THE ROMANCE OF ELOPEMENT

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Love on the run





When a boy and a girl elope to get married, they seem to touch a chord in the heartstrings of the community. They become the romantic hero and heroine in the imagination of the younger members of their society.
There was a young tutor in English in the American College who had lost his heart to a girl in the neighbourhood at a very young age. The girl reciprocated his feelings, but the mother of the girl was dead against the alliance. So the young man decided to run off with his girl. She was at that time a student in the Madurai Medical College.


On a Bike Swiftly

The young man planned the whole operation meticulously. His friends had made arrangements for a registered marriage in Thanjavur. On the appointed day, the young Romeo went on his motorcycle to the Medical College, took his girl on the pillion and hightailed it out of town. He had arranged to change the motorcycle at regular intervals. His friends waited for him with other bikes. By the time he reached his destination he had changed bikes three times in order to cover his tracks.
After the marriage, the young couple came back to Madurai triumphantly only to be met by some policemen and taken to the police station. But since both were majors, no case was made out. However the couple did have to run about hither and thither to avoid unpleasant encounters with some people. The next day the local newspapers, especially the vernacular ones, splashed the news with many an exclamation mark. And overnight the young man had become a hero of sorts. The couple did well in their careers. The young man, Israel K.Mani, left the American College and chose a different field where he rose to be Regional Manager in an undertaking of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. His wife, Anne, is a highly respected medical practitioner. They have three grown-up daughters and one grandchild, and like in the fairy tale, are living happily ever after.


Their elopement won the admiration and envy of many young men. There was a young lecturer in another college who was so taken up by Israel's adventure that he decided to emulate him. But his case was a little different. His marriage had already been fixed with the girl next door who was related to him. But he still decided on elopement so that he could hit the headlines in the local press.


A Compulsive Romantic

The girl was rather reluctant to comply with his scheme, but he persuaded her, and they ran off one night. Contrary to his expectation, no one searched for them; there was no police complaint, nor was there any announcement in the papers. The young couple was deprived of the thrills of the chase.
The parents seemed to feel that this was an inexpensive way to conduct the marriage. Anyway, their desire had been fulfilled, and so they just sat at home and waited for the young pair to return. Sure enough the couple returned sheepishly, and that was that.


At about this time the young man was given invigilation duty for the university exams in the American College. He made one last-ditch effort to project himself as a romantic hero. He came to me about half an hour before the exam and said, "People are looking for me all over the city since I carried off a girl and married her. Can you tell the chief superintendent to excuse me today? I have to go and hide."
So I congratulated him and then took him to the chief superintendent and told him that the young man had a problem and wanted to be excused. The chief complied immediately. But the young man was not satisfied.


He took me aside and said, "You should have explained the matter to him and told him that I had to hide."


So I took him again to the chief superintendent intending to proclaim the young man's romantic derring-do for all to hear. But the chief waved us off as soon as I began, thus thwarting the publicity drive that the young man had craved for.
He went off gloomily having failed to win his place in the sun.


J. VASANTHAN
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