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In Defense of that A Thing

Disclaimer : I have never been in a relationship before, so there is a pretty good chance that once you have read the post below, you will come to the conclusion I have no bloody idea what I am talking about, in which case, I honestly couldn't give a fuck.

"She was the artsy kind. Very quiet. She liked to go to museums and read. She asked me if I read. Lols!"

Lols? Before whatsapp, facebook, TV and whatnot, we all kind of used to do that, though it seems that it has fallen out of fashion with the majority, unless it was Harry Potter (which I have no issues with), Twilight (which I have issues with) or 50 Shades of Grey (which proves I am the one with issues). When reading fell out so fashion, so did readers, like her, with whom he fell he had little in common with. To use the more romanticist term, there was no 'compatibility'. 

What was this thing with this type of compatibility, when a potential partner had to be interested and doing the same things that you did? I once had a friend who turned down a very lucrative job offer to instead join a company that was in the same industry as his girlfriend. 'So that we can have more to talk about?'.

Really? She likes to talk about nuts and bolts at home?

"The girls were laughing about how you were cool with Arranged marriage".

Oh great! 8 months into my new job, my yet-to-happen matrimonial life was the subject of office gossip. Besides, what was wrong with arranged marriage? It offered salvation to the millions of desperate Indian men who never had a chance to meet that pretty Indian girl at the club because her curfew started the moment school ended. Besides, with the families vetting each other first before the couple got a chance to vet each other, it ensured a type of compatibility that perhaps mattered more than whether either of them liked The Notebook or loathed Sushi. I like to call it values compatibility, something that revolves around the idea that when the families shared similarities in principles, culture and priorities, the possibility that the children inherited them was greater. These principles, culture and priorities were perhaps what mattered more in facing the challenges that life would definitely throw up.

"So you really going to go for it?"

Why not? Its either that or attend a speed dating events when I am 40 plus and end up being mocked as that weirdo who still reads. 

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  1. Zoorado9 October 2016 at 21:54

    "I kind of got tired of reading (math) papers. Recently I have been reading fiction."
    - a math prof

    ReplyDelete

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