Matchmaking meets - My tale !

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Most of the people I call these days either begin the conversation asking "Is there a good news ?/When are you getting hitched ?" or the conversation after exchanging pleasantries converges to this. Even the regular taxpayers visiting my office started offering free advice saying it's "the age" to get married. After a long period of inauspicious days, I decided to start with the process, given its complexity and the time it can take. I've seen a meme or something on the internet that said "Arranged marriage is like Tinder but the main difference is that our parents do the swiping."

It was on a Wednesday that I was told about the meeting. The girl's father was informed over phone that we would like to meet and he agreed to do it on the coming Saturday. The venue and time were to be decided later and informed. There was no phone call till Friday evening. I was hoping that I don't have to take a two hour bus ride in the summer heat to and fro Hyderabad. It could also be that the girl's side weren't interested. After 9 pm, we received a call saying that the plan was still on. And to our utter surprise, the venue was a temple and the timing was fixed at 10:30 am. Well, everything has to be auspicious right ! Being the punctual guy, my dad made us hurry up and catch the 8 am bus to Hyderabad and we reached the venue by 10:20 am. 

After circumambulating and finding a place to sit, we settled down and were waiting for the girl's side to come. We were informed that they'd be late by 20-30 minutes. Given the fact that we could do nothing, we just sat and started chit-chatting. The temple staff shifted us thrice citing reasons that we are in the deity's line of view, the floor has to be mopped and citing that one must not lean against the pillars. One hour passed and the staff were curious as to why we were simply sitting. None of us looked so pious. The girl's family was stuck in traffic. We were stuck at the temple. And at 11:40 am, we were asked to sit separately. The men had to sit in one part of the temple and the women on the other. The straight line view of the deity was not to be disturbed. So we had to adjust our bodies in whatever place we got. Mumbai's Local Trains might have been better. By the time the girl's family had come, the aarti had begun. You can't budge during that time and also listen to it till the end. If you stand near an overenthusiastic devotee with a horrible voice, you get an additional perk of enduring his singing prowess. The ordeal ended at 12:20 pm and we finally met. 

The temple's seating had its influence on the people. The menfolk started conversing and boasting about the number of relatives each knew. The women were talking about something that no modern decrypting techniques could decipher. My brother and I were perplexed and were waiting for them to talk business. Wisdom happened after 15 minutes and I was asked to talk to the girl in "private" (inside a crowded temple). Irony laughed a thousand times at my misery. When we walked towards the alley near exit gate, a lady asked us to walk out and the crowd overpowered our inertia. We walked back to the entry and a guy looking at my hungry face said that the Annadanam (free food) program was upstairs. I face-palmed but managed to keep a poker face and proceeded to the entrance. As we started talking, the staff lady was staring at me as if I was doing something blasphemous. I had to sit at another corner and finally start talking to the girl. The staff lady soon realized the reason why I had come and out of pity, went on to mind her business. A quick 10 minute conversation about the most mundane things is what had happened thereafter. And we dispersed. I was relieved that my parents didn't ask me to tell if I felt she was the one. They just took this to be an ice breaking session. 

The best part of the meet is that I could go hog a burger from one of my favourite joints  for lunch before I embarked on my return journey. This proposal however didn't materialize and I can save myself from writing a sequel. 

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