Encaged

I welcome myself back to the blogging world. Well, it has been quite some time (around 14 months) since I took this... break. I decided to call it a break, and not a breather, since otherwise I would have to call it a deep breather.

So, what took me so long? Was my life so boring that nothing could be reported in the past 14 months? Well, on the contrary, the last few months have been so eventful, that I really couldnt put that all down on digital paper. Secondly, my company has blocked access to post anything to the blog site. Next excuse: I was practising... my art of procrastination. Bet you didnt know this: procrastination is a modern art. It could have been an ancient art, but those guys kept delaying it. Heheh. ;-)

And now to the main reason of why I couldnt blog. Because sometimes words just arent enough to express a feeling. Its one of those feelings - how did it happen? And so fast? And to me? Hold on... lets see what happened, in chronological order.

August 22nd, 2008:
I was at onsite, and was packing my bags to get back home, having convinced my manager and more importantly, myself, that the time had come for me to put more interest in my personal life rather than my professional career. As my parents would call it, I was coming to India to look for suitable brides.

August 24th, 2008:
I land in Cochin Airport in the morning, get home, and am told that I already have an appointment that day. In the afternoon, I am quite groggy because of the jet lag, or perhaps we should call it jet lead, since I had returned from onsite. Anyway, I was prompted to action, and having washed my face, I readied myself to the visit.

We took a taxi to get to the girl's place. I got to know later that I had hardly bothered to even comb my hair. We got welcomed inside the house. Quite a lot of people were giving directions, and someone pointed me to a plastic chair. Since I saw that there were quite a lot of elders in the vicinity, I didnt try to act otherwise. I got to know later that this was taken as a show of humility. Hah, little arrogant me, being seen as a humble person! After some boring chit chat, they called for the heroine to come to the scene. And when she emerged from the room, the earth suddenly screeched to a stop. Or was that just my heart pounding? "Boy! She is beautiful!!" was all I could think to myself. She looked much pretty than in the photograph that they had shared with me earlier - the worst of hers I have seen till date. We didnt speak much, rather, at all, in front of others. Then, having been asked to have some tea and snacks, we were led to the adjoining dining room. Soon, we were left alone. I think, in the next few minutes, I had come to the conclusion that this was the most good-natured, god-fearing, shy and beautiful girl I had ever met in my life. Later, this dialog came to my mind: "Main to samajhta tha ki bhagwan ne aisi ladkiya banaana hi bandh kar diya tha." Translation: I used to think that God had stopped creating such girls. This thought was primarily because of her shyness. During the course of this discussion, I honestly dont remember what we talked about, but I do remember that she gave me a few smiling glimpses.

When we returned home that day, we didnt talk much about this event. Next day, my mom asked me. Although I did like her very much, I gave myself a few minutes since if I said yes, it would mean that there was no looking back. Leading the life of a married man is a life of responsibility. Till now, I didnt have to support anybody on my own. Now, life would be about 2 individuals supporting each other. Eventually, I decided to respond in the affirmative, as I had myself believed that this was the right thing to do.

The rest, as they say, is history. Relatives of the girl came over to visit our house. And on that day, the engagement date of October 26th, 2008 and the marriage data of March 22nd, 2009 were fixed. Few days later, when I went to Bangalore to resume my official duties, my parents accompanied my relatives to the girl's house, as was the custom.

Before I left to Bangalore, I called her up on the phone one day. She was quite tense then, since it was the first time for her as well. In due time, we learnt to relax and talk our hearts and minds out. Initially, I was adamant that marriage should take place only at least 6 months after we met each other. This was so that we get to know each other well before we got into a committed state. But in time, we found that this was a bit too long. I used to come to our hometown every weekend. She would wait at a pre-decided place in the heart of the city. We would then spend time having ice-cream, going for a movie, having lunch, walking, motor-cycling, travelling in an auto-rickshaw, visiting the museum, the palace, the zoo, the art gallery, the dam... we were running out of places available in our small hometown. Before we got married, I also bought a car and we drove together once around town. All those days will still be cherised dearly by us.

Now, it has been a year since our engagement, and our love (the feeling I mentioned as hard to express) for each other has only increased every day. Anju, I love you a lot. :-)

I usually consider myself unlucky for the small things in life: like waiting in line to buy a ticket, and the counter being closed as soon as I get to it. But, I consider myself lucky for the large things in life: my family, my friends, hey, even my sometimes lousy job. And now, I thank God for giving me such a lovely wife. Good nature and beauty is a difficult combination to get, and she has loads of both. I just wish I can be as good a husband to her, as she is a good wife to me.

I wish us a happy and prosperous life ahead.