It Can Be Arranged

        (Note : Here's a different genre I've tried writing for the first time. It's the open letter format. Hope you guys like it. Reviews (even critical ones) are appreciated.)

        To the man I'm going to marry,

        Here I sit writing this letter to you on Valentine's Day - unemployed and single AF. My only hope is that you are out there somewhere and that this letter finds its way to you, before you find your way to me. Because there are some things about me that I think you should know before we do the whole arranging our marriage thing. So here goes.

        Firstly, I'm a feminist. If you're still here after I've uttered the f-word, well congratulations! I was raised to believe that I could accomplish anything I wanted in life, anything I put my mind to. So yes, I'm an ambitious girl and what attracts me the most in a man is his passion for something in life. If you're a person who loves my ambition instead of being threatened by it, I think we'll be really happy together.

        I have to confess, I'm not a fan of arranged marriages. I'm a writer - being a hopeless romantic is sort of an occupational hazard for my kind. Although after twenty six years on this plane, I think I'm almost over the whole falling-in-love bullshit and I'm beginning to think that arranged marriage might be my only way of finally finding you. I've spent my life being single because I refused to settle for anything less than I thought I deserved. You see, I learned to love myself quite late in life and it taught me that setting high standards for myself isn't a bad thing.

        I love stories and I tend to fall in love with fictional characters and then mope over the fact that they're not real. The internet tells me that this is my defence mechanism to avoid pain, because you see, fictional people can't hurt you. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very practical person. I'm just a control freak who knows what it's like to get hurt and wants to avoid feeling that way again, at all costs.

        I'm a woman of many talents and interests and if there's one thing I can promise you, it's this - there will never be a dull moment with me. We'll go dancing on Saturdays and maybe even on Tuesdays because well, Mondays are too stressful. I'll cook for us not because it's expected of me but because I love cooking and I'm assuming you'll do the dishes later. I'll drag you with me on treks and impromptu road trips and nag you over those 3 kgs you gained from Diwali. I'll force you to read Harry Potter and be annoyed if you don't get my constant FRIENDS references. I'm not the kind of girl who'll be mad if you want to spend time with your friends instead of me, because come on, I've got a squad of my own and I've no idea how those idiots are going to get through life without me.

        I'm proud to say that I've mastered the art of switching between being a tomboy and being a lady. I can kick your ass at foosball and look like a bomb at the same time. You literally get the best of both worlds. I tend to swear when I'm stressed because I find it oddly cathartic. What's more, I can do it in seven different languages (four Indian, three European). They're the same number of languages in which I can say 'I love you'. I may cry when I'm angry because it's so much better for the economy than throwing and breaking stuff.

        I'm not looking for someone to complete me - I'm my own person, whole and complete. I'm looking for a partner in crime and in life, someone who's my equal. In the end, I'm only looking for the things that I'm ready to give.

        So we'll meet someday, maybe through our parents, maybe over kandepohe or maybe we'll just get introduced to each other at someone else's wedding and realise that life will be better with us in it together - you never know. Till then, I'm quite warming up to the idea of arranged marriage. It is, after all, just another way of meeting you.

        ¡Hasta pronto!

(Not yet) Yours,
Future Wife.