Well, to cut it short and state the two most important things that I am trying to think through and understand. When I came to India, where do I stay in Hyderabad and the other is getting married. Maybe I should tackle each in its own blog! Let see how I do the write up on this - if I am not happy, I will organize it well enough I guess. I need to shout out all the thoughts in my head if I am to enjoy this trip now!! You can guess which is the one issue thats eating me the most :D.
As for my trip here, the most important question I had when I came here was how will it be when I face my sister and her husband Kalyan? I did not know how I was gonna a react, how comfortable I was gonna be, how Kalyan is gonna be etc ... it has been a pretty interesting trip so far. In a few days since coming to Hyderabad, all of us, that is mom, dad, grandmom, sis, her hubby and myself went on this week long pilgrimage to TTD, near by places and Shiridi, near by place. It was very interesting because I got to know Kalyan and I am glad I got to know him. I like him a lot more than I expected.
He seems more mature for his age ... either because he talks a little as possible and only when absolutely necessary or when he feels he needs to say something. He is also fun to be around I think and he takes good care of my folks. More importantly though he seems to be taking care of my sis and seems to handle her idiosyncratic nature well enough. So I guess at least based on the information I have so far, I think she found a guy as well as can be found. I am glad she is happy and there is a big potential for their future. I am glad!!
As for the other part of this story, there is so much I need to say out loud i.e. shout out that is if I am to retain my saneness. Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. It started roughly about a year ago when I decided to go down the arranged marriage route due to various reasons, which I wont get into in this blog :). I did the usual things that everyone does once started down this path. Create a TM profile, add pics, send interests, get paid membership etc etc. I talked to a couple of girls but I did not feel like they were interested in me. Then I met someone that I liked, I mean I really liked this person in a way that I never expected to. It started with a reply from this girl in early September. We started to talk on the phone for a while and then I planned my India trip. Since I liked the girl and since I wanted to be able to do something about it while I am in India, I asked her if she would like to meet up before I go to India so I can meet her parents while I am here.
To my surprise, she said yes and she asked me to come over for a whole weekend instead of the typical half-day or a day meetup. I was pleasantly surprised by that but I was not sure what to expect. I was just praying that it wont be something that I will regret later on :). As it turned out my fears were baseless. She picked me up from the airport and then dropped me off at this stupid place called "Knight's Inn". It was a great weekend - we hung out together and went out Saturday night (Halloween weekend) dressed up. But the one thing I cant forget is that she was pretty late in picking me up Saturday morning :). She helped me pick an outfit and helped each other (sort of) get ready and hung out until late night! It was fun and interesting as well :). The interesting part is something that I might write about later (if I feel like it :D). Anyways, she dropped me off at my place and then met up the next day - again in my opinion, late :). That seems to be something thats part of her, not that I cared at that point. It would have been great if we met up earlier as that would have meant more time together :D.
Anyways, the bottom line was that by Sunday evening, both of us told each other that we liked each other and were wishing that the weekend could last another day longer! Then it was constant chatting on the phone/texting etc for the next couple of weeks until I got to India. It was unbelievable two weeks for me! It was also one of the most stressed out times I guess since I was buying a house and trying to wind up all the stuff that I was asked to do at work. I am not sure even to this day how I managed all that. Bottom line is I finished more than I expected at work and also managed to buy the house while not in the country! I stayed for a day in Singapore with Priya as well. It was constant chatting with Nivvi while I was in Singapore! Then I came to India and it was Sree's wedding in a few days. Hung out with my folks at my sister's place and went to meet Nivvi's folks. It was nice meeting them and all - it seemed to me like they liked me and all at that time. Then it was off to the wedding to catch up with friends!! It was great catching up with various ppl from the past and get to know new ppl :).
All this while Nivvi and I are trying to steal moments to catch up with each other. It was a great time!! Then I went home and it was off on this pilgrimage from that day or the next day on. It was to TTD first and a few places nearby. Then to VJA and off to Shiridi and back! All this while still trying to steal moments but it was hard due to various reasons. Then came back to Eluru and Nivvi's folks came by. Thats when things started going downhill :(. I did not know that was just the beginning at that time. Even if I knew, I am not sure there was something I could do to have prevented the downhill nature of it :'(. She was mad at me for making her call me :(, then it was like she was cool for a while. I did not understand what was going on but my feeling was that her parents did not like our place and were not too enthusiastic about me.
I had to speak to her for hours together at one point of time for her to open up and then close down on me again. At this point, in my opinion, it looks like I am the one interested in her than it being both ways! It is a extremely painful realization. I did not expected this to happen but I guess I should have anticipated this - what else could I expect! Ride off into the sunset together or happily ever after? Thats all in books, movies and fairy tales!
