… And *That* Is My “Perfect” Guy!
Image: iStock
Hanging out in a coffee shop, exchanging stories of my heartbreak with my friends, I wondered if there was any truth in the phrase, “Jodiyan upar se banke aati hain’ (Marriages are made in heaven). You see, so far, everyone in our group had been a victim of bad luck in the romantic department. Someone’s tinder date went sour, someone’s boyfriend of a couple of years refused to commit. And, yours truly suffered a fate worse than that, I couldn’t find anyone who would be courageous enough to date me.
I had always been lucky enough to be surrounded by a huge circle of friends. Being a part of such a large circle made it easy for me to find the company to do the things that I wanted to do. So be it catching a show of the latest movie or going on that long trek, I always had options. However, this was about to change soon.
Be In A Pair Or Be Square!
Since we all had been together since high school, we all had been privy to each other’s firsts. Our first cigarette, first crush, first school bunk, and of course, first girlfriend/boyfriend. However, I soon began to notice a pattern, a lot of my friends had started dating and it was as if, they had migrated to a new planet. I no longer felt any connection with any of them nor did they. I would thank my stars if I could manage to have a coffee-catch-up session with any of them. Dating is a busy business, you see. One of my closest friends, Sneha, suggested it was time for me to hop on the dating bandwagon. “I wonder why you haven’t done this already?” she asked after a few sips of coffee and over the non-stop pings of WhatsApp. “I never felt the need to,” I replied, annoyed by those pings. “Never felt the need to or never bothered to find anyone?” she shot back. It was true, I never really felt the lack of an active love-life and therefore, never went looking for a partner actively. But now, I had enough of my non-active social life. So, I decided to change that.
I Kissed A Lot Of Frogs But Didn’t Find My Prince
Being in an all-girls college had really limited my options, so I decided to seek the help of the internet. All those stray comments on my Facebook profile picture, that I used to ignore, became the hunting grounds for my potential dating partner. I would see who had commented on my picture and then do a careful and meticulous sweep of each profile to find out whether he was taken, or whether he was just a habitual commenter or genuinely interested in me. Last, but not the least, whether he liked Bhai’s movies (this was a strict no-no, a deal-breaker for me). All these efforts bore no fruits. Most of these led to late-night conversations but somewhere all of them fizzled out. All this proved too stressful for me and I decided to take a break and let things be.
And He Was Right There
Since I had given up dating for a while, the only source of romance for me was the rom-coms that I religiously watched on Netflix. Once, during a similar late-night movie session, between mouthfuls of popcorn and eyeful of Hugh Grant, I noticed my phone buzzing in a corner. It was Nishant, my school friend. “Why is he calling me this late?”, I wondered. I picked up my phone. “Hey, kaisi hai?” the voice on the other end asked. I was taken aback by the warmth in it, “I am doing well, how are you? Aaj meri yaad kaise aa gayi?”, I playfully asked. The conversation went on for several minutes during which I learned that he had completed his semester abroad and was back in the city to complete his last semester. We made a plan to catch-up the next day.
Soon, these outings became a common routine, we would meet after classes and plan to eat at newly discovered food joints or watch a play. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find him confess his feelings for me and it didn’t take long for me to tell him that it was mutual. And, that’s how I found my perfect guy!
Even in my wildest dreams, I had never imagined that love could be as simple as this. He was my friend, my partner in crime. I never felt the need to censor myself in front of him. While everyone has different notions of love, most of us agree over this thing – our partner should love us for who we are. This came naturally to him. What’s more, he made me want to be a better person. So, he might not have been perfect, but he became perfect for me. I had found “my person” right when I had stopped looking for him. That jodiyan thing definitely had some truth to it. If you have had any similar experiences, do share them in the comments below.
