It was another boring meeting; I knew what my Boss was going to say. Well, nothing new. Five mins of shop talk and the remaining fifty minutes I actually don’t know, I have never listened to him. While he talks, I doodle. After an hour of listening to the most boring monologue in the world, I stepped out to my cubicle and realized I had left my phone back.
The green light on top was blinking, indicating I had a few messages. I opened my phone and casually dismissed a few when I paused for a minute and had to re-read the message. “A match has been found. Click the link given below to view further details”. With great trepidation, I clicked the link.
Internet Connectivity is inversely proportional to our eagerness, the more eager we are the slower the connectivity is. I could hear my heart beating in anticipation, the world around me had blurred, and my watch was moving slower than a sloth. After minutes (which seemed like hours) of buffering the site opened and asked for my id and password. I entered and went to the page with my suggested ideal match.
I was stumped after all the hype about an ideal match, the photo broke my stereotypical image of an ideal match. The bio data became irrelevant. I decided to turn to my friend, bro and colleague for help. I called John and said look I have got a proposal. He took one look at the photo and was over the moon. He yelped in joy and pushed me to click on the accept button, I was baffled, were we seeing the same photo, had he completely lost hope and thought I would be single all my life that he was overflowing with joy at the first match. I negated him and told I need to first check with Mom, my grand mom and my cousin, the main decision makers of my life.
Lucky for me that day my cousin, his wife and their 4-month-old daughter were at my home. I whatsApped the photo and asked him to check with my family. I received a green signal from all of them. This mystified me further and with a confused heart I clicked on the accept button. Now came the bomb, I need to act on the proposal within the next 15 days to finalize. A face to face meeting was imminent and if there was mutual attraction we would be entwined for life. Adding to all the confusion was the fact that I had to travel all the way to Orissa to meet the potential love of my life.
In great hurry shopping was done, train tickets were booked, preparations made, and we set off on the 17th of December @ 4:30pm (it was my cousin’s birthday) on a journey that would change my life. As I settled in my seat and looked out of the window of the speeding train, I felt heaviness in my heart. I could not but think of my lost love. How life had changed because of that one incident. It made me think was I truly ready for this decision, What will happen if all goes well. When I had filled in the application form, I was under the impression that it would take at least a year for the agency to find my match. But now things were moving in top gear. Was my decision fueled because of my lost love? Should I tell my mother that I needed more time and return to Chennai. Or should I just pull the chain, stop the train and get off in the next station and go home. After all the steps and preparation made by my Mom I didn’t have the heart to tell her this. So, I blanked my mind by watching some movies and allowed myself to go with the flow. I was a little confident that at the end of it all, if I didn’t feel the connection, I could still stop it all. We reached Bhubaneswar @ 7pm on the 19th of December (it was my Mother’s birthday). I was wondering if all these birthdays coinciding was a sign from the divine. At the station we had a car waiting and we travelled from there on to Kheonjar another 240kms away.
We reached the hotel, had dinner, and retired for the night. Well yes, I laid down, but sleep alluded me. A Plethora of questions hounded me, am I ready for this? Is this really what I want? Did I rush my decision? Is this an ideal match? Will we look together? Can I handle the responsibility? What if I get bored after some time? A thousand questions, not a single answer.
The day dawned Mom got ready happily, I was dragging my legs. We went to the hotel restaurant and I forced myself to eat, promptly ten minutes after finishing I threw up. My stomach had dragons racing in them. We took the car and went to meet my Darling-to-be. I was chattering to Glory with my mom and the driver in broken Hindi. My mom smiled patronizingly she always knew that I would talk non-stop we I am nervous.
We reached the place; the house was surrounded by mustard fields and I could picture Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol romantically singing “Thuje dekha toh” from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. We wanted into the house and was greeted by a child which had lost an arm in an accident, my heart lurched, and my eyes welled up as the child greeted me with true joy. She took me to the first floor, and I met Usha aunty. After initial introductions and a confused me wondering if I should touch her feet and seek her blessings, I started looking around the room for my applicant.
As I was scanning the place our eyes met, a smile lit our eyes and my heart fluttered. I couldn’t still decide if this was the face of my imagination, but I also knew I couldn’t live by myself after this encounter. It was love at first sight. I had found my soulmate. I could hear bells ringing and birds singing. I could picture us dancing in the rain and laughing together.
The next few days were a whirlwind of actions to seal the deal. Registration, Certification, Relocation, and Reception all happened in the blink of an eye.
Three years have passed, and I am writing this story sitting on my bed with my three-year-old daughter next to me. Studies say that 90% of pets begin to resemble their owners after time together. Well, that is true in our case. The strangers in my life think I conceived her in my womb, but I conceived her in my heart.
The first time I saw her across the room, I fell in love with the contagious smile and the curious eyes. I didn’t know what I wanted but the universe gave me what I needed. I had not gifted her life, but life had gifted her to me. I still don’t know how to be a mother, but I am learning how to be a father too. At times both of us fight for my Mother’s attention and I find joy in letting her win. As she learns lessons at school I learn about life.
Our journey had just started, and we are taking baby steps together. Till I met her, there was a vacuum in my heart that I never knew about. If I know what is love, it is because of her. Love can be found in any place if we look beyond the obvious when I saw her photo for the first time I did not know if she was the child I was searching for, today there is not one photo on my phone that she is not a part of.
For all those searching for meaning in life, Love is the only meaning. Love in any form is love and only love can complete us.