This ‘thing’ called love

It’s not every day that you find the love of your life. Though many may disagree with the statement, it sort of holds good for the majority.

My life too seemed to go through this phase a couple of times. These were times when I as an individual felt deeply attracted to a person of the opposite sex.

This, I later found out the hard way, was nothing more than a simple infatuation for the simple reason that my feelings for the same girl would change after a couple of months or even days in certain cases.

Notwithstanding, I continued to allow these feelings to creep in and out and was quite content with the state of affairs.

Things sort of took a turn when I encountered this phenomenon called maturity.

It was like a clean-up session within my heart and brain wherein I learnt that these feelings/infatuations were something that were a part of my teenage and that at my age, I need to either live a single, carefree life or look for that special someone with whom I could possible live the rest of my life.

It was all hunky dory till I reached an age when this deadly virus called marriage started coming into the picture.

Friends and family were getting hitched and it was sort of scary. I too was fast approaching the ‘marriageable age’ and for obvious reasons, I had to decide what I wanted from life.

As my star suggests, we scorpions are meant to be passionate and caring lovers who have that extra ounce of possessiveness when it comes to our partners.

In my case however, I never seemed to have the passion nor did I have a partner to shower her with love and care.

These issues never bothered me. I seemed to be pretty cool about the whole thing and just wanted to experience life as it came.

But again, I was a man at the end of the day and cravings for love or to be loved were bound to come back. I did not have anything against an arranged marriage but always dreamt to falling in love and getting married to that perfect someone.

Maybe it was frustration or loneliness, I cannot be very sure, but I signed up on this very promising website that seemed to be created for people like me who did not completely believe in the traditional rituals of an arranged marriage.

The signing in was simple. Key in your personal details, mention your likes and dislikes, state what you want from a partner and some more related information. Oh and yes, the most important  piece of information, a photograph.

The process was simple, based on the information that you provide, the website pulls out like minded profiles from the opposite sex and lists them down for you to select. If you like the profile, you say like. If you don’t, then just ignore.

Privacy and confidentiality of your selection was maintained at all times and the other person would never know that you liked their profile unless and until they reciprocated the interest.

I think I was sort of lucky since I managed to pull up quite a large number of matches. Not that these matches meant anything but for a guy, its motivating.

The initial set of messages and greetings would be exchanged but further to that nothing seemed to happen.

And then the magic happened. I was matched with a profile of this one girl who seemed to be pretty good to be true. Her interests were exactly what I was looking for. She looked pretty, did a lot of writing (which by the way for me was a major turn on) and in general seemed to be a perfect match.

In this case too, we started off with the usual hi hello business but there seemed to be a spark. We sort of clicked. It didn't take time for us to share our numbers with each other and then move on to an easier way of staying in touch – Whatsapp!

From here the situation only seemed to bloom with both of us getting to know each other better and with time, we became pretty close.

Since this was not a fairytale story, the twists and drama were bound to make an entry into our otherwise happy relationship.

The parents of the girl in question were already on the lookout for a suitable match and our little relationship could not take shape since we had not even seen each other in person. With 21^st century technology in place, the most we could do was get a glimpse of each other on Skype but that was it.

With time running out and nothing working, like any other relationship, we began to drift. Now, I'm not implying that we stopped liking each other but the pressure of marriage for the girl and the fact that we were located on two different continents posed a concern.

We still spoke. We still tried our best to maintain whatever it was that we had and basically we kept our hopes high.

To make things a whole lot more complicated, I declared to her that I was falling in love and that I had to make this work. Call it her denial or simple logical thinking, she hesitated to reciprocate.

We had decided a long time ago that we would not date since we were both unsure of where this would lead and were both equally afraid of a heartbreak at the end if things did not work the way we wanted it to.

It wasn't until recently that she too, in all our little chats, sort of admitted that somewhere between all this caring, she had also fallen in love with me.

Normally, I would have jumped with joy on hearing something like this but here I was, thinking of what to do next.

It was like I was in some sort of complex ‘Math Olympiad’ where I was required to solve an impossible equation if I needed to clear the round.

All said and done, at present, we still chat, we still try and console each other and still have this hope within hope that something will work out.

Strangely enough, the fact that to make a relationship a reality, both people must at least see each other in person and spend some time together, has not yet been worked out.

Since time is not our best suit, things are a little tricky. But when it comes to love, logic doesn't seem to have any value.

How things shape up from here are yet to be seen and experienced. For now, it’s this ‘thing’ called love that’s holding us together.

The Lankan Diaries

Its not very often that opportunities like these knock at your doorstep, inviting you to embark on a journey this exciting.

Two days into my new job and off I go, on an all expense paid trip, with friends, family and colleagues, courtesy my company, to a tropical destination, Sri Lanka.

The year certainly started off with a bang for me. While the getting-a-new-job scene happened last year, it was the post joining journey that was so exciting.

I walked into my office, all excited about starting afresh and hoping that things would be smooth sailing from here on.

One day in and I hear talks and whispers about a company retreat. A trip that the company sends its employees on, every two years. Of-course with me just about finishing the joining formalities and waiting for my work visa to get stamped on my passport, the possibilities of being able to make the trip were pretty grim.

Plus the head count was finalized, the hotel bookings were made and all other related travel arrangements had been done prior to my joining and hence I did not, in the least, think I would be a part of this wonderful journey.

It was the tragic death of one of my colleagues' mother in law that had the office admin in a spin.

This particular person was to travel with his wife, two children and parents. A total of 6 six seats, fell vacant just two days before the trip date.

It was chaos in office as cancellation of the additional seats would mean a hefty loss to the company and so all efforts were being made to fill the void.

And in I came. I was promptly popped the question of weather or not I would be interested in joining the others, to which I too, in almost perfect sync, said yes.

The next question was, how in the world was I supposed to go on a company retreat without even getting my visa stamped?!. The process was sped up, HR guys were at the immigration all night trying to figure out my case and get me through and basically all efforts were being made to sort of break a world record for fastest visa stamped. To keep things short, I got my visa stamped just the day prior to departure.

I packed my bags the previous night, which again was a mess because obviously I was not prepared for a trip like this. Luckily being a man had its advantages. A pair of jeans, shorts for the beach, a couple of inners and a few of my peppy looking t-shirts and I was good to go.

We arrived early at the airport, everyone eager to just leave the country and work behind for a few days.

Like any other group trip, this one too was filled with people showing their love for group-selfies and what not using all the latest gadgetry.

Less be told, the next thing we knew was the air-hostess asking us to keep our chairs in the up-right position and lift the window shades as we were preparing to land.

It was about 3:30 AM, local time. We finished with the airport formalities and walked out to breathe some Lankan air. Those who felt starved for nicotine, ran out to light up. The rest, just stood by with drowsy eyes, wondering what was planned next.

A guide then asked us to board the coach that would take us to our hotel in a place called Hikkaduwa, which we were told, was about 5 hours from the airport.

We were also told that we would be stopping by for breakfast, water sports for those interested and also a visit to the turtle hatchery were sea turtles were rescued and bred to be released back into the ocean once they were deemed fit.

It was around 1:00 PM that we finally reached our hotel. The warm and rather friendly hotel staff guided us for check-in. We were allotted our respective rooms and before we could even think about crashing in bed, the next announcement was made. Lunch in 15 mins. Post which we were supposed to go visit a local fort site.

The lunch was eventful with the restaurant constantly giving me that Goan shack feel. A similar sea view, the breeze from the beach, the sand on my feet and yes, a beer in my hand. It felt like I was back home on vacation!.

The trip to the local fort wasn't so exciting, more so because everyone was almost drained. The long flight, the bus trip, the water sports, turtles, and lunch. All that everyone wanted was to crash for the night and wake up fresh for the next day.

I must mention though that the fort was very well maintained. Unlike in India where one would expect to find paan stains on the wall and declarations of love on every other corner, this place was kept at its original best. No litter on the ground and no local kids playing cricket in the compound.

We did notice the fair share of love birds perched here and there but again, this being a tourist destination, nobody seemed to really care.

With the trip completed for Day-1, we had an early meal and went to bed.

We woke up early to hit the beach and have some fun before we could head out for our day's activities which mainly comprised of a jungle safari.

The safari now, was not as we expected. To be honest, it was nothing like we had expected. Apart from spotting a few baby elephants every now and then, some rather malnutritioned versions of a cow and some crocodiles that looked like they were carved out of plastic and placed in water, there was nothing.

This perhaps was the only let down in an otherwise exciting and fun filled trip. We stopped for some chai and then headed back to base camp, our hotel.

This time around, the energy levels were still at an optimum and so we played some beach volleyball, sat around and sipped on some chilled beer and played some rather childish games which again seemed like a lot of fun since were in such a large group.

It was around 2:00 AM when we finally decided to call it a night and retreat back to our rooms. The next day, which was the last, was supposed to accommodate some more fun activities.

Day-3, like the other two, began in the morning with a dip in the beach. Post breakfast, we headed to a diving centre where we would be taken mid sea for a 20-30 metres dive to see some live corals and underwater life.

This was again quite interesting and exciting but also a little scary. I had done this sort of thing long back but then again, I was a kid and probably hadn't been on a dive so deep.

With the basic training being imparted, and the trainer feeling confident, we set out to sea.

I was amongst the first few who got to dive, the experience was overwhelming. It was a sight that I had missed since being in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The live corals, the colourful fish and the brilliant sea life. It was like an adrenaline rush 30 metres under water.

With everyone finishing off with their share of the dive, we headed back to shore for some lunch.

The same restaurant was chosen as a result of a popularity vote and hence we went back in, had our meals and then went back to the hotel.

Time was running short. we had to pack up, head out and reach the airport for our departure.

The trip was tiring but nobody wanted to go back. The thought of seeing that office desk, the projects, the site, the meetings, it was something we had completely forgotten about in these few days.

To keep the spirits high, and to make the bus trip a little more lively, we had a sort of sing song competition going , with everyone just screaming their lungs out in an attempt to sing the best they could. It wasn't particularly pleasing to the ears but heck, we were having a good time anyways!

Before we knew it it was time for check-in and boarding. With heavy feet, we walked to our seats, fastened our seat belts and pulled out that eye mask in an attempt to close our eyes one more time before we woke up to the reality of an 8 to 5 job.

The trip was awesome. Something that I would remember, particularly because of the way I got in.

As for now, I need to head downstairs for my next weekly site progress meeting. *sign*.