Eldest uncle looked toward his father and remained with a resolute expression and said "Father! You believe it or not, I would only say that the arrangement I made for the marriage of Akash was the best possible one. You did not even tell me a reason and said "No" to that. Why won"t I feel wronged?"Grandpa looked calm and then pushed his plate a bit farther and then put his arms on the table like fully prepared for the discussion and then asked: "You are angry and unresigned because you are not able to take the life decisions for others and could not overrule the judgement of your father and mother?"
There was a shift in expression of the eldest uncle of Akash because he understood the meaning behind the words of his father. Akash is not his son and also he is of age to make his own decisions. Mother and sister of Akash have already accepted the new daughter-in-law.
He hesitated a bit and then looked toward his father and said "We are a business family and business is what gives the respect and pride we show in society. So, any decision involving the future manager of the business should have the agreement of everyone. A wife is someone who gives encouragement and stands beside to help and provides suggestion whenever needed. So, of course for a boy of the business family, we need to find a compatible girl."
Grandma who is listening from the side asked "If I am not wrong, the girl you had seen for Akash is the girl of Mr. Pawar. Right? Is she a compatible girl because her father has hotels in some big cities or because she is going to pursue a masters degree in business?"
Eldest uncle looked toward his mother and tried to speak but Grandma raised her hand to stop him and continued "Why would we need a girl with the business degree when our own boy is the best and honored student of business out there? If she is not at the same level as our boy, will Akash ever need her suggestion in business? What we need in a girl is what our boy lacks so that they can complement each other and may cover more area of life." Grandma looked with the softened gaze toward Varsha who is sitting at her chair beside Ira not knowing what to say and where to look in such type of discussion and nibbling her food slowly with lowered head.
Grandpa added "Is it not late now to discuss this thing? And what your mother said is the correct thing. I myself believe that our granddaughter-in-law is the best fit and is someone we need in our family. I have said it many times already. We do business for the family. We don"t do family for business."
Akash also joins and said "Uncle! Do you remember when I came with a project plan to expand our business just after I completed the 12th grade? It was the time of breakfast and here you suggested me to prove myself before thinking about something which is out of my scope. Uncle! I have already proved myself to you by my study and academic performance. I have my own savings of more than five million even before I completed my college. I already have more than enough of worth and don"t need a marriage arrangement to increase my value."
Uncle looked toward Akash with a sharp gaze and asked "Your wife. Do you even love her?" The question of the eldest uncle was sudden which startled both Akash and Varsha. Varsha looked toward Akash who is looking toward eldest uncle intently. Varsha lowered her head and waited to hear the response of Akash. She suddenly felt afraid of what might come next.
Grandpa looked at the downcast expression of Varsha and really felt disappointed from his unbending second son. Grandpa said in a firm tone " In arranged marriage boy and girl need time to understand each other and then love and care develops slowly. It takes time and also this is the thing between Akash and Varsha. They have agreed and gotten married and they will work it out by themselves. No one has the right to question them about that."
The response of Grandpa was timed perfectly to bring relief to both Akash and Varsha and also shut down the voice of eldest uncle. Eldest uncle is still feeling discontent and is looking toward everyone on the table.
Youngest uncle met the eyes of his elder brother and understood that his elder brother is still not resigned and is looking to come up with something else to say. Youngest uncle said "I have found out that Mr. Pawar has only one daughter and one son. The girlfriend of Arpit, isn"t she the same girl? I don"t understand why elder brother is still dragging matter of the marriage of Akash in this? It is good enough if Arpit could marry her. The result will be the same if we are talking about having relation with Mr. Pawar."
Youngest uncle attracted the attention of everyone by his words, especially the disclosure about the girlfriend of Arpit. He continued "Varsha has never received a chance to prove herself. She already knows how to manage home. She will enroll for a bachelor"s degree next month and will start understanding business as well in the next few years. Other than that I don"t believe her upbringing or nature has any issue. I will tell my opinion that I certainly love this daughter-in-law."
Ira raised her hand and shouted, "I also love your daughter-in-law." Which brought a wave of laughter on the table and lightened the mood a bit. Even Varsha who is feeling a bit down, could not stop herself from giggling.
Varsha raised her head and looked toward eldest uncle and said "Eldest uncle! I will study and learn diligently and prove myself in a few years for sure."
"Do we have to wait many years again when we had an option not to wait and we ignored that?" Eldest uncle said begrudgingly even without looking toward Varsha.
Grandpa looked toward his second son and berated him "Just for these small things you are being so petty. Why don"t you tell me how much growth you have brought to the Patel Family Company in the last 5 years you have been managing it. And I don"t need Varsha to be a part of the business. I want her to work for happiness in the family as your mother does. We have enough people in the family to manage the business."
After the outburst of Grandpa, everyone is quieted down and continued eating. Grandpa can see read the body language of a few people on the table. He never kept children away from any discussion being done in the family but if he did not make an example for the happening of today, it might make children think they can do whatever they want without caring about unity and happiness in the family.
Grandpa sighed and said "Looks like it is really difficult for me to make everyone happy. I want all of you to be present during lunch tomorrow for a family meeting after that. I need to set a few things in the right way and make few things clear."
The commanding gaze of grandpa moved toward all the family members on the breakfast table and everyone nodded toward him including eldest uncle and Akash. After his announcement grandpa excused himself to make few calls.