June 5th, 2010. One lazy Saturday afternoon.
There I was sitting in an Italian cafe with my friends when I got an email from a guy. He gave a brief formal introduction and asked me to let him know when it would be a good time to call. I thought well, yet another dude my folks want me to 'get to know'. This would all be forgotten in a few days like the others I thought. I replied, told him to call whenever. Turned off the phone browser and forgot about it. Whatever!
Later that evening.
I got a call from an ISD number. I picked up and it was the same 'Dude from Singapore' who'd emailed earlier. Well I wasn't doing anything more interesting, so I settled down to what I thought will be another talk where I'd secretly cringe at every grammatical mistake the guy would make. Boy was I in for a rude shock.
The guy on the other end was pleasant and easy to talk to. So well, me being the big mouth got reallllly talking in a while. What surprised me was that this guy could talk more than me!! Good start I thought. To make a long story short when I hung up I realized two things. I hadn't laughed so much in a long time. And I FORGOT DINNER!! I NEVER forget dinner!!! Damn you Arun Sundaram.
The next day.
I dint have any expectations from the previous day's conversation. Though it hung around in my head longer than usual. When I went online, he was there. We again got talking and all I can remember of that conversation was that my net kept snapping every 2 mins. Now normally that would cause people on the other end to get frustrated and tell me to take a hike. But, this one called. I mean we both know we we weren't required to talk more than once in say a week and then tell our folks it wasn't working out. That's how arranged marriages work (or rather don't). But when he called and we spoke I felt like I was really connecting to a long lost friend.
Wait a minute. What the hell was I doing? Opening up to a complete stranger? This is usually the place where I sense something like a relationship forming, and freak out and run for the hills. I was definitely not running. Or even walking in the hill direction.
Every other day after that.
I'm on the way to work, we talk. Coffee time in the evening at work, we talk. Later at night, we talk. Our folks had no clue about how much we were bonding, so no pressure. He drew me like a moth to a flame with his charm.
June 15th, late evening.
Chennai, at the home of his folks.
I was nervous as hell. Our folks finally realized we'd been talking and things were so far so good. So they decided to meet up. This was the very 1st time I was meeting a guy's folks (and definitely not before I met the guy!). It was a great evening. Things went really well and everyone ended up loving everyone.
Needless to say me and him realized that night that things had gotten serious. Was I scared or jittery? Surprisingly the answer was no :) I was loving it!
Was this now a relationship? Or was it some situation where I just happen to get along with a 'suitable boy'. It was definitely not option 2. Never once during this whole thing did i take out my imaginary check list of 'The things I'm looking for in the perfect guy'. In fact I threw away the damned list. It was crazy how we had nothing in common, but somehow connected on almost everything.
July 2nd, Friday.
As it so happened he'd just taken a long vacation before we got taking. So he wouldn't be able to take days off anytime soon. We'd been talking for nearly a month and things were in a place where you cant get ahead nor could we just sit around and pretend nothing was happening. So this is what he did. He flew in on a Friday night. Crashed with his friend in Bangalore and we planned to spend the Saturday together before he flew back on Saturday night.
July 3rd, Saturday, early that morning.
His friend's place. I sat with my dad in his friend's living room as we waited for for him to get ready. The friend and his wife were really nice and kept us entertained as I was nervous as hell inside. It was the point of no return. The whole phone thing seemed like a distant dream. I could only hope and pray that the amazing guy I spoke to would be exactly the same as the one who was going to walk out of that room. And then he entered. He looked so bloody handsome. He shook my dad's hand politely and then looked at me. As he shook my hand he said "You're real!". And that was the 1st thing Mr Arun Sundaram ever told me face to face.
As we drove back to my place he was getting along really well with my dad. And strangely that made me very happy. When we got home, my mom had prepared a huge yummy spread for breakfast. He simply loved the food. And I love men who love their food. :)
After breakfast, we got into a cab and we were finally alone. There was absolutely no awkwardness and we got along like a house on fire. We went to the same Italian place for coffee and we got talking.
After a while gave me a broad grin and said. "I'm just totally in love with you so the ball's in your court now". After jumping with joy internally, I thought well seems like its the last time I'll get to act all pricey so I said "Well, we have the whole day so lets not be hasty".
The chemistry was just mind blowing. It was amazing watching him as he spoke passionately about the things he loved doing.It was better than anything I'd imagined it to be. Looking into his eyes I realized, everything I had craved for all my life was right here. Crap, this was IT. This was THE ONE. Yay! :)
I gave him the belated birthday gift that I'd got him, a tie. He seemed to really like it. We then headed off for lunch in a quaint place with tables in a garden. The food was good and it rained a little. Sitting with him under the canopy of a giant umbrella eating lunch was just like magic. We got a lot closer as we headed back home and even took a few goofy pics on the ride back home.
When we got home we both pretty much knew what I was going to say. Still we spent hours talking. Just before sunset I took him to my favorite place in my house. On the terrace, on top of my tank. The view was amazing, the sun setting over a large stretch of the city. It was then he put his arm around me and asked me "Will you marry me?" I said "Yeah ok!". Life had just gotten perfecter than I'd ever dreamed it would. the rest of the day passed in a frenzy of happy parents and uncles and aunts until it was time for him to leave. I went with my dad to the airport to drop him off. It was the hardest goodbye of my life.
July 31st,
Yet another trip to India. This time 3 whole days of pure unadulterated bliss. The moment I'll always treasure was this: The light drizzle, cold winds, me and him sitting on the side of a pool on a bench in a resort. We're having our first serious talk and he reaches in and pulls out the loveliest necklace ever. And again, asked me to be his wife. :)
September 5th,
On stage, before all our family and friends. We exchanged rings, and got officially engaged.
Well, its been the best 3 and a half months of my life so far. I totalllly love being in love. Its going to be happily ever after I hope. So is the girl who used to suffer from severe acute commitment phobia worried? Nope, when you know you've met 'The One' you cant wait for the rest of your life to start!!
