THE TROUBLE IN FINDING A GUY TO MARRY IN LATE 20s

"Hi Aunty! Shalu's there?" asked Ritu to her best friend's mom. She knew the answer to the question, since the two girls had just been chatting.

"In the room," said Aunty letting in Ritu.

Ritu knocked on Shalini's room door and slowly opened it. The other girl was lying on the bed with her eyes closed. Ritu plonked herself besides Shalu and closed her eyes too.

"Why are you here?" asked Shalu.

"You know why I am here," said Ritu.

"I cant offer you any support or advice. I too am in the same f-ing boat, frustrated as hell," confessed Shalu.

"Aunty is driving you crazy as well! What is it - matrimonial sites or personal meet ups?" asked Ritu.

"One followed by another. First you rak your brains over a website, where you have to constantly remind yourself that you are looking for a match and not buying products. It is so difficult to put yourself out there only to be judged by others. And no matter how much these websites talk about giving the girl the preference and security, it is still scary," said Shalu.

"Well, that is the easy part. Once you like someone and decide to meet, there are so many other complications that come up. I have met so many suitors now and yet the awkwardness of meeting the first time remains. Often I feel like a prized good that is being shown to be sold. It's a feeling... I am not putting the blame on my parents or anything," said Ritu.

"I spoke to mom about it. But..."

"I spoke to mom as well. And she said if I had a problem then I should have found someone for myself," said Ritu.

"We tried, didn't we? You dated that engineer, while I dated that hotelier," said Shalu.

"Pretty sure, we would have been thrown out of our houses had we told them we were dating. That time age was on our side . Now it is like whoever we get should be fine, as long as we don't stay single," said Ritu.

"I will be 30 in 2 months and you will be following soon behind," said Shalu.

"I am dreading that number. Don't know what will happen then," said Ritu.

"You know I have started to question my life. Marriage, kids, families..." said Shalu.

"What!" exclaimed Ritu.

"I mean do I really want a marriage? What will it prove anyways? And I realised that society doesn't give women an option to think apart from marriage, kids. They say they are being open and accepting, but the numbers are nomial," said Shalu.

By now Ritu was startled. She couldn't believe what her friend was uttering. So she got up and shook the other girl. "Shalu, are you on drugs or something?"

"You won't understand," said Shalu looking straight at her friend and realising the fact that Ritu didn't want a solution. She was just wanting her best friend to hear her out.

"Stop staring and say something," said Ritu.

"It's sleep deprivation talking. Forget what I said. You haven't yet told me why you came here," said Shalu.

And Ritu animatedly started telling Shalu about the new guy her mother wanted her to meet.