Rishta

Anyway the first family who came to see me was from Newport and all mum knew about the family was the boy was a graduate, Wow!!. Fortunately I managed to catch a glimpse of the family and I am sorry to say I wasn't happy with what I saw, my brothers and sister were dying of laughter at the sight of the guy. He definitely wasn't my Salman Khan. Thank God, I didn't dress up!!!

Anyways, my parents didn't really like the family either but were compelled to show me, as they had travelled all the way from Newport. I was too scared to go down, as all my life my dad had drilled it into me that he would put my sister and I in hospital if we dared to even talk with Asian guys. I took this to the extreme and grew up thinking it was ok to talk to non-Asian guys but used to freak out if an Asian guy dared to even ask me the time. Just imagine what a sad person I was at college.

My mum and dad just wanted me to go down for a few minutes but I refused to. What was the point of all those values I had learnt from a young age if I was supposed to go in front of every single Tom, Dick and Harry that came through the door. I continued to argue stating that my younger sister can go downstairs instead of me, it's not as if they were ever going to find out as my parents had already declined their rishta, which the family was unaware of at that time.

My dad managed to drag me downstairs with my sister and brothers following me trying to control their giggles. I suppose I should have been laughing too but I was scared stiff to go in front of the family.

I still remember sitting there on the sofa pretending to read a magazine but praying my ordeal would be over soon. It seemed like eternity when it was finally over. I think they liked me and rang a few days later to enquire about the reaction, which was unfortunately negative.