Chapter XVII
Swipe Right: The Lunch Box Journal

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Tap. Tap. Tap. The sounds resonated in the confinement of a “too much of AC” confined floor divided into small cubicles for an optimal office look. The busy afternoon transpired into a lazy evening. A phone call here, a loud sigh there; a key swipe here, a few turned heads there, a closed door here, a printer-printing sound there. The office was completely functional, optimally. And then the clock struck four.

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Four! It was almost time for their evening-pre-snack-coffee break. They went like a trail of ants one after the another swiping their key cards one after the another, picked up their coffees, teas and green teas and sat comfortably as the sun played hide and seek in a dimly lit open cafeteria. A moment after they settled down, they started talking about the important topic of all – Nothing really that important. But then they got a little distracted when they witnessed a little too much PDA between two people (also called as a couple, well ‘alleged’ of course). Shocked was the first reaction because PDA, how and HOW CAN THEY? Surprised was the next reaction because it was an office and PDA is sort of new to see, out in the public at least. Detest was the next reaction because they never got around to do it, well not in public and yes, never got around to come even close for some.

This random well-thought-of act by two complete strangers hit that chord that no one touched earlier. And they needed to do something about it. And it was finding themselves a partner to do the very thing that they witnessed, or so was the plan. Sameer was a happily married man, so he wasn’t that motivated as the other guys in the group. Let’s not even talk about Manohar, who is way too decent for all this melodrama. Neil could most probably have a great chance but his thoughts about all this were kind of aligned elsewhere. He is waiting to meet that special someone and then and then also he won’t do any PDA. It seemed as if it was just not in his DNA. The other remaining guys had entirely different plan to proceed with this whole finding a suitable partner thing.

For the record, Akhil had already been quite experienced in this aspect and have had his share of experience, but that stopped a while ago when the stars (literally) didn’t seem to favor their union. And under the same record, he already has a huge crush on one of the girls but a little (or may be a lot) shy to approach and break the ice. Gautham is a bit of a secretive guy who doesn’t quite usually reveal his past encounters unless he is put in the hot seat and interrogated. And even then he keeps the crucial information under wraps. Aryan, contrary to popular belief that he might as well be a playboy, is exactly the opposite of it. Because he was one who put forth the biggest opportunity a single guy could ever get about this world wide phenomenal mobile application called – Tinder.

What should have blown the minds away didn’t quite do its magic! Aryan tried to convince about the (un)successful stories that others had (his unsuccessful and others successful, of course)which he himself is yet to have) it gave way to a new hope. The hope that one usually hears in phrases such as “light at the end of the tunnel” (which usually turns out to be a bullet train and before you can proce..) or like that greener grass on the other side. Hope, what a beautiful concept! A minute later one of the two had installed the app, while Aryan got busy with the possible matches he might find in his vicinity. A few minutes later Akhil joined in. The reason for his delay was basically due to his status update call to his “friend” Ayushi. Aryan was already busy in the process of finding his match. This might sound like a tedious process, but it was pretty easy one. All he ever did was swipe right at all the photos that appeared on the screen without even looking at them. There was no point looking anyway, as quoted by him. Perhaps, he was the more experienced guy among the other three and may it was the way. While Aryan did his expert swiping, Gautham was busy reading the bio of the people and checking each and every person’s photo.

(To be Continued …)

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Did they find whom they are looking for? Because “What you seek is seeking you”, someone might as quote it. But before that, there was a Goa Trip coming along, or was it just a plan? Read on...

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If it interests you, you could find the other parts here :

Chapter I: Introduction
Chapter II: Be the Sherlock
Chapter III: A New Leaf
Chapter IV: Adieu
Chapter V: Being Decent
Chapter VI: Capricious 
Chapter VII: Delighted
Chapter VIII: Too Early
Chapter IX: Fitness..zzz
Chapter X: The Health Guru
Chapter XI: Horror Story
Chapter XII: Impulse
Chapter XIII: Jinx
Chapter XIV: Keep up
Chapter XV: Lock up
Chapter XVI: A Miss

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