A Cute Love Story (Short Story)

( I would recommend the readers to read my another short story "Beautiful Love Story" (before reading this one. )

“That’s a good story”, - she said handing over the hard copy of my short story “Beautiful love story” to me. “But then when are you planning to have real girl friends rather than being just satisfied with imaginary ones” she added.

It was six ‘o clock in the evening, and I was returning after visiting my college friend, who insisted on reading all the stories I wrote after the college days. As I was going through my own stories in bus, as I used to do whenever I feel very bored, a lady sitting next to me, took one of my short stories and started reading it. (Of course with my permission). Few minutes later she came up with the above mentioned comment.

“Thank God. At least you understood that was an imaginary story. Most of my friends insist me to show them my train girl friend after reading the story.” I said.

“In real life you don’t get girl friends or boy friends just like that as you have written in the story.”

“Is it so? So what should one do to get a girlfriend?” - I asked happily that the conversation is getting interesting.

“You got to take some initiative – In real life, you just don’t sit and wait, hoping for God or Nature to send you some beautiful girl, who asks for an instant story, so that you could propose through a story. You got to put in some effort.” – She started speaking as though she has done a doctorate in this field.

“I agree. My story is imaginative. But then I have also heard and written a true love story, where God or Nature or Coincidence whatever you call it, played a major role in joining two hearts made for each other.”

“Joining two hearts made for each other? You are sounding too poetic” – she said mocking me. “Any ways give me the story. Let me read it.” – I handed over the true love story that was narrated to me by a stranger few days ago.

Stranger’s true love story:

I love collecting information. When my friends were fascinated by Rajinikanth’s cigarette smoking style and Kapil Dev’s out swingers, for me the fact that I knew the names of Rajini’s first, twenty fifth, fiftieth film names, Kapil Dev’s hundredth, two hundredth Test and Ranji wickets gave me more happiness, rather than their styles. So when a particular girl started to interest me, I did the same thing; collect as much information about her.

I first met her, when we shifted our house to Annanagar, and I started to travel in 7F bus to office. Getting in the bus at the bus depot itself, gave me an opportunity to select the seat in which I can sit; I always choose the fifth seat behind the bus driver and she always sat in the ladies seat parallel to mine.

Some one like you might have decided to do things that would help capture her attention, once you were fascinated by her; but as I said earlier I started collecting information about her. Initially I settled for things that I could come to know without much trouble. In three months time, I knew that she takes head baths on all Fridays, she wears yellow salwars on sixty percent of the Thursdays, and that she uses her mobile in bus once in approximately three days.

More and more I saw her, and more and more information I got about her, my interest in her was slowly transformed into love. If you are thinking that at least after that I would have stopped collecting information and started doing something to capture her attention, it means you still don’t know about me properly. Actually what I did was exactly opposite; I started collecting more information about her, that in six months time, I knew more about her family than a census officer would know. To be fair, to the census officer, how would he have known that her younger brother hates math and just managed to pass in the subject in the tenth public examination, though she had scored centum in the same subject in her tenth.

It was then my friends came to know about my love, as they stumbled across the data I had so secretly kept. They initially made fun of me; but later advised me to take some real effort to win her, rather than just keeping on accumulating info about her. I nevertheless persisted in doing things in my way. By the end of one year since I saw her, I actually knew more about her than she herself would have known; I’m not sure whether she knew that her father’s short story had been published in Ananda Vikatan (famous Tamil magazine) thirty years ago, or that her father was the third bride groom to visit her mother. Mean while my parents began to wonder how I suddenly acquired so many friends who were getting married in Salem, her native.

“Excuse me” where the first words she spoke to me and I still remember the occasion vividly. Though I had known so much about her, I was yet to even speak her, leave alone gathering the courage to go and propose to her. It was on the children’s day of 2006, when she came and sat next to me in the bus (seat that was usually occupied by a ninth standard school student), rather then the usual parallel ladies seat and uttered those words. “Can you do me a favor” – she added.

Before my dumb struck mouth could gather enough strength to say “Sure” she continued, “I am doing Msc Psychology final year….” – “I even know that you scored 78.6 % in your third semester”, I wanted to add, but kept mum.

“My final year thesis is on “Traits Chennai youngster’s look for in their future wife”, and I have been talking to many people regarding that, and I want you also to share things that you would like to see in your future wife.”

I was sure that I could not be given a much easier chance to propose to her. Still I hesitantly asked, “What sort of information you are looking for?”

“Things like whether you prefer your wife to be house wife or working women, like that”– she said.

“I prefer working women as wife” – I said immediately, as I have read the article she wrote in the college magazine about why women should go to work.

She smiled and added “Working women. Fine. Do you have any more criteria on how your wife should be?”

“Ya, I have. In fact I have so many strict criteria that I am not sure whether any one would meet them” – her constant smiling face emboldened by and I decided I am going to propose her no matter what happens.

“Interesting. Please share those criteria with me” – she said.

Bringing all the courage to the forefront, I began to say the criteria, “I prefer to marry a Bank Manager’s daughter; she must be the eldest daughter; with probably one younger brother; she must be Rahul Dravid’s fan; must have read all the novels of Jeffery Archer till date; she must hate black grapes, but devour green grapes, her favorite color must be yellow; she must enjoy….”

“Stop, stop. Don’t keep on adding those conditions. I think only one girl would satisfy all these conditions.”

“And that’s you” – I said blushing.

We were married three months later.

“So you are saying that it is nature that helped their love by creating a situation where she did the thesis on “Traits Chennai youngster’s look for in their future wife”, which in turn helped him to propose, that eventually led to their marriage. Am I right?” – She asked and her smile was actually more pronounced now than ever before.

“Yes, other wise he never would have got the courage to even propose. He himself said it.”

“He knew every thing about her girl friend, but he didn’t even know that her final year thesis was actually not on “Traits Chennai youngster’s look for in their future wife”, and she asked about this traits question to only one guy – handsome guy who was searching diligently for past one year to collect details about her.”

“How do you know?” – I was perplexed.

She didn't answer my question directly. All that she said was, “If you want a girl friend, you either start taking some initiative, or hope you get a girl friend like me, who out of frustration will take the initiative her self as I did. But don’t sit hoping that nature will help you, and then you will end up with only imaginary girl friends.