Important Note “This story is a creative fiction, not connected to any real life people.”
“Mam, I want to get married at the earliest, can you help?” Rohit said and put me on desk into silent mode.
“Has he lost his mind?” I wondered. I understand his overgrown beard, drowsy eyes and debugging code late night on brown bean bag. Even those three beers are quite fine.
But Marriage, “Dude, are you all right?”
“Sure Sir, that’s what our specialty is,” she said, “haven’t you noticed our tag line?”
I looked at the large wooden letters engraved on the light green wall on the other side of desk.
It reads, “Marriages Are Made in Bureaus.”
Young woman handed over him the registration form and asked him to fill it up.
“Not going for a love marriage?”
*********
“Sizzling chocolate brownie here is so delicious,” Ria said, “Anything special today, Rohit?”
“I want to share two special news’s with you.”
“And what are they, dear?”
“I got my first salary, but that’s not the reason for the celebration.”
“But that’s a great news, then what is it?”
“And the second special news is..,”
“Wait,” Ria intercepted and blushed, “You are going to propose me, right?”
Rohit hold her hands, looked straight into her brown eyes.
He moved curls away from her face, which was turned red by then.
He took a deep breath, “I am resigning and launching my startup.”
Ria walked away from the dinner table in specially reserved section of zafran and I witnessed
Rohits first breakup.
“The helpless startup guy,” I showed up the WhatsApp notification of being blocked.
**********
“No love marriage, I’m interested in arranged marriage.”
“recent color photographs please.”
“Here it is,” Rohit handed over a couple of his photographs.
“You look modern and techie,” She looked at him, “Not looked online?”
*************
“Shall we have coffee, Starbucks have it best,” Rohit said.
“Yeah. It will be fine,” Nisha said, “Your facebook profile is interesting.”
“Two Caffè Misto.”
“So what is this startup business you do?”
“Aroma of freshly brewed coffee sets the mood,” I thought.
“I have designed the beta product, and looking for angel funding.”
“Oh, I see. You must be making lakhs,” She grinned.
I looked at Rohit. I wondered If, He even had the money to pay for coffee.
No body knows about the number of cold calls to angel investors he made.
“I’ll make money in a couple of months after getting traction?”
“Why don’t you take up regular job, you have engineering degree from IIT?”
I bet, He doesn’t have answer for this question of Nisha.
“It’s futile to continue the conversation,” Nisha finished her coffee, took her Gucci bag.
When she was about to leave starbucks, Rohit called her, and she turned around.
“Nisha, would you please help me to pay for coffee,” He said, “I don’t have enough cash.”
I still remember her frustrated face and disgust in blue eyes behind rimless glasses.
“The shameless startup guy,” I showed up the Facebook notification of being removed from friend list.
***************
“Please return the registration form for a minute,” Rohit said, “I want to put my special
condition.”
“Now what’s this special condition which even I’m not aware of?” I’m curious.
“Are you sure about your condition, Sir?”
“Yes, I am.”
“We will inform you soon about suitable match.”
Rohit grabbed me from desk, unchecked silent profile and left from Marriage Bureau Office.
*************
Snehas bedroom is so royal, maple wood flooring, makeup table fitted with mirror with edges of pure gold, king size hasten’s bed. She’s not less than princess of a kingdom.
“Rohit, you lucky champ.” I thought.
“Have a seat,” she pointed towards red bean bag and giggled, “make yourself comfortable.”
“You don’t look like a girl who’s education is just HSC.” Rohit said.
I was blown away. This young pretty woman like princess is just HSC. Was that his special condition?
“I found it unique, different and interesting after reading your special condition.”
“Oh really?” He smiled.
“Yeah. Thats why you have been given opportunity to meet me in person.”
“So tell me about your startup.”
“,…and this is how xyz.com will make millions.”
“It looks promising and one might get hundred times return on investment.”
“See I’m not looking for dowry, but…”
“I want sixty percent stake in your startup and I’m ready for marriage.” She smiled.
“Sixty Percent?”
“Yes. Bye the way, I’m HSC by choice,” she said, “After reading Steve Jobs, I found college damn boring, so I decided to dropout.”
Rohit looked confused and then updated status message on my screen.
***************
Rohit was busy on his macbook, “Oh God, This bug is not getting fixed.”
I bipped to make him alert of WhatsApp notification. It was link to mint headline.
It reads, “Ms.Sneha, CEO of xyz.com has been selected The Woman Entrepreneur of the Year.”
-Amit
Abey John
In my view ‘All Good Things Never End’ they just change form. Where HIMYM and Harry Potter was concerned the decision to end the series were driven by pragmatic considerations like audience ratings and writer fatigue. But the stories themselves though unspoken continue. Like the Star Trek franchise.
Ashutosh Khandkar
WOW