Arranged Love: An Indian Boy's Search in Amrika To Find A Suitable Girl

by Ajay Patel

  Vijay thought to himself that this wasn’t a great way to meet people because he could only barely talk or see anyone. Almost instinctively, he threaded his way to the bar to try and find friends. Through the strobe lights and the smoke Vijay caught sight of Sam and Jaymin.

  “Man, I’m glad to see some familiar faces,” Vijay said loudly above the music. “What’s up fellas?”

  “We’re just getting a feel for the land,” Jaymin said, taking a swig of the beer in his hand while scoping the room. He was no doubt doing his emotional “stretching” before he hit the dance floor in pursuit of women.

  “How was dinner? Any new nicknames that I need to know about?” Vijay inquired with a grin.

  “Definitely!” Sam replied. “We’ll have to point them out, but I met a Hollywood, Bridge, and Sly!”

  “And I’ve got Mocha, Indiana Jones, and Melrose,” Jaymin added.

  “I can’t wait to hear how you guys came up with those nicknames!” laughed Vijay.

  “And of course, we can’t forget, Venus is here tonight,” Sam said almost ominously, giving Jaymin a knowing nod of his head.

  “Venus?” Vijay asked. “This should be interesting. How did you guys come up with that one?”

  “She’s someone Sam and I’ve seen at a couple of conventions ago,” Jaymin replied. “You know Venus Flytrap, well, she’s Venus Mantrap. She lures you in and you don’t even suspect it. Once you’re in her clutches, it’s all over.”

  “Please tell me you’re joking,” Vijay said, finishing his drink.

  “No, I’m telling you, she’s hot, but she’s got a rep. Any guy that’s with her is definitely in trouble,” Sam answered. “So the best thing to do is just steer clear of her!”

  “You guys are such ladies!” Vijay laughed at them, putting his glass back on the counter.

  Sam looking around from the bar, tapped Jaymin and Vijay on the shoulder and pointed to the middle of the room and said, “Don’t look now, but there she is. And no one’s around her just like we said.” Sam then looked at Vijay and asked, “Why don’t you go talk to her? Or are you part of the women’s club too?”

  “Sure!” he was up to the challenge only because now he had to be after all the ribbing he had thrown their way. Besides, he thought to himself, there could be no harm in approaching her. He’d go get rejected and come back, never to see Venus Mantrap again.

  Sam and Jaymin pointed to a silhouette from across the room and Vijay made his way towards her. As Vijay approached the mysterious woman from behind, something struck him as familiar about her. Could it be? Was it her?

  Although her back was turned to him, it was a back he had thought he had seen before. The woman cut a striking figure in silhouette. In a room where most women were dressed in short black skirts, she wore a long white dress that went down to her ankles. The way the dress wrapped around her body, however, gave proof to the adage that sometimes less revealed was more. Vijay walked up right behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around.

  “Vijay!” her eyes shined with recognition. “It’s great to see you!” she said sincerely.

  “Look at you! Stunning and dressed to kill as always.” Vijay said with a smile. He then hugged her while looking over her shoulder and giving the boys a wink. From the distance he could see their jaws drop to the ground as he held her in an embrace, surviving through the process. He looked into her eyes and smiled. Venus Mantrap. He now knew her by that name as well as Madame Ex. But he also was beginning to know her as Mona Patel. And as he looked at her, he wondered. Why was there always so much controversy surrounding her when she seemed like a normal, nice person? He then thought again for a moment, and wondered if this was all part of the luring-in process that all his friends kept warning him about.

  Vijay looked at her. “So what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this?” he joked.

  She let go of him and answered, “Feeling out of place. I’ve forgotten how this is so not my scene. It’s just that I was going to be in town for a wedding on Saturday and so I signed up for the first couple of days. You know, one of those ‘what the heck’ decisions just so my parents didn’t bug me too much about not trying. I’ve been here for a while and you’re the only one that’s come up to me.”

  “What do you mean?” Vijay asked, although based on what Sam and Jaymin told him, he perhaps understood why.

  “Well, none of the guys even bother to come by. Am I that unattractive that I make them stay away?” she said sadly. Ironically, as she was saying that, three guys walked by behind her rubber necking trying to maintain their sight of her, obviously impressed.

  Vijay looked at them and then her, and then shook his head in disbelief. He asked, “Are you joking?”

  “I’m serious,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve been here for a while now and not one single guy has even come up to me to say hello.”

  “Believe me. The guys notice you. You don’t see it, but wherever you walk you cause heads to turn.”

  Mona blushed, but still wasn’t convinced.

  “A simple rule to remember is that most guys are chicken. Our egos can’t take what we feel will be a certain rejection. We feel anyone who is as attractive as you are will only be trouble and not worth the rejection and heartache.”

  “But I’m not like that! You know me. I’m a nice, sweet person,” she pleaded.

  “Well the jury’s still out on that one. I’m still reeling from being stood up!” He joked, recalling their misadventure in New York. As he stood there, he still was trying to make sense of what he thought of her. But before he could think any more of it, he felt a tug on his sleeve that made him turn around. He stood face to face with Vandana.

  “Hello,” she said, ignoring Mona all together. “I just wanted to say sorry about how my dad acted earlier today towards you and your parents. I was wondering if I could make it up to you by asking to you dance with me?”

  “Uh sure,” responded Vijay instinctively. After all, if a woman who was not unattractive came up to ask for a dance, one didn’t usually turn the opportunity down. But he still wanted to talk to Mona. He turned around to give Mona the ‘sorry, there’s nothing I can do’ helpless look’ in such a way that Vandana wouldn’t see it, but Mona had already vanished into the crowd, no doubt feeling like a third wheel on a unicycle. Vandana took Vijay’s hand and led him into the heart of the dance floor. After dancing listlessly to three songs, all the time looking all around him except at Vandana, Vijay excused himself and tried to find Mona again. Instead of finding her, however, Vijay ran into Rocky who was hanging out by himself.

  Rocky smiled, looking happy as ever. “What’s up buddy?” he asked over the noise of the music.

  “I’m looking for some danger. But more importantly, what about you?” Vijay responded. “Wait! That’s a stupid question. Let me guess. Tejal?”

  “You’re right!” he said with a sheepish grin. “I bailed out of my table before dinner to go find her.”

  “All right! Give me the whole story! How did it go?” Vijay let out impatiently. “Start from the afternoon.”

  Rocky said with happiness, “Vijay! She’s so awesome it’s unbelievable!”

  “So she’s cute?”

  “Totally! And to top it off, she’s got this Cindy Crawford mole thing going, but in the good way!” Vijay and Rocky had debated in the past on whether a beauty mole was appealing or not, coming out that if there was hair associated with it, it could no longer be deemed a “beauty” mark.

  Vijay expected as much considering how goofy and love-stuck Rocky was acting. “What did you guys do?” he inquired further.

  “We just went and walked around and sat at some benches outside in the hotel’s garden. I’m telling you. I’m in love,” he went on dreamily.

  “So you guys were together the whole afternoon? Nice.” Vijay said.

  “Actually, she’s got a lot of friends and family at the convention, so we didn’t talk for long. But it was so great. I felt like
it totally clicked!” he just kept heaping favorable adjectives about her at the end of every sentence.

  “Okay, okay! But I still don’t see the whole picture here,” said Vijay. “It sounds like everything went well. But I only see you here. Am I going to meet this Tejal?”

  “Of course! But it’ll probably be later. After I left my table during dinner I walked around and found her with her family. They seem really nice. After a bit she told me that she had to go meet some friends she hadn’t seen in a long time. Evidently, a lot of people she knows are here that she doesn’t get to see often. So she told me she just wanted to spend this first night catching up with them again. We’ll probably hook up tomorrow.”

  Alarm bells began to ring in Vijay’s mind. This didn’t sound good. But he so wanted to be wrong given how Rocky was acting that he didn’t say anything. “All right,” Vijay rationalized. “So you should have some fun with your friends tonight too!” he led Rocky to the bar, joining Sam and Jaymin who were ready to pay homage to Vijay for not only escaping Venus but also to have Ms. Bombay chase after him.

  And although Vijay wasn’t much for drinking in large quantities, he looked around when they got to the bar and saw that it was something that many of the people there were doing. While that alone, wouldn’t have made him join, he felt like he needed to drink for and with Rocky tonight.

  After a few drinks entered their bodies, a haze floated in around them. Images and memories blurred. Uncertainty was about. Fate did not appear to have been kind to Rocky. After all, if Tejal had liked Rocky, wouldn’t she have wanted to introduce him to her friends? Despite the clarity in the logic, Vijay wasn’t certain that Rocky was seeing clearly.

  17

  The Meet Market—Day Two How Do You Do

  The telephone rang at 9:30 in the morning, in paired but short bursts every two seconds. Rocky raised his head, lifted his pillow, and launched it at Vijay, groaning, “Pick it up! It’s probably your parents calling you to come down to breakfast.”

  Vijay jumped out of bed to try and catch the phone before the caller hung up. He cleared his throat and answered “Hello.”

  “Good morning Vijay. How was your program last night?” It was his father, and at that time in the morning after a night of drinking, his father’s voice sounded painfully alert waiting for news of matrimonial progress.

  “It was okay. Nothing new to report that I can think of,” Vijay said honestly. He didn’t quite remember even coming back into the room. “What time is it?”

  “9:30. We wanted to let you sleep in…”

  “Yes,” Vijay smiled, the thought of sleeping in sounded good.

  But his father rudely finished the sentence, “…so we waited until

  9:30 to call you. Mom and I are going downstairs to the club room where they have breakfast for everyone so come join us.”

  “Sure, I’ll be down there in a second,” Vijay agreed reluctantly. He then hung up the phone. His head was pounding. Evidently, he had not drunk as much water as he should have to avoid the hangover he was feeling. He slowly and gingerly went into the bathroom, treading lightly, and turned on the lights. He filled a big glass of water from the bathroom sink. After drinking two thirds of it, he splashed the rest on his face, trying to wash away the ‘I’ve just woken up look’. He put on some jeans and a sweatshirt and went back into the bathroom to survey the reflection. His hair was still a mess, lopsided, flat on the side that his head had rested on while sleeping. But that was easily rectified as he put on his baseball cap. He slipped into his sneakers, grabbed his badge and keys, and left Rocky in the room snoring and oblivious to the world, thanks to Rocky’s parents’ decision not to come to the convention.

  Vijay rode down the elevator alone, went to the front desk and found out where breakfast was being served. Once in the designated room, Vijay looked around and saw a simple buffet line with chai and chaywdo, an Indian variation of chex mix, for the adults, and orange juice and powdered doughnuts for the kids. Vijay spied a container full of juice and quickly poured himself a glass. After taking a sip, he turned around and surveyed the room. Ninety percent of the crowd was comprised of parents. They all looked fresh and showered, no doubt having gone to bed at 10 at night and woken up at 7 in the morning.

  Vijay saw his parents and walked over to them. “Sit down,” Jayendrabhai offered the chair next to him, no doubt so that he could have complete control of the debriefing process.

  “So, are you meeting any nice girls last night?” Vijay’s mother threw out the ceremonial first pitch, wresting control of the questioning process away from his father.

  “Maybe. I’ve just got to get to know them better. It was so dark and loud that you really couldn’t talk or meet anyone for too long a time. And then everyone was just drinking…”

  “Even girls?” Shantiben asked naively in shock. Theirs was a family that didn’t drink much, especially the women.

  “Even the girls! It was a shock to me as well,” Vijay said in an ‘I can’t believe it either’ tone. “Anyways, I think it’ll be easier to meet people during the day.”

  “I hope so,” Vijay’s father said, hoping his matrimonial dollars had not been spent for naught.

  “So what’s going on today?” Vijay asked.

  Jayendrabhai opened up a folder he was carrying and took out the three page agenda. “Well, today there are a number of seminars that we could go to. Let’s see. Estate Planning. Health and You. Tax Investing. Franchising. Motel Administration. Careers in Motels. Selling Motels. Okay, okay, enough with the motels,” Jayendrabhai muttered to himself angrily. A growing trend among a portion of the Gujarati population was to own and manage motels because it was a business that one’s extended family who came from India could work in and make significant amounts of money. However, for that portion of the Gujarati population that focused on education and career, the success of their fellow Gujarati moteliers created tension in an almost old money—new money fashion. “Oh wait a minute! That’s all for the parents. Sounds like fun, don’t you think?” he looked at Shantiben who just rolled her eyes.

  “What about me? What’s planned for me?” Vijay asked impatiently.

  “Let’s see,” he flipped a page. “Yes, the matrimonial candidates,” Vijay winced at that, “It says here that there will be ice breakers all morning and afternoon.”

  “I’m sure it will be good. Like you said, it will be easier to talk to the girls during the day times,” Shantiben rationalized.

  “Okay mom. I’m sure you’re right.”

  “Good. That’s what we want to hear,” Vijay’s father said beaming again, thinking there was still a chance for the weekend not to be a total loss.

  After quickly getting ready, leaving Rocky snoring as he closed the door despite his efforts to wake him, Vijay took the shuttle back to the convention center. He entered the main lobby where a crowd of people was loitering. He spotted Megha and approached her.

  “So is the marriage thermometer getting any movement out of you?” Vijay asked with a playful nudge.

  “There are some cute guys,” she admitted. “The only problem is that most of them are younger than I am,” Megha explained.

  “Including me. You remember, I’m also younger than…” Vijay interrupted with a grin.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said in a ‘blah, blah, blah’ tone.

  “Has Komal had any luck? Why isn’t she here?”

  “No, unfortunately she had some family obligations with Milan and his family that she couldn’t escape from last night,” she replied. They walked through the main corridor of the convention center and found their way back to the Hunter Room. A small line of people had congregated at the front. Two volunteers stood by the door handing out papers and pencils causing the slowed entry into the room. Vijay and Megha each took a piece of paper and pencil and walked in.

  “Human Bingo,” Megha read the words written on top of the paper out loud. “This should be interesting.”

  “There a
re some cute girls here. It’s too bad we’re not playing Human Twister!” Vijay joked. He looked around the room. There appeared to be several hundred people in the room. He saw Jigar and a few others that he recognized, but it otherwise was largely a crowd that he had not yet met.

  “Do you sense something strange here?” Megha asked, looking around.

  “Yeah. It’s like a garba. All the guys are on one side and all the girls are on the other side,” remarked Vijay. “It’s like oil and water.”

  “Hello everyone! My name is Manju. I’m a volunteer,” an all too perky woman in her mid twenties and barely clearing 5 feet said in a squeaky voice through a microphone that on the stand was two inches taller than her. “We were all trying to think of a fun way for people to get to know each other and for everyone to meet, and so we thought we’d have a human bingo icebreaker. On the page there are all kinds of descriptions. Your job is to try and find someone who has done one of the things listed on the page. The first guy and girl to fill it out completely will win a prize. All right, everyone, good luck and have fun!” Manju stepped away from the microphone and walked off the stage waiting for marital magic to take place.

  “Actually, you know,” Vijay said to Megha, looking at the questions. “This could be fun. So, what do you have for me that’s on my sheet?” Vijay asked.

  Megha looked at Vijay, “I don’t know, let me take a look. But if I’m signing yours, you’re doing the same for me!” They exchanged each other’s sheets.

  “Do you know if we can sign more than one square?” Vijay asked.

  “I don’t think you’re supposed to! The whole point of this is to meet new people. I could have filled out half the squares on your sheet. But then where would you be?”

  “I’d be with half as many new friends,” Vijay grinned. “Come on, they haven’t said you can’t do that.”

  Almost as if on cue, Manju came back on stage. “Everyone. A few rules. Each person can only sign your page once…”