American Erin even became Kiran, to no avail.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: That it happened in the city where the monument of love—the Taj Mahal is perched, is purely coincidental. But for Bollywood always hungry for original storylines the incident is just perfect for a new theme—an American tourist, a local autorickshaw driver, romance, love, passion an exotic marriage and then a deadly twist—the man kills the wife and soon after decimates himself too; in life they cannot unite but in death will.
Call it an abysmal failure to overcome cultural challenges or the utter failure to comprehend the tricky concept of a human relationship, an auto-rickshaw driver stabbed to death his 35-year-old American wife of five months and then went home, lighted a cooking gas cylinder and blew himself.
The marriage was impulsive, maybe that’s why the marriage took place at all. Erin White was in India last year with her friends and like many westerners the east with its heady combination of the imagery of Taj was mesmerizing which spilled into all things ‘’Indian’’. And like many occidentals in the past she too fell head over heels in love with India and became a social worker with a missionary zeal to wipe the dirt clean from the object of her adoration. She started with the city of Taj itself, Agra (which actually looks like a neglected garbage dump for Indians too).
Her campaign ‘’Agra Sunder Hai’’ was well taken and many NGOs pledged support in her endeavor of cleaning up the city in the following manner as chalked out by Erin— clean up the water; remove plastic waste and have a semblance of garbage disposal in the city which was once nurtured by Mughal monarchs like Shah Jahan and Akbar.
At this juncture when Erin was deeply involved in her labor of love, she met Bunty Sharma, two years younger, who drove auto-rickshaws for a living in the crowded by-lanes of this crumbling medieval city. A spark was all that was needed and they fell in love. Easier for White because she was already in love with the place and just needed a human face to complete her picture or so she thought.
The magical moments passed swiftly. The terrace wedding at night, overlooking the Taj, the passion and romance just flickered away in just days. Even the couple was surprised that a finale was staring at their face so soon.
They both began to live separately thereafter. In between they met only to quarrel, each accusing the other of being married and hiding the fact. On Thursday night, Bunty picked his wife up in his rickshaw and drove her to a lonely spot and brutally knifed her to death. He later threw her corpse on the roadside and went home, only to blow himself up after lighting a cooking gas cylinder.
There were half-hearted attempts at counseling in the course of the strained ties, police informed. Erin even changed her name to Kiran Sharma.