Loveless marriage

Generally when a girl gets married she begins a new journey but not in the case of Rani. For her it was the end. An end to her happiness, her freedom and her life of dignity. Rani lived with poor father and younger sister in the village of Pandeya in India. Her father is a poor labourer who could not afford to teach his daughters. He is very loyal to his boss Mr Eknath Shinde. Rani Pov When papa came home today he was very restless but I thought it's probably because of our financial crises. My sister and I were never allowed to go to school mainly because of our father's low income. We were educated by our friends and relatives. We still have no knowledge about how our law works or how the world revolves . It was dinner time when papa came upto me and said "Child, Mr Shinde has asked your hand in marriage for his son and I have said yes . This weekend you are to marry him." He was not asking for my opinion, this was India, daughters were taught from birth that they would have to marry the boy chosen by her family. This does not mean that they are no love marriages but they come with way more obstacles even in this era. After doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen I went to my room to sleep. That night sleep also did not come to me. All I could think about was that I was going to marry someone whose name was also unknown to me. Running away was not an option, the society would kill my father and sister with taunts. You must be wondering why dont I just refuse, the answer is that if I refuse it will be assumed that I have a boyfriend because of whom I am refusing to marry such as rich and respectable man. Another reason was that Mr Shinde was my father's boss, if I say no or run away he could lose his job. There was no reason for me to cry, I had never been with a man before as i had known that when I turned 25 my father would marry me off. I had never thought of what i wanted in my husband as I was taught that I must be the one who adjusts. I was well versed with a how a obedient wife should behave. I had been learning this my whole life. With these thoughts I felt myself slip into darkness. Next morning the first thing I did was ask my father my husbands name. "Manav" I started smiling thinking how after marriage I would call him Manav ji . I was interrupted by my father "In the evening your would be in laws are coming over to have tea and disccuss certain things" I knew what they had to discuss, dowry. By the time time they came I was ready with everything. Mr Shinde warned me that I have to take care of my husband as well as the name of his family, his mother asked me to walk to show her that I had no disability she then went on to pull my hair to see if it was real or fake almost as if she was buying me for her son. Manav ji kept looking at my navel he was least interested in getting to know me. Ansh my brother in law kept giving my pity looks as if he knew what the future awaits me. After they left my father said to me "They are giving us his son all these actions are justified." I wanted to ask him why only me, I have to leave my house and my identity why didn't my father question him. I knew I couldn't ask him this after all I am just a woman. At that time I did not know that by not questioning my father's choice I was making the biggest mistake of my life .