In pursuit of a Divine Companion!

Author: Somya M 

God Almighty for showering his blessings! 

Prof. Dr. C. Vijayasree, my mentor! My Parents & well-wishers! 

Last but foremost, 

the divine inspirational art @byshounak @artiswellnl, to my long time ago debut fairy tale narrative!!

We commonly hear our elders say, ‘Hamare jamane mei chote bado ki baath maanthe thee’ (In our times, younger generations used to listen to what elders said). Nowadays, the young fall in love; the boy gets home his lover and introduces her to his motherasthe prospective daughter-in-law of the house. The guy in most instances is able to bravely acknowledge his love to his parents, at least at the last minute when they are busy searching a bride for him. He then quickly using his knack intro duces the girl to his parents and gets married happily. Sadly, a girl in most instances does not have the audacity of a guy to confront her parents and confess to them her love. This might either sound stereotype or unbelievable in this modern society, but definitely not for Spandana, a girl born in a middle class Brahmin family in Hyderabad. She sulked that boys were luckier than girls. She often quarrelled with her mother and grandmother, ‘Why did I ever have to be born as a girl, when boys lead their lives as they want and girls are asked to live on the terms of their parents before marriage and those of husband and in laws after marriage?’ Spandana is intelligent, hardworking, sincere and fearing- God, her parents and probably most of the peo ple in her life. Coming to her looks, she possessed dusky complexion that enhanced her beautiful skin tone, long thick black hair, and eye lashes that stood prominent even without mascara. Although a beauty in her own respect she was unable to garner dating proposals from guys during her high school and college days. Spandana’s grandmother wanted her to wear braces for perfect teeth alignment. She pleaded with her grand mother, ‘Grandma, please don’t ask me to wear braces because they are very painful!’ Her grandmother pursed her lips and gave a staring look piercing enough to ignite without amatch stick. She then replied, ‘You wanttoget married to a good-looking guy in the future then better straighten up your crooked teeth now!’ Poor thing, she succumbed not to peer pressure but to home pressure and put on those steel braces while pursuing her junior college. She felt her teeth to protrude more after having braces on and thought they made her look uglier than before, not that she thought herself to be a beauty. Spandana’s grandma who rated beauty in terms of complexion often nagged, ‘How will you get married to a handsome guy if you are not beautiful. Apply turmeric paste, tomato juice, potato peel for a glowing face.’ Spandana did not have the slightest clue if she would be able to fulfill her grandmother’s ever growing wish list, but was sure to develop a skin problem if her recipe failed. She was always happy with her looks and above all she never regretted being wheatish, but with her grand mother’s pestering to become fair she had no option but to opt one of the best cosmetic cream amongst sever al fairness creams to lighten her complexion. She felt abashed with the bias a girl had to face in her life, since she being a girl had to modify herself several times while her brother didn’t face any of these assignments and could remainthe way he was andwas freeto do whatever he wanted to do. She slowly learnt to accept the down side of being born as a girl in a typical Indian society. Finally, Spandana's exams were done and so was her horrendous time with braces. It took time for her to re alize that she had teeth after her braces were removed, probably because of too much pressure exerted by them on teeth. She looked into the mirror multiple times a day and kept smiling just to see how beautiful her straight and white teeth looked. Her imagination soared and for a moment she even dared to equate her smile with that of popular Bollywood movie star Madhuri Dixit. 

College life: 

Spandana passed her junior college exams in distinc tion and secured an Engineering rank good enough to earn herself a seat in a decent Engineering college in Hyderabad. She was glad she did not to have to leave Hyderabad to pursue Engineering. She revised her favourite college based movie “Happy Days”, directed by one of the most noted and adored film makers in the South, Shekar Kammula and got pensive about how she would be ragged on the first day of her college. Contrary to her fears, the first day at college and also the subsequent days went on smoothly without any hiccups since she didn’t back answer any one and had a reputation of being a good girl, the trait she would sometimes detest. She was distressed since she had no boyfriend and the guys whom she knew were only those with whom she did combine studies with and not beyond that. She had crush on a guy who was her senior, and she knew it would most likely end up being a crush and nothing more and it had just ended that way. Her four years in college seemed like 4 months, since time hadn’t just flied but had rocketed. While in her last semester Spandana was in a dilem ma as to whether she should pursue her higher studies abroad or settle for a job with her bachelor’s degree. After consulting her parents, teachers, friends and other well-wishers, she decided to pursue her Masters in Engi neering in the US aftergraduating fromBachelors inEn gineering. Spandana was super excited to get visa since she could now pursue Masters at a top University in US. The next few days went by real quick in giving treats to her friends and cousins, visiting temples and offering prayers, and satisfying her shopping spree. The D-day had finally arrived, Spandana left for US along with her friend who was joining a different pro gram in the same University. She thoroughly enjoyed her stay in US. What raced Spandana’s heart was a class mate of hers, Rajiv. Rajiv was handsome, well mannered, and good at studies, the three awesome characteristics that would flatter any girl. Since the class had very few desis, they were not only identified pretty quickly in the class but also got noted amongst themselves easily. Thecoming few weeks saw Rajiv, Nidhi and Spandana become very good friends. Spandana loved Rajiv, but was hesitant to propose love to him since she wasap prehensive about how he might react to it and more than that she was scared of what her parents’ would think If she did so. To Spandana, proposing seemed to be com plicated than all the entrance exams put together. She was trying to pool all the possible courage to express her love, but found herself fail miserably on each occasion. Time rolled and the day had come when she passed her MS exams with an A but got an F in her love exam. The graduation ceremony began in an hour and everyone was visibly excited. Rajiv came to Spandana to talk for the last time for this year and probably for the life time too, since Spandana was leaving US on the same night after the ceremony concluded. Rajiv gave a big smile, which sent huge waves of hurricane Katrina in Spandana’s little heart. She thought, ‘Gosh...why does he give that innocent killer smile?’ Spandana’s heart pounded with weird thoughts bombarding her mind. She imagined as Rajiv came closer to her, ‘May be Rajiv also loves me and is hesitating to express the same.’ She assumed, hoped, and hyped the matter to such an extent that disappointment seemed inevitable. Rajiv told Spandana, ‘Hey Buddy, today is our last day in college and got to know from Nidhi that you are leaving today after the ceremony is done, why so much hurry? Don’t you want to enjoy few more days with all of us?’  Spandana replied, ‘I shall always cherish my special friend, that’s you...with a pause...I mean...you and Nidhi, but have to go!’ Spandana thought to change her mind had Rajiv coaxed her, but that didn’t happen. Rajiv said, ‘Okay, as you wish...But keep in touch with us, we shall miss you!’ Spandana, after knowing that Rajiv had no feelings for her and just considered her a friend or probably only a classmate, felt sheepishly, ‘Why did I have to love some one without knowing their feelings, but guess that’s love and as they say love is blind, it is probably idiotic too, since people use their heart and not head when they fall in love.’ She however solaced herself saying, ‘Know, if I think before I love then it’s not love, love doesn’t happen after thinking, it just happens from the heart.’ Gradually everyone started to assemble in the de partment hall and the Graduation ceremony went on very well. Entire class took pictures and had lunch. Rajiv then drove Spandana to her apartment and Spandana went to her room to put the last few things in the baggage. It was at this point of time that Spandana’s roommate Kirtana had spotted Rajiv from the apartment window and screeched, ‘Hey Spandy, come here...Nidhi’s boyfriend is here.’ Spandana hurriedly ran from her room, slided across the hall to the window and said, ‘I can’t see anyone there except my classmate Rajiv; whom are you referring to Kriti?’ Kirtana replied, ‘Ya baba....Rajiv only....don’t tell me you don’t know he is Nidhi’s love!’ Spandana was shocked, shaked and perhaps even baked on hearing her roomies words. This was the last thing she wanted to hear. She asked childishly, ‘Kriti, how can you be so sure?’ Kriti laughed at Spandana’s innocence and said, ‘The whole college knows about it yaar and I can’t believe you are not aware of it, u dumbo!’ Spandana tried to cover up her immaturity, ‘I knew they were good friends since we three belonged to the same group but I didn’t imagine they had feelings for each other.’ Kriti then replied, ‘Are they donkeys to yell that they are in love...anyways chill, I too got to know of this hot news just a couple of days back and so couldn’t tell you since you were busy with your last semester and I too was preoccupied with my term exams and assignment sub missions and we hardly had time to talk to each other at leisure ....feeling sad that my sweetest roommate is leav ing.... Keep mailing.’ Saying so, she gave Spandana a tight hug. Spandana was in disbelief and didn’t know how to react, how to hide her pain, heart break, and tears. She somehow managed to swallow her emotions, held back her tears, embraced Kriti and waved her a bye. Rajiv rushed to help Spandana as she walked down the apartment aisle and quickly loaded her luggage into his car and dropped her in the airport where they waved each other a final good-bye and she boarded her scheduled flight to India with mixed feelings of a beautiful friendship and a botched one sided love relationship. Spandana couldn’t comprehend if she was not happy with Rajiv not loving her or was more saddened with the fact that he loved Nidhi. For the first couple of hours she got torn by all sorts of stupid thoughts and finally man aged to sleep at the end of her emotional turmoil. She then returned to her home place after finishingtwo years of study in the US and had missed Hyderabad very bad ly. Her elder brother Nakul came to the airport to pick her up. Her parents back home were very excited seeing their daughter after so long and so was she. To escape from the self-destructive thoughts of her only love and heart break, Spandana decided to apply for jobs and make use of her time and mind constructively. She was glad to be home, for she could eat home made dishes, spend time with loved ones and go to her favourite regional movies. After recovering fromthe jet lag and taking adequate rest, she got in touch with her local engineering friends. In the comingdays, she along with her friends applied to jobs and attended interviews. Spandana very soon found a lucrative job in a soft ware firm at Hyderabad. Her joy knew no bounds since many of her friends still waited for their turn, while she was fortunate to get placed faster than any of them. In the next couple of weeks she managed to divert her mind. She stopped thinking about Rajiv and Nidhi by telling herself that she was to blame herself for the love fiasco, since she did not have the guts to express her love to Rajiv and secondly, Rajiv had considered her only as a friend. She couldn’t help but blame the traditional con servative society for being responsible for her shyness which thereby resulted in her inability to express her love. After getting done with the blame game, she pacified herself by telling that she had at least saved her friendship with Rajiv by snubbing her feelings of love to wards him. Work begins: Spandana said, ‘Arre bhai aur kitni dher, mei office ke liye late ho rahi hu!' (I am getting late for my office, how much more time are you going to take?) The auto guy replied to her with a grin ‘Bus aur ek, chalange ji’ (One more madam, we shall then leave). Her office was in Hi- tech city and she took a sharing auto every day, in which the auto driver crammed 3-4 girls in the back seat and the front seat had minimum three male passengers including the driver. The auto resembled the 10 headed Raavan. She finally reached office panting, and it seemed as if she ran a marathon. It was two hours since the office had started, and Spandana was late to the office on the first day itself. She met her boss and was in troduced to her office colleagues and was shown hercab in where she could start her work. Her work ended at 6 pm and she took back a sharing auto and came home exhausted. She decided on the first day itself that she would take her own mode of transport and not use the sharing auto since she was getting late to the office. One morning at around 11am, Rithu entered the office holding a stack of saffron coloured cards with turmeric smeared edges. She wore a purple colored crape salwaar kameez with a chudi bottom, and had matching ear rings and crystal bindi to go with. Everyone quipped Rithu already looked like a bride. Spandana said, ‘Rithu, kya bhaat hai....you are looking absolutely gorgeous.’ She thought to herself, ‘Rithu’s face is looking beautiful because she is extremely happy, and why not... she is get ting married not just for the heck of getting married, but was wedding her childhood sweetheart.’ Spandana was very happy for Rithu, since Rithu was one of her closest friends in office. Rithu came to Spandana and said, ‘You have to come to my marriage next month, pucca and no bahanas!’ and placed her marriage invitation in Spandana’s hand with a “Colgate”.... err.....more precisely an “Orbit white” smile on her face. Rithu’s fiancé’s name was Amit.She was short and puny before Amit,who was a 6 feet 6 packer, following the footsteps of his endless list of role models. Both of them left the office after having distributed their invitations. “Enter the dragon” Various wedding invitations from relatives and friends soon started to pile up at Spandana’s home, and so did her parents worry to get her married. Theyshortly started the Man- hunt for their eligible daughter. They put their daughters profile on leading matrimonial por tals and started to attend various matrimonial meets. In addition to this exercise, they also proceeded with the proposals coming from near and dear. After Spandana returned home one evening from office, her mother informed her, ‘Dad and I have started to search a groom for you chitti, and also registered your profile in matrimonial sites, what do you think?’ Spandana’s reaction was an instantaneous, ‘Oh no, why now, no mood to see matches and why did you register with out asking me.’ Poor thing she didn’t know that she had to “enter the dragon” of groom searching, sooner or later. Spandana’s excitement of Rithu’s wedding started to vanish with arguments at home almost evening with re gards to marriage proposals. She could neither eat prop erly nor go to sleep at her usual time. One night she  turned left and right on her bed so many times that the legs of the bed might have loosened and the sounds of her cranky bed would have wakened her neighbour. She finally gave up the tossing up act and went to bed at 4 am. Spandana had snoozed the morning alarm to its maximum and woke up shockingly to see that it was almost 9 am.This was the time when the office started and she was still at home, thanks to the night show, which would soon add morning, matinee and evening shows to the list. She drove her vehicle as fast as she could and reached the office safely. Several days passed in this man ner and the matter had transformed from bad to worse. She looked visibly tired and her colleagues were per turbed and asked her ‘Hey, are you ok...what’s the mat ter, any problem?’ ‘Your face looks dull, eyes are puffy and there are dark circles under eyes?’ When Spandana revealed to one of her friends’ Nisha, ‘I am unable to eat properly and sleep on time due to anxiety caused by groom search’, Nisha guffawed like Mogambo of Mr. India movie and said‘Ayyo,poorgirl...you don’t have to become mad and lose sleep over the fact that your parents are searching a groom for you.’ Spandana reacted, ‘Oh really, yours is a love marriage like Rithu’s ra, so how on earth you will understand how it feels while searching for a groom in an arranged marriage.’ Nisha retorted slyly in a filmy tone, ‘Hey come on, you don’t have to be jealous; I loved and married, you marry and love.’ This was enough to cheer up Spandana’s mood and make her day dream and go shy about her marriage and making love post marriage. Spandana along with Nisha and some of her colleagues went to South flick “Seventh Sense” at INOX, to watch their favorite star Suriya. Boasting six pack abs might have be come a normal phenomenon these days in movies, but these girls knew that their favorite actor would definitely be upto something very unconventional, as in every pre vious movie of his. Spandana was happy how her evening went by and she went to bed exhausted yet happy, momentarily forgetting the grief of groom search. 

Debut match! 

Next day, Spandana’s mother said, ‘Chitti, come home early from office today, since a prospective groom is coming home this evening.’ The very word “groom” was enough to piss off Spandana. She was absolutely in no mood to listen to her mother and went on to say, ‘Amma,whydoesthisguyhavetocomeonlytodaywhen I have lot of work to do, and why can’t he come on a weekend instead?’, to which her mom replied, ‘The boy has come to his cousin’s wedding here and thought he could as well meet you, and mind you, he is leaving to morrow, so you have no choice but to meet him today evening.’ Spandanadidn’twanttobeginthedaywithaquarrel and said, ‘ok maa...I am leaving for office and will try to comehome early.’ Ratna, Spandana’s mother worked as a school teacher. She took half day’s leave from office that day and did last minute shopping of sweets and other hot items for the guests who wereto arrive early evening. She gave a quick reminder call to Spandana to get back from office. Spandana almost forgot about the Chennai guy amidst her hectic schedule at office. As soon as she re membered, she called her mom and said, ‘Sorry amma, I am leaving office now, will be home soon.’ Spandana’s office head was stuck in a meeting which was not going to end in the next one hour. She then quickly informed her project lead, who being a woman easily understood the so called marriage fixing and the turmoil involved and said she could take an early day off. Spandana drove home, took a shower and drank a cup of coffee to stay awake through the entire proceeding. Coming home earlier than her usual didn’t help Spandana. Ratna told her, ‘It seems Ravi with his family started late from his cousin’s wedding and you know howHyderabad traffic is right!’ Then Spandana reacted, ‘amma, you should have told me that they will be late, I would then have started from my office at leisure.’ Span dana soon got tired of waiting and sleepy too and want ed to ask her mom, ‘why does the guys’ party always ar rive so late, while the girls must be ready on time!’, but she was not having the energy to kick start a fresh argument. Meanwhile the guy along with his battalion had arrived. Spandana thought, ‘Why did the guy have to come with so many relatives, is this some kavi samme lan or what?’ Spandana started to feel nervous and giddy with the thought that she has to meet the guy amidst his family members. Thewhole proceeding was scheduled to be done in the main hall and Spandana had to wait in her room un til she was called in. As the guy’s troop had arrived, Rat na along with her husband Ramesh gave them a royal welcome, except that this one had no floral offerings, no scent sprayed onthe guests orhymnssungtothem.After showing them their seats, Ramesh sat next to the guy’s father. Ratna went inside the kitchen and got a tray with plates full of sweets, hot mixture and coffee. All of them said in unison, ‘Ratna garu you didn’t have to take the trouble’ but she insisted, ‘It is nothing much, just some snacks and coffee, you must be tired after a long day!’ and they obliged. Ratna offered the kids some mango juice and Hershey’s chocolates which her colleague, who just returned from her US trip, gave her. The kids drank the juice and gulped the chocolates and resumed playing in the hall. Theguy’s parents ate very little and left most of the food items untouched. They then asked “Ratnaji please get your daughter, we and Ravi would like to see and talk to her, the final decision would be of Ravi though. Spandana’s debut match had begun with much hype and hoopla. She was a tensed debutant, who was to prove her worth on her very first match. She walked down the hall wearing a beautiful peacock blue salwaar with the hair in the center let loose and those on both the ends hooked up behind with a golden designer clip. She applied minimal makeupto lookasnatural as possible and kept her spectacles on, since she didn’t want the guy to have a rude shock if he came to know of it later. Spandana greeted with a Namasthe as she was introduced by Ramesh and tooka seat opposite to that of the guy with her head lowered. She then slowly lifted her head up. The guy’s name was Ravi and he worked as a project lead at a Multinational company in Chennai. He looked fair and handsome.He interacted with Spandana and made her feel pretty much at ease. He said, ‘Hi Spandana, so you work at an MNC in Hitech city?’ ‘Yes’ replied Spandana. ‘Do you plan to work after marriage?’ asked Ravi ‘I would like to, but I am rather flexible and would like to balance home and work’came a tactful reply from Spandana. Ravi’s parents bragged, ‘Ramesh garu, not trying to exaggerate, but our son earns 30 lakhs per annum and has an apartment and plot onhis name inChennai; he is a gem of a guy as he is a teetotaler.’ The socalled meetingended after about an hour and a half. Days passed and so did weeks,but there was no reply from Ravi’s parents. One day Spandana asked her moth er, ‘Amma, so many days have passed, there is yet no reply from Ravi’s parents, are they at all interested in our match.’ Ratna called Kamakshi, who had suggested Ravi’s match to them and asked what they had thought about their match. Kamakshi said, ‘Ratna, Ravi’s mother felt that Spandana was dusky compared to their fair son and didn’t wish to proceed further.’ Spandana got an gered, not because they had said a no, but because they took so long and didn’t have the courtesy to inform them. Ratna in an effort to pacify her daughter said, ‘Chitti, the prospective groom’s parents might not have called, since the boys’ side doesn’t call the girls’ side if they are not interested and the rejection should be un derstood.’ But Spandana thought that one cannot wait for ages without any reply. Very soon Spandana felt that her hunger pangs had dominated the discussion since she had only a cup of coffee and ate nothing since evening and so joined her parents to have dinner and take a break for the day. Beware of wedding shopping! Weekend saw Spandana’s cousin in Hyderabad ask her to accompany her for her engagement shopping. Alas! The engagement shopping seemed to last forever without purchasing anything, and this made Spandana’s head reel from low blood glucose. Spandana didn’t want to tell her cousin Swathi about her giddiness, but instead said, ‘Swathi, I want to eat chat, do you want to come?’ Swathi was not hungry but she was a chat freak and she immediately agreed. Both the girls came outside the shopping mall and ate some pani puris and pavbhaji and sat for a while outside the mall enjoying the cool breeze. Spandana felt lot better and hoped her silly cousin would make up her decision and not waste both their time and energy on wanting to purchase the saree of a particular color or texture or border. Soon they went back into the mall and to Spandana’s relief Swathi bought a nice light weight pattu saree. Spandana smil ingly thought to herself that the food had charged up Swathi’s brain cells too. Spandana was a quick shopper, and disliked the long hours that girls generally take up in shopping. She came hometired, had rotis with paneer curry, drank some buttermilk and retired to bed. Days were passing by and so did weeks, months and the whole year. Time had never passed by so quickly for Spandana. The coming birthday had brought both ex citement and horror to Spandana. She was excited since she enjoyed the outing with her friends and gifts from her family. But getting nagged on her birthday about getting married marred her otherwise great day. Ratna’s relative phoned home and asked her, ‘Hi Ratna, this is Devaki here. I wanted to wish Spandana on her birthday, is she back home?’ Ratna replied, ‘Oh yes, will call her. That’s very sweet of you to remember her birthday and nice to hear from you after so long. Please hold the line, I shall give the phone to Spandana.’ Spandana greeted, ‘Hi atta. How are you? How are uncle, Revanth and Rishi?’ Devaki replied, ‘We are all doing fine Chitti. Wish you a very Happy Birthday and may god bless you, Hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration.’ Spandana said, ‘Thank you atta, I enjoyed my birth day thoroughly, I shall give the phone to amma.’ Spandana didn’t have the slightest clue why her aunt, who hadn’t called her home just to wish her on her birthday all these years, had done so this year and thought if it had a hidden motive. Devaki spoke, ‘Actually Ratna..., pause...I wanted to ask you something since a couple of days but didn’t know how to.’ Ratna answered, ‘Ayyo Devaki, youdon’thavetofeel shy. Please go ahead with what so ever you had wanted to ask.’ Devaki continued, ‘You know Ratna....,um.....Revanth after finishing his MS has been working in an MNC, and Mani and I wanted to get Revanth married and were searching for suitable alliances when Spandana crossed my mind, If you don’t mind can we get our chil dren meet one another and get their marriage settled if they like?’ Ratna jumped off her feet literally and responded, ‘Oh my god Devaki, you made my day vadina, I am thrilled, I want to get Spandana married to Revanth without any second thought or discussions as he is perfect for my baby.’ Devaki however didn’t want it that way and said, ‘Times are different Ratna and we must accept and re spect that, we must give our children enough freedom to exchange their viewpoints and make their own choices, I don’t want that we interfere with their ultimate deci sion.’ Ratna said, ‘You are right Devaki, we both shall set a convenient day for us to meet up at my home and pro ceed further.’ Ratna then hurriedly asked, ‘By the way are you par ticular about astrological matching?’ Devaki responded, ‘No offense vadina, but you seem to be very orthodox.’ ‘We too are traditional but don’t believe in astrology; but If you do, I respect that and you can go ahead with the matching and let me know, wait I shall give Revanth’s details.’ Ratna said, ‘Ok thank you vadina, I shall let you know soon, regards to anna garu and kids.’ An ecstatic Ratna turned to Spandana and said ‘Chitti, atta called up to ask if you would consider marriage proposal from Revanth bava!’ Spandana almost choked while eating and tried to reply while coughing, Ratna sprang to Spandana and started to tap on her back and gave her water to drink which relieved Spandana. Spandana coughed so much that tears started rolling off her eyes. She took a break from eating and sat in the drawing hall sofa. Ratna gave Spandana a glass of water, sat beside her and spoke, ‘Look Chitti, dad and I have gone through so manymatrimonial sites and meets, nothing is positive on that front. Revanth is a nice boy and will be the right match for you, also atta herself has asked. Opportunity comes only once, think well and don’t say no.’ Spandana spontaneously reacted strongly, ‘Maa, so Devaki atta called to fix up our marriage in the pretext of wishing me, wow...and you have given me a lot of choice...to not to say no...that is ridiculous.....First thing is that I have never imagined Revanth in that way...we played as kids and treated ourselves as friends...also, I don’t want to marrymycloserelative since kids might be born with genetic abnormalities.’ Devaki didn’t want to hear all this crap from Span dana. She retaliated, ‘Don’t talk rubbish, you don’t sound educated...are you?.....there are so many of us who have married within our relatives and our kids are normal, dad and I were related before marriage, you were born normal, aren’t you?!’ and another thing ‘Things don’t happen as seen in movies.....that is why I keep telling you not to watch too many films and become filmy...all marriages don’t happen after love.....we all got married and then loved our husbands...you and Revanth know each other as kids, and now you get an opportu nity to know each other as grownups...so meet each oth er...or in your words date each other...I shall tell Devaki to fix a convenient date and time and come over here.’ Spandana kept saying, ‘I am just 27, do you think I have become old, or feel I became a burden that you want to send me off.’ ‘I don’t want to meet him and waste my time and energy, and why do you even ask me for the sake of asking when you take my decisions.’ She then went straight into the room teary eyed (those from shock and not choke)andsleptafterawhilewithoutfin ishing her dinner. Nakul, Ramesh and Ratna discussed at the dining table after having dinner. Ramesh and Ratna were think ing and talking in an orthodox manner. Nakul then tactfully said to his parents, ‘Daddy and Amma, I can under stand what your feelings are as parents and I also realize howhard it must be on Spandana.You please don’t worry and just chill, I shall smoothly handle this and coax her to meet Revanth. She just wants to be stubborn, but I am sure after interacting with him, she will like him. You both sleep; I shall talk to her in a day or two, good night!’ "Big Brother!" It was Saturday, holiday for both Nakul and Spandana. While Ratna had gone to her friend’s son’s wedding, Ramesh went to his office. Nakul took this as a good opportunity to convince his little headstrong sister to meet Revanth. He called Spandana and said, ‘Chitti, any plans with your friends today?’ Spandana put a question mark face ‘No anna, why?’ Nakul said, ‘Nothing ra, I thought it’s been long since I’ve taken you to an outing. Shall we go for a movie and have lunch at Chutneys?’ Spandana was very happy and said, ‘Oh wow, cool. We shall then go to“Oh my friend”.Both of them quickly got ready and left for the movie. After the movie got over, they went to Chutneys and ordered a South Indian Thali. Silence prevailed for almost 5 minutes and Nakul broke it with a smirk, ‘Hey, a surprise for you.’ Spandana asked, ‘Aha, what’s that bro?’ Nakul whispered, ‘Hey, I haven’t disclosed this to anyone, you are the first one to know, of course other than myself and Natasha,thegirlIlove...we both wantto get married with consent of both families.’ Spandana was in a surprise shock and said, ‘what, when, and how did it happen? Nakul said, ‘Whoa...That’s a story...will tell you the details later on.’ Spandana felt so happy for her brother, the happi ness had filled her and she didn’t feel hungry to eat a thali and instead ordered a dosa and lassi. She asked with a smile, ‘So when are you getting bhabhi home haan?’ Nakul answered, ‘Not until I get my little sis married.’ Spandana’s facial expression had changed and she asked, ‘That’s not fair bro, you have selected your girl, and I don’t have the slightest trace of my guy.’ Nakul then said ‘What do you think of Revanth?’ Spandana immediately understood that her mom had told about Revanth to Nakul. She got hyper and said, ‘Oh not again anna, I have had enough yesterday night, and I realize now that you got me here to convince about Revanth.’ Nakul patted Spandana’s hand and said, ‘I did not get you here just to convince you. You are old enough to take your own decisions, but as an elder brother I hold the responsibility to guide my little sister on the right path and prevent her from losing something out of sheer stubbornness and then repent later’, ‘I too didn’t have a crush on Natasha,it was with time that we came toknow each other, became good friends and eventually lovers. So please don’t write things off. Give Revanth a chance. If you don’t like him after meeting him, then for sure we will reject the proposal, no worries. But please, give it a try. Use your mind and not heart; be intellectual and not emotional while taking the most important decisions in your life.’ ‘Do not do the opposite of something we tell you, just to satisfy your ego and land up messing your life.’ ‘Think peacefully and act thoughtfully.’ ‘At the end, you marry the guy you love, even though it is an arranged marriage; don’t think your family is forcing up on you.’ Nakul closed on a humorous note, ‘But please Chitti, select a groom soon, because Natasha and I can’t wait any longer” “If not Revanth then some other guy of your choice; but please select at the earliest.’ Spandana seemed to be impressed with her brother’s wisdom and at the same time was pressurized by the time constraint set by him. She however replied, ‘Aha, I can see that you cannot stay away from Natasha any longer...Ok Anna, will give it a shot for you, shall meet Revanth, but will marry him only if I like him.’ Nakul felt relieved and proud that he had done the job without any mess and said, ‘Deal!, that’s like my sweet sister, ok let us now finish the lunch soon and go home, we have interesting movies on TV this evening.’ Revanth meets Spandana: Nakul informed her sister’s approval to his mother and her excitement knew no bounds. She immediately called Devaki fearing her daughter might change her mind. ‘Haiiii Devaki, Ratna here’ said a thrilled Ratna with a shrill. Devaki replied from the other end, ‘Oh Hi Ratna, you seem overexcited, what is the matter?’ Ratna an swered ‘I wanted to let you know that the horoscopes matched and Spandana is also eager to meet Revanth’, although it was a different matter that Spandana had agreed to meet him more out of pressure than interest. Devaki was pleased and said, ‘That’s great! Shall we then come today evening?’ Ratna froze and Devaki got worried since several seconds had passed without a reply and asked in an anxious tone, ‘Ratna are you there? You fine?’ Ratna replied, ‘Oh sorry Devaki I had gone blank, since didn’t expect you to come this soon, you are all very welcome. What time is it convenient for you all?’ Devaki said, ‘See you at 5pm...Ratna, I have to keep the phone, curry on the stove is charring, will go, bye for now.’ Ratna had several arrangements to make, which Spandana considered a ritual than a symbol of reverence. She called Ramesh and said, ‘Mani garu and family are expected this evening to see Spandana, can you please get some snacks from shop as I am going out to buy a saree for Devaki since your sister is visiting us and that too after a long time.’ They both left after brunch. Spandana woke up very late since it was Sunday and freshened up. She wondered where her parents had gone andguessed her brother went to meet herfuture sister in law. She then called her mother who narrated what had happened. Spandana huffed but thought that it is better to get done with this match quickly and hence didn’t think of any excuse; instead she ate lunch to the fullest while lis tening to her favorite Ilayaraja and Rahman collection. The ghee laden food made her feel drowsy, so she went to her room to take a small nap. Ratna arrived half an hour later and woke up Spandana saying, ‘Chitti you better start getting ready as it is almost 4:30.’ Spandana woke up and asked ‘where is dad?’ Ratna said impatiently, ‘Dad is downstairs talking to someone on phone, get up from the bed now and get ready dear.’ Spandana jumped from her bed, got re freshed and went into the kitchen to help her mom set the snack tray for guests. It was 5:15 in the evening when the doorbell rang; Spandana sprang into her room from kitchen as Devaki arrived along with her husband and two sons. Ramesh gave them a warm welcome down stairs while Devaki came down to the entrance door to receive them. They made themselves comfortable in the large hall of the three bed room apartment. Devaki then said, ‘Thanks Ramesh and Ratna, Mani and I consid er Spandana as our daughter and would be extremely pleased if she comes home as Revanth’s wife. Saying this, I however do not want to pressurize the young ones. Let them talk to one another and get to know more about each other before they give their nod.’ Ratna then excused herself from them and went into the kitchen to get the tray filled with various food items and filter coffee. She served the guests and went inside Spandana’s room to see if she needed any help with the final touches. In the meantime, Devaki was engrossed in the wall paintings that Ratna painted, Mani and Ramesh were engaged in a serious conversation probably on their favourite topic- politics and Revanth and Rishi were gazing at each other not knowing what else to do seated amongst elders. Spandana walked with her head down behind her mother. Ratna sat beside her daughter facing Revanth and Rishi. Spandana was cursing in her mind, ‘Do I have to do this, Gosh! It feels so odd, now have to converse with an acquaintance as if he were a stranger.’ Devaki guffawed saying, ‘We need not introduce ourselves! Why don’t we give Revanth and Spandana some privacy? Do you want to talk with one another here or go out somewhere?’ Spandana was glad that her aunt was jovial and liberal at this age too, quite opposite to her serious and orthodox mother. She was tongue tied and so was Revanth. Devaki realized what might be going on in their minds and she quickly added, ‘Ok, I think you both can talk in the balcony, it is cool out there and you can interact more freely, what say?’ Ratna guided both the boy and girl into the balcony and got back to the hall. Revanth and Spandanahad known each other as relatives. They had spoken to one another several times in the past, but this meeting was altogether a different one in that it demanded a rational intimacy that could un ravel a totally new relationship. Spandana was looking drop dead gorgeous in a pink lehanga with her silky soft tresses waving in the pleasant evening breeze. Revanth couldn’t take his eyes of his pretty cousin who had prob ably reserved her beauty for this special moment. For the first time he had started to notice the features of this dusky beauty from a different angle. He seemed to have smitten by her natural magnificence. Spandana was too coy to look into Revanth’s charm ing face, although she had wanted to. Revanth managed to open a conversation, ‘Hi Spandana, how have u been?’ Spandana had to now look into Revanth’s face to answer his question but was left baffled as her almond like eyes met the tiger like majestic eyes of Revanth and she immediately shifted her glance and answered, ‘I am fine Revanth, how about you?’ Revanth replied, ‘I am doing great...working here as a project lead at an MNC.’ The conversation started to ease as both of them smiled while discussing each other’s hobbies, likes and dislikes. Ratna who was seated in the corner of the sofa, turned back her head and glanced in to the balcony. She radiated like a 1000 watt bulb seeing the scene. Ratna immediately informed Devaki, ‘Seems like they like each other, hope they do’ Devaki responded, ‘Oho Ratna, why are you getting anxious, cool down. Both of them are not kids any more, have patience.’ Revanth couldn’t stop talking to Spandana, with all the momentum he had gained in the last half an hour. The elders seated in the hall were like, ‘What are these people doing?’; and a prompt reply came ‘hehe....They seem be rewinding all these years experiences’ Devaki got up, went tothebalcony andsaid, ‘Hey Revanth, why don’t we start home, you and Spandana can talk further in the coming days.’ Revanth gave a shy smile to his mother and giving his business card to Spandana he said, ‘Ok then, will have to leave now, we shall continue our talk on phone tonight.’ Spandana seemed to have been impressed by ravishing Rev and replied with a smiling ok. They both waved bye to each other while the rest of the family beamed and gestured the same and conceived this was there to stay. "Love Story 2012" Spandana couldn’t get over Revanth and the same was the case with Revanth. Was it just an infatuation or the beginning of what’s known as true love? Whatever it might be, it was for sure going to be the herald of a new love story. The coming weeks saw both love birds staying in instant and constant touch with all possible means. The verdict is out: Several weeks had passed and after seeing each other for six months both Spandana and Revanth thought to let their families know their decision and not keep them waiting any more. Both of them announced each other’s approval much to their families delight. All were very much excited, but Ratna and Nakul were happier for their ownreasons. Ratna was relieved that her daughter’s marriage responsibility was fulfilled and Nakul was glad that his line was clear and he could soon announce his marriage plans with Natasha after getting his sister mar ried as per their tradition. Revanth had to go to London for a period of six months in view of his assignment. Time quickly passed and he got back to India. It was Spandana’s 28th birthday the coming day and no guesses that Revanth called her dot 12 AM to wish her. Her parents went to bed early and her brother kept knocking her bedroom door to wish her and got a cake. Spandana opened the door and asked, ‘What’s the matter anna?’ Nakul hugged his sis ter while she hung the call and wished her on the special occasion. She reciprocated ‘Thank you so much, wait a sec I am talking to err....’ Her brother knew the stammer meant she wasinline with none other than Revanth and said ‘No worries sis, talk to him, I shall get back in a cou ple of minutes.’ Revanth could hear the other side conversation and said, ‘Hey sorry, you need to celebrate at home too, carry on; talk to you later sweety!’ The last word took the breath away from the demure birthday girl, who closed the call with a soft thanks. She went into the hall where her brother was waiting with the cake along with half- slept parents. Spandana bit her tongue and said, ‘Sorry, did I keep you waiting for too long?’ They wished her in unison a very Happy Birthday and got going with the celebration. Nakul smashed a cake piece on his sister’s face and she obviously didn’t keep quiet and did the same and both of them brought the house down. Nakul presented his sister with an iPhone, but he knew that the most expensive gift in his sister’s eyes this time would be that from his would be brother in law. She however loved her brother’s gift and gave him a bear hug. Ramesh and Ratna went back to sleep and the children too went into their rooms. It was already 1 AM and Spandana didn’t want to call back and disturb Revanth at this hour, so she texted him, ‘Shall call you tomorrow morning before leaving for work, as I thought not to disturb you, you know, thanks for being the first to wish me.’ Little did she real ize that Revanth was still awake waiting for her call, he immediately called her on reading her message. Revanth: ‘Hello Birthday girl, so how is it goin?’ Spandana: ‘Had a nice one, cut a cake, Nakul gave me an iPhone, yippy!!’ Revanth: ‘That’s cool, I too have something special for you, any guess?’ Spandana replied, ‘Hmm, nope, but for sure not a diamond or golden necklace, cause I do not have a fetish for jewels.’ Revanth said, ‘Okay, definitely something that you are going to love above all, just wait for tomorrow.’ Spandana was feeling sleepy and said, ‘I am feeling sleepy, can I talk to you tomorrow.’ Revanth said, ‘ok Jigs, u must be tired, wait for my gift.’ Spandana’s sleep vanished on hearing ‘jigs’ and ex claimed ‘Jigs!’ Revanth said, ‘Ya, you are close to my heart, aren’t you? And Spandana was overwhelmed and replied, ‘Hmm....If I am your jigs, you are my jaan (life), Okay good night jaan, muah!’ Revanth was lost in thoughts about the virtual lively kiss and thought how much more exciting it would have been had it been a real one, and soon got back to slumber with sweet dreams. 

ROMANCE CONTINUED: 

The next day Spandana was about to leave for office when she saw a huge packet before her apartment door. She was initially petrified thinking it to be a bomb, but quickly realized it’s a gift on seeing the wrap and the Happy Birthday sticker pasted on the wrap. She took the huge packet inside, more by dragging it rather than carrying since it was very big. As she opened the wrap, her eyes were laden with tear drops seeing a cute pink teddy bear and a birthday card attached to it written, ‘To Jigs, yours Jaan.’ The Teddy’s lap had two boxes which on opening contained an elegant wrist watch and an iPad. Spandana was crying out of joy. She had never received such birthday gifts, that too from two most important men in her life. She started to cuddle and kiss the bear and thought that she always wanted to be gifted with teddies but was never since she had no lover before, but now Revanth was her lover and she said aloud, ‘I love you and thank you Revanth- my love and my hubby to be.’ She immediately called him but couldn’t reach him and so she left a message, ‘Hey Jaan, you not only made my day but also made my life, so memorable and beautiful; I love you and thank u sweet heart.’ Spandana left for office and received a call post lunch, ‘Hey girl....so loved my gifts haa....If I am not wrong u must have kissed and hugged the bear multiple times, but when will you give me one’ Spandana’s cheeks went pink and shyly said, ‘You seem to be in a hurry, wait until we get married, at least half married’ Revanth couldn’t understand, ‘What is half married?’ Spandana enlightened him saying, ‘Arre buddhu, it means engaged....hehe, hey I will have to resume my work....shall call at night after getting back from office.’ It is no surprise to find those who are going to get married speaking endlessly for hours together on mobile phone, God save their ears and brain too.’ “All is well that ends well” Spandana remorsed losing her one sided love Rajiv, but at the end she is happy to have discovered her soulmate Revanth. Is Revanth’s and Spandana’s marriage a love or an arranged one? They were probably arranged to be in love. It does not matter, since they are happily bonded. Marriages are fixed as per the laws of destiny. It is just that the right groom arrives at the apt time. Searching for the right one might take just few days or drag on for several years, but hang on until the right person is found, and this wait surely won’t disappoint. Good luck to those who are in pursuit of their life partners and lucky are those who have made right choices!