A long day at work and an evening of rushed packing prepared us for an early morning flight to Bangkok airport. Bags packed and done with dinner, we crash early only to be up hours later at 2:15am. We’re at the airport well before 4am. The queue is as expected, with Indians, like us making up for most of the travellers onboard this Lion Air flight. Everyone is embarking on their Desi-Diwali vacation to Thailand.…

I registered myself on Shaadi.com around 2013 - 2014. I must be clear, I was always quite introverted, certainly not the social butterfly to mingle around in search of a life partner. Online matrimony web sites were the only way ahead. My family wasn’t very keen or forward in getting proposals. Towards the end of my search, one of my aunt’s told my mother that we should stop looking out now.…

A week or two after my last interaction with X2, I realized she had started looking out again. I couldn’t tell what to feel or think. I was where I left off after my relationship with X1 ended, disappointed, depressed and shocked. I kept my calm, following the prevalent advice of society - take some time out for yourself. I focussed back on work, my hobbies and kept as calm as I could.…

There’s something very soul-sapping about pushing your boundaries of patience, trying never to judge, only support. This change of heart happens especially when you’re recovering from the guilt of having abandoned a loved one. Now you’re left questioning only your motives, not the one testing your patience. This was the chemistry between X2 and I. She had the gift of ignorance, never having to think of her actions and their consequences.…

The knowledge I gained about X2’s past was enough to get me riled up. Trust was an issue, but she promised she was a straight-forward person and she would never do that to me. She told me we should focus on our relationship. I took her word and looked to the future. X2 didn’t handle her finances herself, her father did. She was very random in this matter, as with everything else.…