Dileepan finds a girl

by Ilan Varadarajan

Dileepan finds a girl

  By Ilan Varadarajan

  Copyright 2012 Arvind Desikan

  DILEEPAN FINDS A GIRL

  A fairly short story

  They say that its harder falling in love and finding a girl as you grow older. That the headiness of youth, the spirit of adventure, the waking-up-to-a-morning-full-of possibilities, all mellow with age. They say that age brings wisdom, and makes the head rule over the heart.?

  But it is no matter. What do those Aunties sitting in India know. I, Dileepan , will prove them all wrong.

  Her name? is Sandhya. And she's gorgeous. Always knows the right thing to say. Handles crowds like a pro. Super popular. Everyone calls her Sandy of course.

  I've known her about six months now. Actually... when I say I 'know' her, what I really mean is I know a lot about her. I've done my research, slowly but surely, in bits and pieces over the months. So I know that she usually gets in to work a little after nine everyday (p.m. that is. She's a bartender at Harry's, down on East 63rd). I've found out that she has a daily jogging routine along the Lake in the summer, and that she replaces that with a gym routine in the winter when it gets frosty outside.

  More interestingly, I've learned that she had a falling-out with her parents over something (no one can really tell me the whole story) and that they moved out of Chicago, while she decided she wasn't going to leave Chicago. All I can say is, I'm very glad she stayed.

  How do I know all this? Ah, a little luck to the rescue. Rashmi, childhood friend, and daughter of neighbourhood family friends -- who I've known for twenty five years, played hide-and-seek with, given math lessons to, and had long and heated debates with - about politics, love and food. We are both much older now, and the debates have become less commonplace... but, I can still invite myself over to her place at short notice, for tea or for no good reason, when I feel like it. All very convenient, because she and Sandhya now share a flat.

  I remember feeling this odd quickening of the pulse, very briefly, when Rashmi told me she was planning on moving in with Sandhya. It was vague, momentary, undefined. Rashmi didn't know then, that I had feelings for Sandhya. I only told her a few weeks later.

  She said "Deepu, I'm very happy for you, but don't come asking me for help, or get me involved in any of this". Rashmi had had a string of bad luck with recent roommates who ranged from the mildly eccentric ("she wakes up at 3 o'clock every night and calls her mom") to the horrendous ("she thought that in the US, people put dirty toilet paper in the dustbin!"), and it seemed like Sandy was her first shot at a decent roommate in over three years. Nevertheless, childhood loyalties count for something... and I had been able to coax useful nuggets of information out of her over time.

  A little bit about myself. I am an engineer (like most other guys I grew up with in Hyderabad). I came to the US nine years ago (like most other guys I went to college with), and I am not married or engaged to be married (unlike all the rest of them, much to Amma's dismay).

  I seem to be this curious mix of traits that makes me a little hard to categorize. I am fairly introverted, definitely not at my best with lots of people, especially attractive women, and a geek at heart who loves writing code. Most of my friends who fit this description - and there are quite a few - are all married now. I am not.

  This is not to say I haven't been interested in girls in the past. Sandhya is by no means my first love. There was Maya, the first ever girl I thought I was in love with, in college. It took me a long time to recover from the fact that I asked her out to a cup of coffee, and she held back a laugh. She is now married to some rich, ugly fellow. Then there was Wendy, who sat next to me at work. We used to hang out some days after work, and I thought she was pretty cool, but she had a fianc? in New York and it was always going to be a long shot anyway.

  Last year, Amma asked me what I thought of Rashmi, and I shouted at her for bringing up absurd ideas. Thankfully she didn't get around to suggesting it to Rashmi's folks and things between us didn't get awkward.

  But I must say I feel really good about this Sandy thing. She's thirty, almost as old as I am. But from all that I can see, she's the one! She actually seems to like me, and we have lots of fun times when we go out as a group. Last month, she and Rashmi came home to watch the Superbowl. We ordered pizza. Rashmi had to leave early to finish up a homework assignment, but Sandy and I hung out until the early hours, and got quite drunk, and talked about lots of things. Like life in India versus life in the US. Then I walked her home.

  And then last week, we went out to a movie, and we had our hands on each others' shoulders. So its all going really, really well.

  There's only one catch, as far as I can tell. How am I going to break this to Amma?