Guns And Roses

‘Somewhere out there,I know there is a someone
who is waiting just for me, Maahiyaaaaaaaaaaa
He is gonaa set me free maahiyaaaaaaaaaa’
Jiski aankhon mein meri hi nami ho
Koyi toh hai woh yaar maahiyaaaaaaaa
Karoon main intezaar maahiyaaaaa’

There I was crooning happily everywhere – at home, at the gym, in the office, while looking dreamily into the stars at night, and binging after-hours.This song was on my lips. Meanwhile, folks at home were getting real anxious about ‘packing me off’. But, I was giving them a real tough time, with my own gyaan on Mr.Right and making their search …well quite a ´search´.

Matches kept pouring in by the dozen – the long and the short, the black and the white, the rich and the poor, the sane and the insane. But nothing or no one ignited the woman in me. I didn’t want my marriage to be even remotely close to a business dealing. I just didn’t want another nerdy IT/Management graduate from a premier school or some gold medalist or some H1/Greencard holder. I wanted so much more. I was greedy for moooorrreeee. So, I sang to my folks that…

‘I’m lookin’ for someone who can make me feel
A serious love like Juliet’s is real
A little impulsive and a boy at heart
A little bit shy but he’ll be oh so smart
Superman ..I need a Superman’

My lil Rome was on FIRE. The same old arguments, the cliched lectures – Yawn! I was like a spider trapped in my own web. I had the gun aimed right on my forehead. But,when life takes you to the deepest pit, there’s absolutely nothing to fear. Coz there’s only one direction you could go from there – UP. So, there I was – cool as a cucumber. Happy in my own blissful dreamy world, dancing happily on Cloud No 9 with my fantasy guy and looking down on the world below! Waiting for God to send his winged snow white dove to take me from the bottomless pit to the highest of the highest skies above!

‘Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything’s okay and everything’s going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything’s gone wrong and everything blows up
In your face’

I remember vividly that Sunday afternoon when I met this stunner oops.. stranger. He had the curliest locks I had ever seen on a man, the brownest eyes I had ever laid my eyes on, the broadest warmest smile I was ever greeted with and oh yeah, those freckles caught my fancy coz I had never seen them before. I could instantly hear violins and saxophones playing on my heart strings. I was transported straight back to ‘Mahiyaland’.

‘I wish u could see urself the way i see ya
U shine just like a star mahiyaaaaa
Cuz ur my only pyar mahiyaaaaaaa
Tu nay aisee adda se mujhe dekha
dil ho gaya nisaar mahiyaaaa
tu hi ha mera pyar mahiyaaa’

To my shocking delight, he greeted me with the cheeriest “Hi” accompanied by his disarming smile. Funnily, his greeting unnerved me and left me utterly clueless of my reaction to this rank stranger. Errrrr!….. Did I know this guy too well that he greeted me like we know each other for several births? Sheepishly, I returned his enthusiastic greeting with an impassionate and cold “Hi”.Little did I realize then, I had bumped into the most important person in my life. Little did I realize that I had just bumped into ‘my life’.

‘I know that he is gonna be my destiny
It’s all a part of Cupid’s conspiracy.
Kabse uske aaney ki main raah takoon
Kabse chupa ke use dil mein rakhoon’

Ryan introduced himself in his own unique style – ‘I’m really bad at these ice breakers but I try not to make it too obvious. Am born and brought up in Hyderabad; that makes me one ‘Pakka Hyderabadi’. I’m a Goan by lineage though I’ve hardly ever learnt Konkani. Not a lover of seafood and I don’t stink like a fish. Work? I work on blowing up my boss’s fuse.’ Later, he disclosed he was a Hardware engineer by profession.

So, there you have the destined meeting of a quirky beauteous Malayali babe and a subtly intelligent Goan hunk set-up by Universe´s conspiracy.

We went out on our first date to Café Coffee Day realizing little that a lot can happen over coffee. With chilled caffeine down our guts and raindrops by the window, we hit it off instantly like a nicely brewed instant coffee. We discovered some interesting tit-bits about each other. We belonged to the same Parish, lived a stone’s throw away from each others homes, studied in adjacent schools and yet never bumped into each other all these years.

As we kept probing into each other’s history further,we realized we must have crossed each other’s paths earlier. I didn’t know this guy. Yet I might have seen him before. Reminsced how our then Parish Priest Fr.Lourdu kept raving about a young Catholic guy from the church who was a State rank holder in the Engineering Entrance Exams. Hazy images of Ryan ran threw my head. I remembered seeing him as young boy with his uncle(a well-known academician himself) in the front benches at church, singing the hymns loudly. We kept probing trying to find all the possible connections and links.

Things started to really roll at a fast pace from then on. He’d catch me after office hours, land up at my gym, show up unexpectedly under my balcony with a pink rose in one hand and marshmallows in the other, pop the ‘Genie act’ here, there and everywhere. There was no escaping him. He started to show up even in my dreams.”.

‘Mahiya, U set mah soul on fire
I felt just like a rose mahiyaaaaaa
When I was in ur arms mahiyaaa’

I know this might sound really cheesy but it´s true. We realized the more we had of each other, the more we wanted each other. Too much was just too little for us. We discussed nothing and everything. We discussed our past, the present and our future. The future seemed bright with the vision of the two of us as one.

He never ceases to amaze me every other time. The sheer range of his intellect – be it a topic on electronics/technology, medicine and all the current health news, music, history,travel & geography,sports etc. He could educate you with his sheer company.

A nerdy hardware engineer, an ace TT player (a state-level player at one time), a mind-blowing singer and musician, a fabulous artist, my 24/7 standup comedian, mimic in the making, my fashion guru, my ATS(Any time Santa-Claus – pampering me silly with all his whacky gifts), my quack homeopathy doctor, my trusted photographer and God alone knows what more lies in the waiting – That’s my blue-eyed boy in a nutshell.”

When he sang me his first song – Bon Jovi’s ‘Bed of Roses’, my hair literally stood up. I stood there totally mesmerized in Ryan’s big brown eyes and completely bowled over by the sheer intensity and passion in his voice. He could make me bawl out like a baby while snorting on his handkerchief with my life’s minute problems. And he could crack me up silly with his rib-tickling ways and antics.

From strangers to a newly engaged couple, we soon became each other’s confidants. Talking to Ryan was like talking to myself. We were one soul in two bodies.”

Handsome is what handsome does and on that count, Ryan’s truly the handsomest. Accepting me for the good, bad and the ugly, loving me in the good times and in the bad, making me feel like the most beautiful woman in this Universe even when I’m Ms.Underworld herself and most importantly giving me soooo much love and respect, treating like a real woman.

Oh yes! At last I found my match – the Matchless One who ignited the woman in me the moment he strikes.

‘Happiness is a warm gun
When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know that nobody can do me no harm
Happiness is a warm gun, boy
Happiness is a warm gun’

Ryan is more than a dream partner. He’s my sweet reality – now and forever.

From guns aimed on my forehead to roses showered from above, blessings truly come in disguises. What more can I ask for? More roses ……(Wink!)