I liked Nichole Kidman because she was married to Tom Cruise, not because she was pretty. I liked Jennifer Aniston, because she was Brad Pitt’s girl, not because she was good actress. Well I prefer watching English movies, since they get to the point and the movies just lasts an hour and a half! My life as a software engineer, working in Hyderabad, leading a bachelor life, watching movie was my favorite hobby, since I had neither had a girl friend nor I wanted one. I was brought up by a conservative mother, so the idea that smoking, drinking etc is all considered sins in the eyes of god was well fueled into my brain so I never gave it a shot. Well girls were a different story, for some reason didn’t interest me even in my teens, I was more of a book worm, my only goal was to become a Aeronautic Engineer and work at the NASA, well that dream never came true. I got into engineering at Pilani, with full scholarship, I could see the stars were shining down on me, and I was more determined in becoming an Aeronautic Engineer than I was before until I met him. Everything changed, my priorities changed, even though we spent most of our time studying, we had the best laugh we could have ever had, and I longed for his company and our friendly competition in solving problems became a passion in defeating each other and winning over each other and we almost became rivals, but we had a special chemistry that neither of us really understood. I am not sure exactly thing changed between us, somehow we drifted apart and I ended up taking a job in Delhi and he moved onto Calcutta.

My first job was tough and a lot of work, and now I had long forgotten my dream of becoming an Aeronautic Engineer and working at NASA, once I grasped the reality of life. I missed him dearly and our only contact was through emails and our competitive emails helped us both and I rose pretty quickly in my company and moved onto Hyderabad taking the position of a project team leader. After a couple of months he completely surprised me by showing up at my office and we went out for a lunch and had a great time and spent the night at a bar, of course, me drinking at least 5 rounds of coke.

Next day morning did not feel awkward for the both of us and I knew I was in love. I am not sure how it happened and I couldn’t explain, and I didn’t have any answers to all the questions that were in my mind. We became room mates and eventually more than room mates, we were walking towards the path of partnership, I knew in my heart I wouldn’t want it any other way. Things were going smooth until my parents insisted that I get married and sent me pictures of girls they liked. I rejected each and every one of them and imposed restrictions and escaped another year. My sister had a baby and I had to be there to perform my duty as her uncle and I dreaded that day.

I had thought that I should tell my parents that I had some kind of disease and I won’t live long, so I don’t want to get married. That would kill my mother, so decided against it. Telling her that I had lost my manliness in an accident was also a thought that crossed my mind, but my ego wouldn’t give in to that. I had even thought about telling them the truth, my father will first kill me and then kill himself, so that is out of question. I reached home and was given a warm welcome and everything went fine and the moment I was dreading came, but I had a surprise awaiting me before that. My younger sister fell in love and was getting married, my mom cried out loud, we are not invited, she sobbed and my dad continued with a straight face, she is not my daughter any more; I have washed my hands on her. I was shocked, but that gave me an idea and a story unraveled in my mind and I knew that is what I was going to tell them, that should soften the blow and I will be off the hook. My father changed the topic by enquiring about my job, my future plans and asked if I was in love with someone else, he mainly wanted to know the reason for all my rejections. I had not expected him to come right out, I swallowed my saliva and took a deep breath and narrated the story in the most promising way I could deliver, the one I had gone over and over in the last hour.

That was a major relief, and I was off the hook. Surprisingly everything had gone well, and it felt like a major burden had been lifted off of my chest. Life with him was wonderful and we knew we had restrictions and secrets to live with as long as we lived here. In the US, in the state of California a law was passed of which we decided to take advantage of and we moved over here and adopted a baby girl and our life had been beautiful ever since. I had been visiting my parents every alternate year since then, and it had been twenty five years and I am praying the flight lands on time and it is not too late for me to see my father, I knew he has been counting his days, I want to see him before he takes his last breath, I have to, I really have to.

Thanks god I made it, but something I had not planned on, something that will haunt me for the rest of my life happened. My dad took my hand and told me, “I never told you how proud I am to have you as my son, marrying a girl who can’t have child of her own and adopting a child, I am so proud, and I was holding my breath to tell you that. My son!” He closed his eyes and never opened. I know I can never sleep again.