"Diya's Dilemma" - Contest for the month of June

Dear laxmi,

I have posted my entry as PM, sorry just seen the contest, I hope my entry
will be taken..

Tuttifrutti

Thank you to all those who sent in your entries for this Diya's Dilemma contest. The contest is closed. We are in the process of judging the entries received. We will be soon announcing the Winner. Watch out...


Check out the July month's contests...
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/co...k-contest.html

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/re...d-contest.html

Hello Ladies,

It's time now to announce the winner of this Diya's Dilemma contest. Our judges indeed would have had a little dilemma in choosing one of the entry as the best, for all the entries that came in were very interesting. No dilemma seen among the contestants in handling this situation.

Majority of the entries were supportive of Ria's marriage to the Afro-American and very few entries preferred to go with the family prestige and culture aspects.

Having said this let's get to the winner...it is...

"Geeta79"

CONGRATULATIONS!

Geeta,

Your entry carried a very practical approach. You stroke a balance with the romantic and the cultural issues. While you wanted to point out to Ria the issues in this inter-cultural alliance, you also wanted to tell her parents to accept it with grace.

We thank you for your time and efforts in sending across this entry to us. Look forward to more of your participation in the future contests as well as in the forums.

Kindly post your winning entry in this thread.

PS: Please PM your mailing address to ship the suprise gift to you.

At this moment, we want to make a special mention about the following contestants entries:

Malathijagan - Your entry was one of the best received for this contest. You stood a little less chance to win the prize for having won a very recent contest - June's Finest Post. Be rest assured that you will stand equal chances to win the future contests. Thank you for your time, efforts and the continued spirit to participate. Look forward to more of your writings.

Honeybee - Your entry was also one among the great ones that got shortlisted. You wrote a short story around the contest making the characters come alive. Thank you for your time and efforts in sending across the entry. Look forward to more of your participation.

VidhyaS - Your entry too was one among the shortlisted ones. You were one among the few who decided to see this from the parents' perspective. Your entry turned out to be a one with strong views. Thank you for your time and efforts in participating in this contest. Look forward to more of your participation.

We would also like to mention our special thanks to the judges who spent a good amount of their time in judging the entries that came over.

Geeta79,

Congrats! Way to go! This was not an easy contest to write a solution and yours must be one well structured entry to have won.

Thank you........

Thank you Malathi, Vidya.......

I still cant believe that i won the contest......

Im the kind of person who is very shy and quiet by nature and wen it comes to expressing my opinions of my feelings, im too bad. But i guess im just getting better at it. Thank you Malathi and all the judges who took out their time to liked my view points on that topic.......... I'll post my entry in this thread so that everyone can read wat i had written........

Thank you all once again........

Winning entry

"Love is undoubtedly blind", this we all may have to accept after reading the complicated situation given to be analysed. In todays world where the caste,
culture, tradition, and other differences are fast disappearing, inter-caste or even cross-country marriages are on a high rise. And as it is said "Love is
the condition of mind where mind is out of condition", people can do crazy things when they are in love. Love is a state where even the most matured and understanding people can go the extremes. And today in this developing age, where children are getting more and more educated and independent, parents are no longer able to bind them into their traditional mindsets or make them follow their old customs, cultures and rules. Children are now more independent to take their own decisions of their life.

If i was to be into Diya's shoes and givent the situation to solve, i too would be in a big dilemma as to whose side to take. But even so, in this situation
the first thing i would do would be to convince Ria to thoroughly weigh all the pros and cons about the decision that she has taken of tying the nuptials
with her Afro-american colleague. Though i understand the situation of being in love with someone, but i would tell her to be practical and see the things from others point of view. I would explain her the condition where marrying a person who may not be able to blend into her family, may become a matter of concern for family members. The person who is completely different in aspects of culture, traditions, rituals, food habits, lifestyle, etc, may not want to take part in family gatherings or other social occasions of the caste/community. And at this point Ria may feel alone and left out without her lifepartner at the social engagements. Also she may face the same situation where she is not able to or does not want to attend her partners family gatherings or social engagements. Even though Ria is quite educated and matured enough to take her own decisions, but if she is adamant to stick to her decision of marrying her colleague, the only thing i can do in this state is to turn to convince my parents about this situation.

Im sure my parents would be totally upset with Ria's decision, but now its my turn to make them understand that they will have to accept Ria's decision. I'll explain them that nevertheless in any situation wether they accept or not, Ria is not going to change her decision. She is definately going to go ahead and tie the knot with her colleague. If my parents dont give their consent then too she is going to marry her colleague, and in this case it may happen that my parents may stop talking to her at all, and cut all the relations with her. This will be too bad as they will not only loose their daughter but also it will give a chance to our relatives, friends and neighbours to gossip about it and make it an issue in the whole society. This may become an extremely
embarrassing situation for my parents to answer the flooding questions of all our relatives, friends, neighbours. On the other hand if my parents accept
Ria's decision and fix the marriage themselves, people will have less chance to gossip. They may talk for a few days but then since my parents would have
accepted the situation, people wont be able to question and embarass them so much. So it would be the best way to accept Ria's decision and fix up their
marriage. And i may suggest to my parents that we have a simple marriage with only a few close friends and relatives attending the ceremony. And also i'll
explain them that if Ria's partner is matured and understanding enough he will take all the efforts to blend into our family and community.

Im sure after analyzing the situation from all aspects my parents would be broad-minded enough and would have a big heart to accept Ria's decision.

Regards,
Geeta.

I wanted to request Malathi, the judges and the moderators that wether we can ask Malathijagan, Honeybee and VidyaS also to post their entries for Diya's Dilemma here. Just wanted to see their view points on this topic.........

Dear Geetha
Hearty Congratulations!

Regards
Honeybee

Hi Geeta,

Yes, it is a great idea to get all the shortlisted entries posted here. They were best writings with great views.

Malathijagan, Honeybee & VidhyaS,

Please can you post your entries for the contest here?

Once again, Congratulations to all the four of you on your wonderful writings and viewpoints.

Malathy

Dear Geeta,
Congratulations! your entry shows a lot of practical wisdom and maturity.
Regards,
Meenu