Life Is Strange

Like every other young Indian girl, I was looking out for an ideal life partner. My family members were evidently even more desperate to find 'The One' for me. It all had reached to a point that dragging me to find my future husband at a funeral of a far-far relative wasn't pardoned. I was officially 28 years old sad (which wasn't true) unmarried girl definitely with some weight issues and no- boyfriend issues. Unlike the old times in India where parents would choose partners for their children the modern Indian families, especially in metro cities take huge pride in calling themselves ‘liberal’. They let their daughters choose their paths to education and somehow expect them to find a suitable groom for herself. The excuse for not finding a groom for you is that they have fought with the conservative society to allow you to not get married till you turned 28. Now it is your moral duty to at least exempt parents from the brutal task of hunting a perfect (next to impossible) guy for you. I wanted to tell them I was equally clueless about where to find a compatible life partner.

In fact just because you independently haven’t been able to establish a romantic bond with someone that would eventually culminate into marriage you are seriously looked down as a loser even by your own family. By chance, if you happen to score well in all avenues, for instance, good looks and a six-digit salary then even the food delivery guy is stressed about your single status. You are like this growing inflation problem everybody is super worried but no one has a solution. Everyone just has unlimited, senseless advice for you. This will be the time you will suddenly realize that everyone has a lot of free time on hand. Relatives who had been absconding since last real crisis will magically appear back from hibernation and be a self-elected part of the advisory panel formed to avert the biggest crisis of the century, late marriage or no marriage. Pff! As the clock keeps ticking you conclude that you are going to end up with some loser just like yourself. Or with a gloomy heart you have to be ready to go on those arranged dates.

These unnatural meetings with weird men alone or with your family are equally taxing. It reminds you of this specific theory of economics ‘Demand vs Supply’. I have a strong feeling that the year (plus or minus 5 years) I was born God all of sudden realized that too many handsome & well-behaved men were being wasted by stupid women. So in order to punish those women he deliberately cut down the production of eligible men in half for us. These dates also have some serious after effects like lack of self esteem when being rejected by complete strangers (fools) and the feeling of guilt which looms over you when you reject someone. The actual dilemma is when you meet a guy who is good looking but an absolute jerk and you still start giving thought of taking it to the next level, why? The fear diminishing good prospects haunt you. So grab what is left! But I was a firm believer in getting married to the right person, than just getting married. They are so consuming that temptation of getting married to get over with it was always there.

I was determined not to give up by these minor setbacks & go on with the search. As the age increased so did the pressure from family and society to get married based only on compromises combined with added responsibility at work. I couldn't handle pressure on both fronts. I quit my job as it was an easier option to give up than my dream to find a life partner. I was wrestling inside me to keep faith in something which seemed beyond the bounds. Tough times make us forget that life is stranger than fiction. Sadness crept in too deep there and was no energy or inclination to fight with what was going inside. I had to let go of all the plans and control. I stopped badgering myself and took a small break from being overtly hopeful. Every day turned into a uncomplicated routine. I sipped my morning tea, read the news paper (the gossip column). Listened to the taunts from family and outsiders for getting older and being aimless. Now my daily job was to put dirty overflowing trash can outside the door every day.

Just as I kept doing my with dedication, one fine day there he was! My neighbor (Guptaji's) handsome son back from London who looked at me and smiled. I can't believe that anybody on this earth could ever fall in love and get married with a girl holding a filthy trash can which stunk to death. To my surprise, he did! Life is stranger. Finding a husband, stranger!