The Blind Date

Kumar was a simple, well-educated, well-qualified, well-earning Tam Bram bachelor. He was heading the finance department of a billion-dollar firm. His life was as clean and well documented as his balance sheets. It’s been almost a decade since his mom, or Amma as he would call her, has been searching for the right girl for him to marry. Elder among two brothers – Kumar and Arvind – he was undoubtedly Amma’s favourite. And this was the complete description of his existence in this world.

Amma calls him as ‘the most eligible bachelor around’. She was very particular about the kind of girl he should marry. Amma has a list of criteria that any girl must fulfill to qualify for the match. First and foremost, she must be from a Tamilian Brahmin family. The horoscopes should complement perfectly too. Education is equally important, with anything less than a post-graduate degree being totally unacceptable. Amma always meets the parents first. She firmly believes that parents play a key role in instilling a strong value-system in their children. Next she meets the girl and insists on talking to her one-on-one. As the last step Kumar is supposed to meet the girl and her family. This last round is not really a qualifying round but more of a formality. Everyone knows that Kumar will marry the girl Amma introduces him to. However, in all these years not even a single girl has reached this last stage. And thus, Kumar continues to be ‘the most eligible bachelor around’.

When Kumar grabbed an excellent job opportunity to work in another city, Amma supported his decision. His growth and well-being were of prime importance to her. A few relatives did try to scare her. Once away from her strict eyes, Kumar may find a girl of his choice. There were plenty of attractions available out there for a young unmarried boy. But Amma had full faith in her upbringing. It has now been many years since Kumar is staying alone, away from his family. But he has never given Amma a chance to complain.

Coming to present times, it was a lazy Sunday morning. After completing his morning exercises and two matches of badminton, Kumar prepared his breakfast. And sharp at 10:50am he opened his laptop and got ready for his conference call. Kumar’s boss was travelling for work and could only manage some free time on Sunday morning for a project update. Today they were supposed to connect with their company’s PR agency. The agency had requested for an increase in budget, a proposal Kumar was determined to oppose.The conference call started. The PR agency was represented by a young and energetic Bengali girl. Everyone, including Kumar’s boss, addressed her as Ms Bose. She presented a strong case for the budget increase. Keeping aside his pre-decided conclusions and biases, even Kumar was highly impressed by her presentation. Her big bespectacled kohled eyes established a contact with her audience even through the virtual medium. She wasn’t beautiful in the true sense of the word. Yet there was a charisma which forced people to take notice of her. Her soft but authoritarian voice commanded attention of her listeners. She spoke confidently, stressing on key points, drawing logical conclusions. She clearly demonstrated a strong knowledge of her own domain and her client’s business requirements. All in all, if the presentation and the presenter left Kumar mesmerised, he surely didn’t show it on his face.

However, in his mind he acknowledged that he was up against a strong competition. If Ms Bose was such a strong challenger from the other side of the screen, she would have been a force to reckon with in person. For once Kumar heaved a sigh of relief that this meeting was scheduled over video conferencing.

Next it was Kumar’s turn to speak. He asked Ms Bose straight and very specific questions, leaving little room for ambiguity. He made logical and factual arguments. His demeanour was calm, but his approach was aggressive. Overall, he was a befitting reply to Ms Bose, and built a case which was almost impossible to dismiss.

The call ended on slightly satisfying and somewhat disappointing note. Management agreed to the proposal of increasing project budget, though much less than the requested amount. A win-win and a loss-loss kind of situation, depending on how we see it. In their hearts both Kumar and Ms Bose blamed each other for it.

Just when Kumar was wrapping up his lunch, Arvind called. Just to give a brief background, Arvind was probably more eager than even Amma, to get Kumar married off. He knew it quite well that Amma will never allow him to marry, until Kumar is well-settled in his life. So, he decided to make his contribution towards finding the ‘ideal match’. And to suit his personal motives, he has been trying to get Kumar hooked-on through a love marriage route. He has even found a unique way of doing it. For every occasion, for every festival, for every bet he wins…..he only asks for one thing….Kumar should go on a blind date. A date with someone he has never met before. He had even coined a code word for it – Parisu – the gift. That also ensured that even if Amma heard about it, she wouldn’t know the true meaning of it. Only Kumar and Arvind knew that the only gift was – a blind date, with a girl Arvind would introduce him to.

And today was one such day. When Kumar had to deliver yet another parisu to Arvind. If one must speak honestly, then Kumar had also started enjoying this ritual. None of his meetings would last more than 15-20 min. In majority cases, Kumar found it difficult to even sustain a conversation. No, not because of lack of confidence or nervousness. But he would find most conversations below his level of interest. Arvind even tried searching for seemingly studious and high on intellect ‘dates’. But Kumar would brush them aside as lackluster.

Kumar still felt disappointed from the conference call earlier in the day. To top it, today’s date seemed least of all interesting, as it was virtual. Due to a last-minute change in plan, the girl chosen for today’s ‘parisu’ couldn’t meet outside. Not willing to let go of the opportunity, Arvind had arranged for an online meeting. And he had called Kumar to give him the dial-in details. “Online date!! Online blind date!!” Kumar was amused more than usual. He didn’t expect this one to last more than first five minutes.

Kumar dialled-in at the scheduled time. Nandini, his ‘blind date’ for today, was already there. As soon as Kumar was connected, in stead of welcoming him with a ‘hello’, she started with “Hey, I am really sorry.” Without waiting for any reaction from Kumar, Nandini continued, “First I had to schedule this as an online meeting since I couldn’t step out of home today. And now my broadband is not working, hence I had to dial-in using my phone, which means I can’t use the video-calling. I had asked Arvind if we could cancel or postpone this to another date, but he said you are already blocked for next couple of weeks.” Kumar couldn’t control his smile on this statement. Meanwhile Nandini continued, “My apologies again, this is probably much worse than what you may have expected. And I will surely not blame you, if you want to end this here itself. I will go back to my book and you can spend your time on something you enjoy.” The ball was now in Kumar’s court. All this while he was silently sitting in front of a blank screen of his laptop, slightly amused with the different turns this day was taking. But now it was his turn to unmute himself and speak for the first time. In his mind he was happy at this opportunity of ending the conversation there itself. Less than first five minutes, exactly as he had expected. But instead of ending it, he found himself asking, “Which book are you reading?”

Really?? Kumar regretted as soon as he spoke those words. He couldn’t understand what was wrong with him. Maybe he didn’t want to sound rude, he consoled himself. Must be some romantic tragedy, he thought. I will quickly wrap this up, he was still trying to convince himself. “It’s a book by Robert Green….” It was Nandini’s turn to speak. But by now Kumar had lost the battle with himself. He had read those books, had enjoyed them thoroughly, could read them again, and couldn’t stop himself from continuing the discussion. For next hour or so Kumar sat glued to his laptop, still staring at the blank screen, captured by the voice coming through his earplugs. 

Nandini was witty and smart, innocent and sensible, shy and out-spoken, and all at the same time. Her free and hearty laugh was almost infectious for Kumar. She was open and meditative about sensitive topics, passionate about art and had an intelligent sense of humor. From no-nothings to political debates, from their hobbies to ambitious dreams, they covered a vast variety of topics. On each topic, Kumar would try and test Nandini’s depth of knowledge and maturity of thought. Oblivious to his attempts, Nandini would speak freely, without making an attempt to create a positive impression and not in a bit realizing that she was leaving him awestruck.

They had been happily chatting away for more than an hour when Nandini suddenly exclaimed, “oh wow, power has been restored. I can switch on the modem and my laptop. Give me a min please.” With this, she dropped off the call. However, Kumar stayed. Waiting eagerly to see her. To see the smile that was already brightening the day for him. And soon Nandini dialed back in.

When she started the video, Kumar froze in his chair. Two big black kohled eyes were staring at him from behind the spectacles. The long black wavy hair were now tied loosely and were falling on her shoulders. Nandini Bose was equally stunned to see Kumar again on her laptop screen, the second time in a single day. She took a minute to steady herself from this shock and then burst out laughing at this funny coincidence. As for Kumar, he was only smiling. And Nandini’s laughter was filling the space around him.

That was the first day when Kumar went to bed smiling. Next morning as he opened his eyes, the smile returned on his face. He had no clue what turn life would take after this. He only knew that henceforth his screen will not be blank and his dates won’t be blind.