Degrees of Separation
September 21, 2019
You are back! You know, even though I have no idea who is reading this, the simple fact that someone is reading this makes me incredibly happy! So, like, go ahead and comment below if you have similar stories or even if it is just to say hi. Also, I am totally open to ideas and themes you want me to talk about. So far, it has been stories that I think you might be interested in reading, but stories are nothing I am running short on. By all means, let me know what you think. You can also follow me on social media (facebook, twitter, Instagram): @asanworks. And, I cannot stress this enough, if you think these stories are worth sharing, or know someone who can relate, please pass it along!
This week was kind of a calm week; nothing exciting to talk about. So instead, I want to share the story, which is also the second reason I started this blog. Just a refresher, the first reason was back in The Story Thus Far where I talked about Jacob Samuel. This one is a similar story.
I am going to begin my story on a warm afternoon in July. I am sitting outside of my office building eating my lunch and listening to my podcasts when I get a text from my mother. “Can you call me?” she asks. I get nervous thinking all these terrible things that might have happened to her or something serious happened to my dad or another family member. The last time a parent unexpected called me, it was to tell me my grandfather passed away. So I pause my podcast and quickly call her back. Don’t worry, it was not anything serious. She wanted to ask me if it was okay for her to give her friend my facebook page. But to understand why that is important, we have to go back a couple more weeks.
A few of days after July 4th, my relatives were heading back to India after their tour of the US. One of the last things they wanted to do was visit an old friend of my aunt. I was available and so I went along with them. I have visited Shena Aunty before, she is a family friend to my mom’s side from back in India. My mom is not *that* close with them, the Shena Aunty actually studied with my eldest aunt, so there is a slight age gap. But we still visit when we have family over.
Apparently, those few visits were enough that Shena Aunty takes it upon herself to play matchmaker. She calls up my mother and asks the dreaded question, “are you looking for someone for your daughter?” This aunty knows of a guy who is also “on the market” [my words, not hers] whom I might be interested in.
How does she know this guy, you might ask? Well, this is her sister-in-law’s sister’s friend’s son. Did your head hurt trying to follow that path? Because mine did. I know we always joke around that the Malayalee community is so small, everyone knows each other. But this is a whole other level! Maybe it is the millennial in me, but why are people with that many degrees of separation talking about me? It is still funny to me how ludicrous this all sounds. The fact that someone brought up a proposition this far out was the one of the reasons I started to share my writing. I figured, I am probably not the only person who has had strange proposals like this. Or maybe I am making a big deal about nothing, and this is something completely normal and common? Let me know what you think, comment below or message me!
As for this guy, I told my mother that she can give my facebook info to Shena Aunty to pass along to her sister-in-law’s sister’s friend. I am a hopeless romantic after all; I blame all those Bollywood and Mollywood movies. If nothing else, it would be an interesting story to share should anything blossom from it. Alas, it has been over 2 months and we have heard nothing from them. My mom reached out to Shena Aunty as a courtesy, "what's the deal?" call. She said she had passed along my information, the ball is in their court now. Maybe the sister-in-law's sister's friend's family was not interested. Maybe the guy has someone else. There are a million reasons and I will probably never find out why. Whatever the case, I will categorize this as simply just another missed connection. See you next week for more of my stories.
- Aemi
