Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(6)

Ask what’s the matter. Something is wrong,’ Shipra masi said.
‘Who will ask?’ Rajji mama said. ‘They are not saying anything.’
Kamla aunty wore a worried expression. Ten minutes passed.
‘What’s going on?’ Ananya said.
I shrugged. Shipra masi told the younger cousins to move back. She folded
her hands and went to Duke’s father. He looked the other way.
Ananya and I stepped back a few metres. We could see the elders but not hear
them.
My mother and her two brothers folded their hands in front of Duke’s parents.
Like a landless farmer, they waited for the feudal lords to respond. A few minutes
later, one of Duke’s aunts spoke to my mother.
My mother nodded as she listened carefully. After Duke’s aunt finished, my
mother came back to huddle with her siblings.

Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(5)

33
‘Bike?’ Ananya beamed when I went to pick her up on a black Yamaha RX 100.
‘Bala’s,’ I said.
Ananya sat pillion in a maroon salwar kameez, using her white dupatta to
cover her head and f ace. She looked like a member of Veerappan’s gang.
Pondicherry is a hundred and forty kilometres away from Chennai, down the
East Coast Road, or ECR, running along the Bay of Bengal. Fisherman’s Cove
falls on the way, twenty kilomet res outside Chennai city.
We left Ananya’s off ice at Anna Salai. She sat behind me and held the sidebars
tight. By the time we left the city at  Lattice Bridge Road, she switched from
gripping the sidebars to my shoulders. We took the Old Mahabalipuram Road,
which led us to ECR.
‘This is beautiful,’ I said as the sea became visible.
‘I told you.’ Ananya planted a kiss on the back of my neck.

Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(4)

‘More chutney?’ Ananya’s mother’s question (and my shaking my head) was
the only insightful conversation we had during the meal.
Uncle reversed his Fiat from the garage. He peeked out to look at me several
times. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to avoid me or make a direct hit.
‘Sit,’ uncle said. I went around the car to sit  next to him. Sitt ing with my
girlfriend’s f ather in a car brought traumatic memories. I took deep breaths. This
is not the same situation, play cool, I said to myself several times.
Uncle drove at  a speed of ten an hour, and I wondered what reason I’d give my
boss for not  coming to office two hours ago. Autos, scooters and even some
manual-powered vehicles like rickshaws came close to overtaking us.
I wanted to talk but couldn’t think of any trouble-free topic. I opened my off ice

Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(3)

‘Hi,’ I said. Krish from Delhi. I am in consumer finance.’
‘Huh?’ the guy said. ‘Oh, you are that guy. The only North Indian trainee in
Citibank Chennai. Come in, you are so late.’
‘Flight delay,’ I said as I came into the room.
He switched on the drawing- room light. ‘I am Ramanujan, from IIMB,’ he said. I
looked at him. Even just out of the bed, his hair was oily and combed. He looked
like someone who would do well at a bank. With my harried look after the scuffle
with the auto drivers, I looked like someone who couldn’t even open a bank
account.
 

Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(2)

‘I’m upset about paying peak hour rates. Now listen, I’ve fended off my aunts
with great difficulty. It’s only my mom. You have a plan, right?’
She skipped ahead of me. ‘Let’s make it a great first meeting of the families.
We should do something fun toget her.’
‘Like shoot each other?’
‘Shut up. It’ll be f ine. They’d love it that my boyfriend is f rom IIT.’
‘They won’t ask my grades, right?’
‘They might. But who cares, you will be in Citibank. Listen, we organize an
outing for them?’
‘I am not so sure if our families would like to spend so much time together.’
‘Of course, they would. You leave it to me. Your mom will love me more than
you after this,’ she said as we reached the campus gates.

Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(1)

2 States
THE STORY OF MY MARRIAGE
 

Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl  loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Famil y has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's
famil y.
Girl and Boy still love each other.  They get married.
Welcome to 2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from
two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of
course, their parents don’t agree. To convert their love story into a
love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is
eas y to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Will they
make it? From the author of blockbusters Five Point Someone, One
Night @ the Call Center and The 3 Mistakes of My Life, comes another
witty tale about inter-community marriages in modern India.
 

Chetan Bhagat - 2 States The Story of My Marriage Full Novel(1)