Sipra's Diary: [Excerpt from]. " In quest of right bride."

 Bride -Hunting...... [. Excerptfrom the novel]

Next Brijj met Suraj in the conference of Chicago after three months. Brij hugged   Suraj with cheers .

"Hi.  good to see you ....now  show me the photo of your  life-partner!       .quick."

Suraj grinned. "First let me share about my  dystopian but also somewhat  fantastic experiences of those girls!" 

Brij  perched   himself on a sofa opposite to  suraj, with awe    and curiosity in his face .

"  ...go on,   my hero!'--

Suraj: "Please hold on your enthusiasm;  in fact it's a story of failure and fun, not of any hero, but umm... of Mr.Zero."

"Aha-, will you  please start now, Mr Zero-hero!"

-" please   hold on some  patience man; story is told and listened slowly and very slowly, like  champaign  or wine  with small sip;  not to swallow like bitter medicine,  understand ?"

- Brij  swallowed the vodka from. his glass in one sip and poured the second round in the  glass, while replied,"yes I understand everything                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       quickly.  Will you start now ?"

Suraj started to narrate his experience of "bride -hunting":----                    

.....Yes as I reached. Jaipur Airport, I saw a suited-booted  smart looking man was waiting with my name on the the arrival lounge .Surprisingly the man  recognized me and gave me a smile and introduced himself,'I am  Mr Gopilal, the agent of the Matrimonial,-'Bondless Bond".---------------

    Umm... hope the flight was smooth, sir?"..

Coming to the parking lot  Suraj saw a black  shiny Rolls Royce car with driver wearing   Rajsthani dress with turban like  a king.

The driver opened the door with pleasant smile; he  got into the car with the agent.

Suraj:  what time it needs to  reach....

Gopilal :  Not more than 35//40 minutes .

Suraj:  Now it is about 11:am. I must come back within12:45 because I have to accomplish  a few more appointments.

Gopilal:  Ok, no problem!... Sir,  here I have the album of  "Beauty Tejoria" with her full bio-data, hobby etc. .You can browse it and free to ask me question,   he held the album towards him .

(...So the name is 'Beauty,' and not  any of native name like  Nina, Bina, Mina !) 

 Waiving his hands Suraj replied ,"it is not necessary."I need to talk with the lady  alone about 15/20 minutes ,  after the introduction with her guardian.

Agent: Beauty's father  is the richest as well as most influential  person in Jaipur; he is an eminent figure in this area.. he lived in the habeli known  as "Marble House". 

 Once  King  (late)Jogeswar  Rathore  was  the previous owner of this  "Marble House.'

......... Suraj was  absorbed in trodding the memory lane of his bitter part of past life in his motherland  while looking outside through the window of the running car , without paying ears to the  story of the agent .

He was rocked back to the present world when the agent , addressed him with the opened door of the car., 

"  Sir, here we are - the Marble House!"

Suraj asked the matrimonial Company that  he wanted  an  ordinary graduate  girl  of middle-class family without any demand of dowry.

....So 'Rolls Royce' ,  Marble House  , two security guards in front of. the  royal steel iron gate which emit pride of money,  were  adding only negative repulsive points in the mind of Suraj.----------

He was warmly greeted by the parent as he entered with the agent in the   exhuberantly    adorned  drawing room . They all took seat  in the sofa.The initial introductory chat with drinks and snacks was running  on.

The agent announced that Suraj wanted to talk with Beauty alone. Mr Tejoria said, "Sure, sure , no problem! 

He called Meghna, the woman who served drinks and snacks.             Meghna appeared to say that Beauty  would  come back within ten/fifteen minutes from the 'conference  of  women welfare'.

As Meghna left , Mr Tejoria informed:

-- "I have to appoint Meghna to fix  programs of my daughter Beauty and schedule her calendar, to remind her!"

Mr.Tejoria said :"Beauty, my only child  is my pride". 

"She is expert in hiking, biking, swimming, horse-riding, driving  and what not; Last year she was invited by Lion's Club  in Calcutta to participate in the Vintage Rally; she is almost  my unofficial business partner...  E-he-he-he."....father gave. a.  proud but soft laugh.

....Suraj became impatient .Holding the drinking glass, he asked in a filmy style like hero, 

"I am interested to know how is she as bed-partner?

 The  parent exchanged  their stunt  looks to each other with different expression :while the mouth of Mrs Tejoria was slightly opened,  Mr Tejoria's jaw was tightened hard! Then they throw the ball towards the agent by casting  their confused eyes .

The agent also was nervous and puzzled what to answer . He rubbed  his palms and pushed them to his  trouser's pocket, to shake off his nervousness; 

"yea, --yea --, that's a good question  no doubt! umm, m-m"..he stammered,   "  y-e-s some say she is not good at all;"

 (the advance payment of Rs 2000/in the envelop  of  trouser's pocket, as if, whimpered with the touch of   finger and palm...

...  What the hell is he ! as  agent he  must add only positive quality!)

So to rectify  he promptly  lifted his body and walked facing towards     the  opened window ;

 Shrugging the shoulder he divulged - .".also  it is rumoured ,

       she is so-so; "  

Then   throwing his right hand upward  with a snap  dramatically declared,  but  some say,

      " She is fantastic!"

..........a  pin-drop-silence in the room !

With shocking  surprise  Gopilal noticed  through the window,  that Suraj was getting inside the car to leave..He turned back and saw the empty sofa of Suraj and as live statues of Mrs and MR.Tejoria.

He rushed but  the car passed before he reached the gate.

The  car was still  in slow motion near the gate;

With cracked throat Gopilal. called ,

'Sai-ear'..raising hand to stop-the car ;as he tried to rush  through the gate, he was  interrupted by a robust hand with a dagger  close   to his  center of chest ; he became pale to see the  dagger dazzled in bright sunlight!

 In a calm  somber voice  the security man  asked ,"give back the advanced money before crossing the gate."

 Like automated machine Gopilal handed over the envelope with advanced Rs,2000 as gatepass and walked towards the road like a toddler.  

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