The story I have chosen for my assignment is `Everything's Arranged' by Siew Yue Killingley.

It is
about arranged marriages practised by the Indian communities.The story is centered around
Rukumani, a young maiden from the Ceylonese Tamil community whose family has settled in
Malaya. Probably her father or grandfather was brought to this land by the British those days.
Though Rukumani, is sent to study in the university (`MU' as stated in the story ), the thinking of
her parents is just like how it was back in their motherland, Sri Lanka. The Ceylonese, however
educated, still hold to their tradition, beliefs and family values so adamantly. Education failed to
change their thinking. Social life is a taboo for their young sons what more for a daughter.

Rukumani, the protagonist is studying at the university and has fallen in love with a guy named
Devanayagam, also from the same community as she is. So what is the problem one may think.
Oh No! Rukumany has created a big problem. She has ruined her family's dignity and respect to
an extend that her parents could not face the other members of their community ; Yes, falling in
love is a great sin, according to her parents.

So goes this story and tells us how the poor Rukumani suffers to hide her love from her parents,
how she suffers to get away from the arranged marriage her parents are planning for her, how
she suffers without seeing her lover Devanayagam and worst of all what happens when she
finally tells her parents about her love.

The External Conflicts

In this story, Rukumani, the protagonist faces a number of external conflicts; the conflict between
her and her traditional Ceylonese Tamil family, the conflict between her and her mother, the
conflict she has with her younger brother who messes up things for her, to name a few.

Conflict 1

Rukumani's parents are very old-fashioned in their ideas about marriage. The only one type of
marriage which is accepted by them is the arranged marriage. Parents of the groom and the bride
meet, talk about their background, status and materialistic things such as dowry and so on and
then fix the marriage between their children. Neither the man nor the woman to be married is
consulted. There is no room for love or feelings in the matrimony of the two hearts. This is the
type of parents Rukumani has but she is in love. This is the main conflict.

Conflict 2

Rukumani and her mother are two different women who belong to two different worlds. Well,
Rukumani is 22 years old, a university undergraduate specializing in Economics. She is exposed
to other cultures and values. Though she comes from an old fashioned, traditional Ceylonese
Tamil family, due to her university education and the multi-cultural society she is in, she has a
different view about life. She is nothing like her mother. Her good friend is a Chinese girl, Amy
Wong and she feels free to talk to her classmate Johnny Chew. To her it is something very
normal but not for her mother. Her mother suspects her to be in love with her classmate Johnny
Chew when he visits her. She does not believe that a boy and a girl can be just friends.

`Young people nowadays have no shame. My mother would have sent me out of the house if I
had entertained a boy friend as freely as that. All that whispering. What will the neighbours think?
A Chinese boy coming to whisper with my daughter. Do the Radakrishnans next door allow their
daughters to run wild?'( pg.200, line 10-15 )

says her mother. She quite often says that girls of the younger generation are no more

obedient and are too modern. This irritates Rukumani. Her mother believes that education

has nothing to do with how a girl should behave. Girls should never think of any boys and

the moment a girl speaks to a boy, she is of no more good values. When Rukumani talks

to her classmate Johnny Chew, her mother says that she is shameless.

Conflict 3

When Rukumani's parents are trying to arrange her marriage with someone she has not met, she
decided to write to Deva and wanted to pass the letter to him through Johnny Chew. This is
where the blunder started. Ruku's little brother known as `Boy' (whose real name is Nadarajah )
saw her passing the letter to Johnny, and he blew the issue out of proportion. It was a blunder
because after that Ruku faced so much problems from her family as her parents threatened her
that they would commit suicide if she continues her relationship with Johnny. They thought that
she is in love with Johnny and moreover her brother `Boy' announced that her boyfriend has
come when Johnny visited Ruku. Her aunts and uncles blamed her for bringing down the family's
name.

The Internal Conflicts

Conflict 1

Rukumani is going back home for holidays. She will not be able to see her lover Devanayagam
until the holidays are over. At least Deva could come back to the university towards the end of the
holidays to do some reading in the library but in the case of Rukumani, it is impossible because
her parents would not allow such a thing. According to her parents,

`She would be open to all sorts of dangers and temptations since there would be no classes to
attend and therefore no lecturers to keep an eye on her chastity.' ( pg.186, line 3 - 5 )

Though Rukumani misses her lover Devanayagam very much, she cannot do anything about it.

Conflict 2

Rukumani badly wants to confide in somebody about her love and feelings towards Deva but she
does not know with whom she could share her feelings. For a moment she thought that she could
talk to her sister Susheela or `Baby' as she is known. Something stopped her from doing so
because she believes that she will lose her authority as an elder sister if she shares her feelings
with her.

Conflict 3

When Rukumani failed to share her feelings with anyone else, she decided to write to the
newspaper and her letter appeared in the `Auntie Sally' column. She was so worried that her
parents would force her to marry a stranger. She even talked about committing suicide. She
definitely sounded so desperate and lost. But the reply was not of much use to her wounded
heart. 'Auntie Sally' advised her to follow her mother's advice and marry the person whom her
parents have arranged.

Conflict 4

Rukumani's boyfriend Deva is not as bold as Rukumani. He was so worried that she will write to
him while he is in his home. Unlike Ruku, he still has the opportunity to write a few lines to her
when he goes to cinema with his friends but he was so afraid to let his family know about his
affair. She realized that Deva is not as strong as she is in her feelings. He might marry the girl of
his parents' choice if they were to force him.

Outcome of the story

In actual fact Rukumani's parents and Devanayagam's parents are arranging a marriage for them.
But Ruku and Deva did not know who is going to be his or her life partner. This is the irony of the
whole situation. Rukumani, thinking that she is going to be married to a stranger quickly tells her
parents about her lover Devanayagam. Her parents were shocked about their daughter's
`disgraceful act'- to fall in love with someone she likes. Rukumani thought that her parents would
be pleased with her for choosing a Ceylonese Tamil and not a Chinese for a life partner. But to
her great disappointment neither her side nor Devanayagam's people agreed for the marriage.

Conclusion

Arranged marriages are highly considered and respected by the Indian and Ceylonese families. It
is considered as a dignity and a symbol of family honour. It also portrays the obedience and
respect of the children to their parents. Though the parents actually arranged the marriage
between Rukumani and Devanayagam, they cancelled it after knowing that Ruku and Deva are in
love with each other. Ridiculous...right? The story tells us how stubborn the parents are where
marriages are concerned. They think it is their prerogative to choose the right match for their son
or daughter.

My Personal View

`A remarkably good story with an unexpected ending !' That is how I felt after reading the story.
The writer has been very observant about the happenings in a Ceylonese Tamil family's
household. It is very authentic in nature. We have a feeling of being into the household and
mingle among the members...seeing how the ladies talk more than the men and how the men
uphold their passive but stern role as the head of the family. I would have preferred it if Rukumani
had married her lover, Deva but probably the unexpected ending is the one which makes this
story memorable.
"Everything's Arranged" is a short story about cultures and traditions of Indian in Malaysia.It is
about arranged marriages practised and the traditions of dowry by the Indian communities.

Indian's people basically follow the arranged marriage traditions, and they consider it as
something honored and great. Dating is prohibited by most families in their community. In
"Everything 's Arranged" by Siew Yue Killingley, the main character is Rukumani, has fallen in
love with a guy named Devanayagam. According to her parent, falling in love with guy is a big
problem to them and can be considered as ruining the family's dignity. So goes this story and
tells us how the poor Rukumani suffers to hide her love from her parents, how she suffers to get
away from the arranged marriage her parents are planning for her, how she suffers without
seeing her lover Devanayagam and worst of all what happens when she finally tells her parents
about her love.

Dowry is the payment in cash or kind by the bride's family to the bridegroom' s family along
with the giving away of the bride in Indian marriage. This is an important part of Hindu marital
rites. Though prohibited by law in 1961, the extraction of dowry from the bride's family prior to
marriage still occurs.

For this case, these traditions have been part of the Indian culture since the fourth century. In
my opinion, dowry may cause the poor families suffer. They may not be able to afford dowries.
In case of arranged marriage, I also do not agree with this tradition because maybe children will
feel they are being forced to marry someone that they don't even know the name.

Plot summary - Everything's Arranged

Siew Yue Killingley in Everything’s Arranged, tell about a Ceylonese girl named
Rukumani that having secret affair with a Ceylonese boy named Devanayagam
while studying at University. Both of them love each other deeply. As they went
for longs term vacation, their secret affair discovered by their parents. The story
tell about how these young couple, especially Rukumani have struggle and suffer
because of their family members, relatives and their community as they try to get
together in life. Her marriages were arranged against her own wish.The main
characters in this story are Rukumani and Devanayagam. Meanwhile, the other
characters are Johnny Chew, Amy Wong, Mr. Sambanthan, Susheela, Nadarajah,
Rukumani’s mother and grandmother, Devanayagam’s father and Auntie Sally.
As from the story, the setting of the story might be around early stage after our
country’s independence. During that time, love marriages are still alien to Indian
cultural. The typical India Community thought fall in love as a big sin and only
arranged marriage is allowed. The conflict of the story is about the rejection of
love marriages by old generation.