I am the fifth granddaughter of my affectionate and meddling grandmother. Her one concern in life, now, is to attend the weddings of all seven granddaughters before she dies. Being an old fashioned Granny, she feels that a girl isn’t settled till she is married. Unfortunately she is coming in touch with a changed world. In times far removed from her hay days. This proves particularly true when she thinks about her fifth granddaughter.

Granny’s first granddaughter is a much-married mother of two. Needless to say GD#1 is a perenial favourite. Her second granddaughter is very much a career girl who refuses to listen to Granny’s reasoning. Obviously GD#2 is not in Granny’s best books right now. GD#3 is a girl after Granny’s own heart. Not only has she chosen a suitable boy, she’s almost set her wedding date. According to Granny, if only GD#3 would quit her job, she would be thrilled.

The hunt for a suitable boy for GD#4 has begun. My Granny can’t be called a slip-shod worker. She does her home work and all possible research on each probable boy. She checks his present family and his ancestry before he is even approved for consideration. Besides minor and major details like religion, caste, creed, financial status, residence and neighbour’s opinion, and even the the line of work followed by the last ten generations is considered!

Okay maybe not ten generations, but she still has access to information that even the passport office doesn’t know courtesy the local gossip mills. As for GD#4, she is aware that it is only a matter of time before Granny’s Manhunt yields results. Granny is confident of getting a perfect match this time rounds and so is happy. However she is horrified at the prospect of finding a life-mate for GD#5!!!

GD#5 is the result of Granny’s Hindu-Maharashtrian son marrying a Parsi girl. The marriage was made in heaven because nothing both sets of parents did proved to be a hindrance to it. Finally the parents reconciled and they lived happily ever after… for the next 20 years. Then there was trouble because then GD#5 was considered eligible for Groom hunting in Granny’s book. And once in her lifetime, Granny was stumped.

She prided herself at perfect matches, and although her contacts were many and varied, this time they were unsuccessful. To clarify that, she had no Parsi-Hindu Maharashtrian boy whose father was a Defence Services personnel and was himself a nomad at heart, up her sleeve. Besides to add insult to injury, her wide and varied network could not come up with even a possibility.

So she told her son and daughter in law just what she thought of Mixed Marriages and Cocktails. She has finally relented to let GD#5 choose someone she likes and bring him home for her approval. Needless to say, she is not happy with the situation, but for the time being she is keeping still. All said and done one must admire her perseverance for even when she is out for a movie, she is quite likely to turn and ask the person sitting next to her, “Pardon me, but do you have a male Cocktail in your family?”

And if that happens to be you, you’ve just met my Granny.