Dear single women, your male counterparts are also a traumatized lot. Give them a listen before you assume that you are the only ones who have it bad.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t like going to weddings. The obvious reason is of course to avoid intrusive peers and older relatives who all have the same question in mind \u2013 \u201cWhen are you getting married?\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, before I get into the details, you need to know why I avoid the question. A wedding is an expensive event to conduct. Judging by my present financial situation, I will need a year or two before I\u2019m confident enough to spend that kind of money. I also want to spend some time getting to know my bride before I marry her. Is that too much of an ask? That\u2019s my situation. However, my mother always wanted me, her firstborn, to be the first of her children to get married. More so because my younger sister and I have a six-year age gap.<\/p>\n
A while ago, I was at a relative\u2019s wedding, unwillingly. At the event, I dodged the many attempts made by aforementioned intrusive peers and relatives to speak to me. In the process of that dodging, I happened to meet a girl, and we got talking. It seemed that our parents got along well. It was a perfectly disguised ploy by a seasoned matchmaker who wanted to see if there was a potential match. I was, of course, oblivious to the whole thing!<\/p>\n
A few days later, we received an informal enquiry \u2013 you know, from a friend of the person who knew both our families. I got in touch with her through a social networking site and we picked up from where we left off at the wedding. Initially, we chatted online quite often. Soon, the chats began to get monotonous and veered into the conversation death zone \u2013 where you discuss work, the weather, and wonder what next. The events progressed quite logically from then on \u2013 we barely communicated and then stopped altogether.<\/p>\n
Another relative deigned to inform us that the girl\u2019s family was not too thrilled with my financial situation. I was no longer a desirable candidate. The girl is getting married. Good for her!<\/p>\n
Three months ago, I began to receive emails from a matrimonial site listing prospective matches for me. I was baffled! I didn\u2019t remember having signed up for this. When I told my mother and sisters about this, they laughed! And then they told me that they wanted to formally begin the process of a bride search. They also quickly added, almost as an afterthought, that I should marry only after getting to know the girl well. I wonder how \u201cgetting to know the girl well\u201d is measured. \u201cWhen you know, you know?!\u201d<\/p>\n
I still haven\u2019t met anyone via the matrimonial site. Every time I think if it, I remember a line from Sleepless in Seattle<\/em>, when Sam\u2019s son, Jonah pesters him about meeting Annie (Meg Ryan). Sam (Tom Hanks) asks his son, \u201cDidn\u2019t you see Fatal Attraction<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019m in no hurry to get married. Yes, I do want to be with someone in the long-term. It\u2019s easy to make a list of her must-have qualities, but chances are I won\u2019t fall in love with the girl who epitomizes those qualities.<\/p>\n I believe that if you fall in love, you are bound to fall out of it too. Is it possible for us to look beyond the \u201cfalling in love\u201d thing? How do you know if someone you meet is \u201cthe one\u201d? Relying on one\u2019s instincts won\u2019t take us very far. Finding that special person involves too many factors, all of which contribute in making the process entertaining and interesting. As of now, I\u2019m going to wait and see what happens next. Maybe the next girl I meet will be the love of my life, who knows?!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Image courtesy of jerryjohn<\/a> via\u00a0Creative Commons<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Editor’s note:<\/p>\n Read about what another young man\u00a0has to say about matrimony: Holy Matrimony! Conditions Apply!<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n