Chapter XXXVII
Dilemma: The Lunch Box Journal

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Story so far: What was the other surprise? And who had planned that surprise? What was happening with Gautham’s overseas plan? And Akhil’s Visa, is it any close to being done? While Neil is embracing the new found interest for online messaging service, would he become part of the crowd that is too immersed in the virtual world than what’s in front? Read on…

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“I even googled the topics since I was out of topics”

Aryan had been sitting in the canteen for a little over an hour when Neil had finally arrived at the office. He had some news to share with the group, but then he wanted to tell the whole group. So, he figured the ideal time would be when they go for lunch, but or their tea break. Gautham messaged them to inform that he would be coming to office a little late. A little mean that he would be taking the next available bus which was an hour later, and so was the case with Akhil. Madhav was already inside the office and tapping away on the keyboard only to be joined by Aryan and Neil. The office was busy, as it was business as usual, and more so since it was the middle of the week. Gautham arrived a little later after Aryan had his stand up meeting with the team he was working in along with Madhav.

Gautham had a concerning look on his face. He had a question for Aryan and was hoping that he won’t judge him for asking. His assumption was that Aryan was good at talking online, which basically meant chatting, and probably he could help him out. He had been talking to his new matrimonial match and it had been a wonderful ride for him. There have been a few hurdles but nothing too difficult for him to tackle. First of all, she was in her hometown and talking to her meant calling her mother, since she didn’t have a phone of her own. Secondly, when she had finally shifted to the same city as he was in, she did have a phone which didn’t have access to the internet. Though he had an extra phone he could spare but giving it to her would be too awkward and probably won’t be appreciated by the family of hers. Also, she was in search of a job and staying at her relative’s home, him meeting her was close to very rare or simply not possible, as of yet since even though both the families had agreed but they haven’t yet been engaged. Among all these hurdles, he was still talking to her whenever he could while mostly it was through texts, those SMS’s that are slowly becoming obsolete via them. While that was alright, there was another hurdle that he needed help with. He was going out of topics to her. He even had to google for some topics to talk to a girl. He had to take that drastic step for another reason, that the girl on the other end of the phone, however, didn’t want the conversation to end but at the same time wasn’t much of a talker. And he was taking the queue and finding topics to talk to her. After he had finished with the ones’ that were suggested on Google, he turned to the guy sitting next to him at the office.

Aryan, however, was the only guy who wasn’t in a relationship or ever was. He used to be online and seemed to talk to a few of the people online most of them being girls, the basic assumption of him being good at talking to girls is a too far fetched thought but not completely false either. He did laugh back when he was asked the question, not because Gautham had googled, but because Gautham’s first choice of asking that question was him. While he had suggested a few things such as talk about the past experiences, about the friends he had, or the trips he was on, and the likes of it, a few of which he had already done, but the rest he noted down, mentally. While the rest of the group had a nice laugh at the “Googling” but they did pitch in their ideas what they thought could be done to keep the talks going and not find themselves in awkward silence.

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Neil took the right time when the whole group was there to invite all of them for the marriage that was scheduled few months down the lane. While all of his friends and himself were happy with the news, Gautham had been identified for a project overseas and Akhil got his Visa as well, bringing the question of whether they could make it to Neil’s marriage or not since it was around the same time. Gautham had to clear an interview for that first but was unsure whether to break the news at home or not, or to Deeksha. Because he knew that neither his mom or his new girlfriend Deeksha would be happy to see him travel too far off. While Gautham was preparing for the interview, Akhil too got an opportunity, but he had to act fast. Akhil was too excited about the new found opportunity and was expecting to be traveling alone with Gautham while Gautham cleared the interview with flying colors. Gautham had to travel close to a month later while Akhil was juggling over the things to get the things in order since he would have to travel in a week.

Gautham hadn’t met Deeksha in a while. This one time was a pure coincidence, or so he tells his mates, when he went to the church one Sunday. This church was way too far from his house and there were a couple of churches in between, but still, they both coming across each other was a complete coincidence. Quite believable as well. And gradually, he broke the news to his girlfriend first, who didn’t want him to leave as of yet. Later he told his mom about the overseas news, who too wasn’t as happy since she still didn’t want him to go away from home as of yet, when there are a lot of things that need to be taken care of, including his marriage. His perspective was that since the girl’s family had asked for some time for her to get settled down, he could go overseas, stay there for a year and come back just in time for marriage, which wasn’t a bad plan either. But still mom being mom, she was still a bit scared of all that. A week later Deeksha was still insisting of staying and not go overseas. “I love you”, she said in one of their conversations, literally proposing him, his first* ever proposal.

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(To be Continued …)

Did Gautham finally make it on the other side of the planet? What was the deal with Akhil’s opportunity? How deep was Neil in his marriage preparations? What were Madhav and Aryan upto?
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The Lunch Box Journal

ak, mmxviii