Sonali's Suitors - Bharati Rose (best time to read books TXT) 📗

Chapter Eight

I went home at 11:00 p.m after hanging out with Neelu for the rest of the day. It felt good to break into a smile again. I had been doing less and less of that since this marriage talk started. I was a little anxious however. Listening to Neelu I had agreed to meet Gautham. Yet what did I know about him other than the fact that he was a distant relative of Chandrika’s. I had to devise a plan to make myself appear less than attractive in Gautham’s eyes. But how? Then an idea struck me. FACEBOOK! He was sure to be on facebook for sure. I would gather all the details about him, from his pet peeves to his dirty little secrets. Information was priceless.
I logged onto my account and typed his name into the search engine. Please find him, please. It had come down to me pleading with a piece of technology. How much more pathetic could I get? I chided myself to try and keep a grip on my sanity.

There were several hits. I scrolled down the list of countless Gauthams furtively searching for a match. Which one was the one I was looking for? I picked up my cell and called Neelu. He picked up on the first ring.

“What are you up to Sona? It’s midnight already.”

“Don’t you think I know that loser? What is that Gautham guy’s last name?”

“How would I know? I recall Chandu saying it was Sathyamurthy Iyer or something.”

“Ok thanks, I’ll call you later.”

“Hold on a sec. What’s this about?”

“I’m just doing a background check on the guy.”

“You’re making this more difficult than it seems.”

“I’m just covering my bases. I need to know I’m prepared.”

“This is not World War Three for you to need artillery; it’s just a harmless meeting.”

“Maybe for you it isn’t. Look I’ve got to go. I’ll catch you later.”

Cutting the call I proceeded to type in the surname. The matches narrowed down one lone hit. I had him. Gautham Satyamurthy Iyer.

Occupation : Lawyer

Wow a lawyer huh! How was I going to persuade myself out of this one? I had an uncanny sense of humour at times. Well Mr. Satyamurthy here goes! I started to flip through his interests and apps. He enjoys reading, and many of the books I do. He hates people who put their feet on seats in the subway. I can completely understand where he’s coming from. Hmmmm, this stuff wasn’t enough to devise any sort of plan. Dig deeper Sona, dig deeper.

Strange enough there were no photos of him up. Not even in one in the albums he kept of his family, colleagues and friends. He was in no photographs at all. Darn, I was actually quite curious to see if he was prince charming or the hunchback of Notre Dame. Although personality wise I would say that prince charming was a bloke and the hunchback a darling. Talk about being camera shy. I wouldn’t say I was camera shy but I would not voluntarily take photos of myself either. I always had this really dumb notion that each snapshot that you took of yourself would steal away a piece of your soul and what would be left behind was a faded memory. That taking a photo meant reducing your life expectancy. It’s really stupid I know, but I believed it. Maybe Gautham did too.

As for dirt, this guy appeared to be pretty clean, either that, or he was hiding way too much about himself. There were no pictures of beautiful exotic women in his personal photo collection, no negative comments written on his wall.

Then I struck gold. I found a post on his wall from a friend, to which he had responded over series of threads. The contents of the messages sent back and forth were regarding a pet peeve of Gautham’s. He absolutely despised self-absorbed and haughty people. He had written about a girl he had passed on the street who looked as if she had stepped off the cover of cosmopolitan magazine but regarded others around her with disdain. The girl had dashed into an old lady on the street while hailing a cab and proceeded to shout all sorts of profanity at the elderly woman for not watching where she was going before climbing into the awaiting cab. He had wanted to yell at the girl and demand she apologize for her nerve, because it had been her fault that they clashed in the first place.

Hmm, so disrespect to the elderly, over the top fashion sense and self-praise were a no-no on the potential checklist Gautham had for prospective brides. I think I have a plan. I was starting to think that Gautham bordered on being the darling hunchback.

Publication Date: 11-05-2011

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