But seriously, my love

But seriously, my love

Goan for the Jocular
by Cecil Pinto
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Recently I received a Wedding Invitation that had a seemingly strange quote
engraved on the front, "I can't honestly say I was looking for you, and I
doubt if you were looking for me. But it happened and here we are... ". Now
these words seemed extremely pessimistic to me, specially on the front of a
Wedding Invitation. So I decided to do some introspection and see if the
same words could apply to me and my marriage.

Eleven years back when I met my (now beloved) wife Beatrice it was en route
to a party. A whole group of us met in Panjim from where we were supposed
to proceed on bikes to this birthday party in North Goa (some details have
been omitted to protect the privacy of unwitting accomplices). I arrived on
my not-so-new, but recently washed, Yamaha RX100 and had my eye set on
another girl (whose name cannot be mentioned because she is now happily
married and till date does not know that she was the original object of my
affections). Unfortunately she, this other girl whose name cannot be
mentioned, plonked herself on my friend's brand new LML Vespa (with self
start) and I had to resign myself to giving Beatrice a lift to the party.

We got talking on the way and well, to put it subtly, by the end of the day
as I dropped her home we knew we were on to something good. After a
colourful romance that lasted three years we got married. Thank God I
didn't have a Vespa! And you rich yuppie readers please keep in mind that
this was an era when salaries very rarely exceeded four figures. Car
Finance was not available at the drop of a hat. And even second hand Fiats
were still considered respectable, unlike now when they can be bought for
less than a decent pair of roller skates - and still have no takers.

But enough of my "those days v/s these days" flashbacks. The point I'm
trying to make is that romance can blossom in the most unforseen
circumstances. In searching for a life mate it's more important to keep
your options open and meet a lot of potentials, than just pursuing a single
individual you barely know. I'm out of the loop these days but from what I
recall Jaycee meetings, tiatrs, nataks, beat shows, parish picnics,
computer courses, wedding receptions and even Konkani agitations were
fertile meeting grounds for prospectives. I guess things have changed now
with phones, mobiles and computers being easily available. But I still
maintain you can tell more about a girl in twenty minutes, conversing with
her sitting pillion on your bike, than you can in six months of chatting on
MSN Messenger. Specially with the sheer number of fake scamsters that
infiltrate chat rooms, give me face-to-face any day. Or even
chin-resting-on-shoulder while lips brush ears and neck!

For example in the first year of our romance I woke up one day and realised
it was Valentine Day and I had not purchased a card or a gift. Holy crap!
This could be life threatening. Rummaging through my cupboard I found an
old X-Ray of my rib cage taken a few years earlier. I cut out a heart shape
where the heart is supposed to be and pasted a red paper in that place. On
the bright yellow envelope I wrote "My heart beats only for you!" with a
bright red marker. Delivered it myself to Beatrice's office along with a
single red rose. The returns were phenomenal (and cannot be described in
family newspapers). Now you kids of today try getting that sort of a
reaction with those stupid e-greeting cards with generic ready-made
messages or by forwarding corny SMS!! Ha! Fat chance!

I forgot to mention the last part of the quote on that Wedding Invitation
"...and here we are two people just happy being together, knowing fully
well that wherever we may go we will be walking together, for a lifelong
journey of love ". Maybe we find love when we're looking elsewhere.

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The humour column above appeared in Goa Plus the Friday Magazine section of The Times of India on 13th February 2004 (Valentine Special).


- Forwarded by www.goa-world.com