“5-7 or 5-9? A difference of two inches,” Razia whispered to herself. Upon asking another close friend of the guy’s family, her mom was informed that the guy was 5-6 in height and an MA, not an MBA. Finally, the day came and Razia was decked in bright and colorful clothes. Upon their arrival, she was asked to stay inside her room. After an hour, her mom came to her room and told her sadly,

“Razia, the boy is too old, short and fat. He is no 5-9 or 5-7 in height. Not even 5-2, I would say. He is no MBA, but only an ordinary B.com. They are not from any forces family, but his father is a clerk in some organization. I know that you don’t like ordinary educated, short and un-groomed boys, but kindly don’t let it come on your face. Attend them cordially and nicely. Definitely the reference women lied to me”.

Razia accompanied her mom to the drawing room. Upon her entering, she greeted the lady. The lady made a bad face and looked at her oddly.

“Aren’t you too slim and too tall?” she asked her.

“I am neither slim nor tall, your son is too short and fat,” Razia thought but didn’t say that verbally. The lady lost all her mood and left after some time. Upon their retiring, Razia went straight to her mom and said.

“I shall be glad if you stop fooling me like this. These were typical illiterate kind people that I cannot even talk to.”

Her mom sighed sadly,

“Do you think I love inviting such people to my house again and again and present you like a cattle before them? I even hate it myself. The problem in all this set up primarily lies within the middleman (rather middle woman) rishtay wale ladies. They never disclose the true facts about both the parties. If they tell rishtay wali ladies that their son is only 5-2, little educated and ordinary looking, they won’t be able to attract them. Secondly, the rishtay wali women just throw the burden off their head. They never bother to investigate about both the parties properly. People provide wrong data to these middle people and middle people are only interested in taking money (fees) from both the parties only. They don’t even verify the things properly. I once remember a lady who came to see you and the reference lady told her your age as 22. (Being 28) I never hide your age because it is not fair. I told the lady your exact age and she never came back, since her son was two years younger than you. Upon asking the reference, she said “It doesn’t matter; it is good to hide the age.” “

Razia was quite disheartened at all this. If this cheating, lying and fooling continues like this, no one would be able to find a suitable match for their kids. The middle people re-touch the data and facts so much that the real picture really fades away. It is hard to see the original picture. And it badly hurts both the parties when the original truth comes out. We are human beings not photographs that need retouching.