I Know Just the Guy for You
September 7, 2019
Welcome back! I was worried that after such a long post, you might be too tired to come back. But alas, here you are. This week will definitely be a bit shorter since it is the lent for St. Mary’s birth and there is an evening service every day at the church near me. I get back home around 9pm every night and it is hard to find time to write. But alas, I will steal an hour here or 20 minutes there to finish up the writing.
Readers, I want to share a short story about something that happened just a few hours ago. I was at my friend’s engagement party earlier today. She is marrying this guy that she met while she was in college. They were from different states, but a mutual friend set them up. They dated for a few years and made that long distance thing work, good for them! The aunty and my mother have been good friends for more than two decades now, so it was my mother and I who went. The party went off very well: the array of food they set out was savory and sweet and spicy, the aroma of Indian food filled the banquet hall; the MCs, a cousin of the bride and a friend of the groom, kept the audience engaged and the night lively, even with the major technical difficulty they had; and in typical Indian fashion, their respective churches performed fantastic dances and skits! It was an exciting night.
My mother and I were getting ready to leave the party, so we were saying our goodbyes and went searching for Aunty. She was in the other room getting something to eat, because at events like this, the hosts never get to eat on time. We were talking and my mother casually says, in Malayalam, “oh, you have a good heart. That’s why all your children were able to find their partners.” Two things about that; 1) like Ma…I am standing -right- next to you, why you gotta say things like that? 2) So you’re implying the reason -I- am still single is because -you- do not have a good heart…I didn’t realize that was how these things worked *eye roll and sigh*. Meanwhile, Aunty is like, “no no, God has a plan for these things. She will find someone when the time is right.”
I take this opportunity to jump right in for my own defense. “You’re right Aunty, God does have a plan for these things! He knows that I’m too much for any man to handle. God is like, ‘she’s better off not married!’” You just know I was excited, and not in the fun way, by this conversation because I was waving my hands around and shaking my head, snapping my fingers in a Z-formation. Now everyone is awkwardly laughing, unsure what to do or say next. My mother is telling me not to make a scene and points out random chettan (one of the honorifics for an older brother) could hear me, implying the golden rule: alkar enthu vijarikum?
Mind you, this chettan was doing his own thing, filling up a baby bottle with milk from the coffee station, for what I assume was for his child. Once he realizes he was getting dragged into something, he just chuckles and quietly says “I know just the guy for you.” Readers, I was shook! I am trying to get out of this topic and this person, whom I do not even know, is just digging me into a hole. I laugh and tell him not to give my mother any ideas. As he walked away with the baby bottle in his hand, he says, “if you’re interested, I know just the guy for you.”
And that was that. I don’t know that chettan’s name, whether he was from the groom’s side or the bride’s side, or even what he properly looks like anymore. So I guess I won’t know who this mystery guy is either. Oh well, if it is meant to be, it will happen.
This week, I want to give a shout out to my friend Nikita and her now-fiancé Philip! Congratulations on your engagement guys! I wish you years of happiness and bliss and plenty of love!
Well, I hope to see you next week.
- Aemi
