Do Opposites Attract?

       Twinkle and her husband Sanjeev were recently married, and they are just moving into their new home - a place where they will begin their life together.  From the very beginning, we sense tension in the way the couple speaks to one another.  

     Twinkle, on the one hand, is curious and open minded about the exciting religious statues and pictures that she keeps finding within her new home.  She wonders about the previous owners and what these items must have meant to them.  She ponders the thought that they may have left these items in "an attempt to convert people." Sanjeev is less than amused ... "Now, look", he says, "I will tolerate, for now, your little biblical menagerie in the living room.  But I refuse to have this displayed in our home."  

       It is obvious to the reader that Sanjeev and Twinkle just do not share the same viewpoints on certain things.  It's the little things that really seem to irritate one spouse about the other. Twinkle is a very easy going person - she is imaginative, curious, and spends a lot of time doing things her own way.  She does not use recipes when cooking meals, and she drops ashes on the ground when she smokes her cigarettes.  The couple, now well into the second month of their marriage, appear to be complete opposites that do not attract.  Sanjeev hates that fact that Twinkle spits a little when she speaks, and that fact that she tends to leave her undergarments at the foot of their bed, among other things.  The only thing that the two seem to have in common is their Hindu faith - but even Twinkle begins to stray a little from that.

       What I find most interesting about this couple is the fact that, as newlyweds, they cannot seem to agree on anything.  Sanjeev seems to make the little things into the big things and he can not stand the differences found between them.  It is as if they are trapped in a marriage and a home with no where to go.  They only have each other, but even that proves to be a struggle. This story goes against the cliche that tries to tell us that opposites attract.  It is possible that this cliche can hold true for some, but the relationship between Sanjeev and Twinkle is one of constant struggle and a search for common ground.  What we cannot forget in this, however, is that fact that marriage, in and of itself, is a constant struggle.  No matter how in love two people are with one another, there will always be those underlying differences that exist between either spouse.  So we must be reminded that a successful marriage is not without its hardships - we must learn to accept the differences and to reach an understanding about sharing a life together.  

     Although Sanjeev seems to have valid arguments at times regarding Twinkle's behavior, he must learn to communicate better in the relationship.  With the amount of tension that continues to build between them, it makes us wonder how far they will inevitably grow apart from one another if they continue to live like the present.  Both Sanjeev and Twinkle need to learn to acknowledge that marriage is hard and that each needs to work to compromise in any given situation so that success works its way into their future together.