Just Married, Please Excuse is the story of a quick-tempered Delhi girl in her twenties, Yashodhara Lal, an IIM Bangalore pass-out, and her husband Vijay Sharma, an IIT-ian from conservative Jaipur family. While Y started working with Hindustan Unilever as a Management Trainee, Vijay had been the part of that company and same department for quite a few years.
Love happens and Vijay makes it a point to marry none other than Yashodhara. Yashodhara who needed more time, was reluctant to marry so soon, considering the fact that she was too young to marry, or maybe because she never thought of herself the as ‘marrying type’. But then the expected happens, Marriage!
Y’s amusing attempts to impress Vijay’s family and an account of them setting up home in Bangalore given their different tastes, her failed attempts at cooking and getting used to each other’s quirks have been described impeccably in this book.
While Y’s young shoulders are apparently too gentle to take the responsibilities, Vijay is the mature kind who could manage the odd and new situations finely. He conclusively provides enough feed for humour, only that they are all wrongly timed.
Soon after shifting to Mumbai from Bangalore, they manage to get fine people like Zareena, the informal maid; Vinod, the polite driver from small town and of course Vivi, a friend in call without a doubt. And then their cultural and intellectual differences and clashes begin. The husband expectations, so typical of our Indian society are mentioned in a very light and restrained manner. With the unanticipated arrival of baby Anoushka a.k.a. Peanut, the clashes shoot up, fuelled by their vastly conflicting views on raising a child, which in due course lands them at a marriage counsellor’s agency, which also doesn’t prove of much aid. Assistance does arrive for both of them from Vijay’s parents who have been married for ages and under no circumstances are seen as tussled.
Vijay is different from Yashodhara in most respects but his dedication to Y and her honest behaviour is engaging. Vijay, therefore, comes across as a loving husband and an affectionate father. His getting confused about his use of English when he’s excited, adds even more humour to the story.
The growth of love and understanding between a newly married couple, despite their dissimilar backgrounds and personalities, makes the book “Just Married, Please Excuse” believable, legible and certainly enjoyable!
Random Rings 