“Omkar, we love you very much. We want the best for you. If you want to marry this girl, you’ve got to be completely sure of it. Why can’t you give it some more time? Why can’t you wait until after you finish school?” she asked.

“Mama, I have four more years to earn my master’s degree. I am not going to wait four years to marry this girl,” Omkar shouted.

Neeraj and Jarminder were calculating the impracticality of their request, given the reality that he had spilled out on the table. “You and Papa were married when you were even younger than me,” Omkar said, hoping to trap them into being unable to invalidate him without at the same time invalidating themselves. They said nothing, but both of them were reminded just how different the reality of marriage had been to what they had expected when they found themselves in the same position that their son was in now.

“At some point, Papa and Mama, you are going to have to trust me,” he said. “You have raised me right. You have taught me right from wrong. I am capable of taking care of this girl and if you don’t believe me, I’m just going to have to prove you wrong. Love should build things, not break them. You can’t say to me that you love me and break my heart. If you love me, I am asking you to give me your blessing and help me to build a life with this girl because in my heart I know she is meant to be my wife.”

Jarminder patted the bed with her hand for Omkar to come sit by her. She placed her palm flat against his cheek with tears in her eyes. Using his nickname, she began to speak. “Jeety, I may have no right to judge you, but I have a mother’s right to worry. Aria is from a different community, a different culture, a different race. This makes marriage more difficult. But your father and I will get used to it. Everything we have done, we have done for your happiness. And if you say that your happiness is to marry this girl, then you must marry this girl.”

Omkar hugged his mother harder than he had ever hugged her before and looked toward Neeraj, whose initial resistance had been worn down by seeing Jarminder cry. “Do you swear to me that if you marry her, you are not going to drop out or do anything else stupid?” Neeraj said. “If you say that you are in love with this girl, then you cannot jeopardize your future.”

Omkar shook his head. “No, Papa, you know I want to get my degree. I swear I am not going to jeopardize my future. I couldn’t do that without jeopardizing hers as well.”