Episode 1. Arya believed herself to be a progressive modern Indian woman. She had ditched feminism and taken on the identity of an equitarian. But she never came around to seeing herself married. When it came to her orientation she knew she was definitely straight. She could appreciate hot looking women but men definitely fucked with her neurochemicals. At 29 years old and being single all her life, Arya believed the type of man she wanted, the kind that shared chores, that liked to cuddle, who was sensitive, who was super successful yet super humble, was rare. That was not the only reason she was single though; in reality she was not confident enough, was shy and didn’t know how to interact with men. Now looking at herself in the mirror she was mildly shocked it had come to this- an arranged marriage. Well, for now, she was decked up for an arranged engagement. Things had progressed fast- all it took was one night of binge facebook scrolling to realised she was wayyyyy behind on the social ranking. Her friends were all married, travelling, breaking the glass ceiling, having kids and getting engaged. After going into panic mode about how not only was she not doing any of those things, at the rate at which her life seemed to be moving, she would end up being known as the unmarried aunty who held their aged mother’s bags and wore decades old clothes that people gossiped and pitied at family functions. Even though it was 12:39 am in the morning, she shook her mom awake and told her she would do as she said, look at prospective boys and be open to marriage. She then put down her phone and pensively bit her nails wondering if she had enough time to get married before she turned 30! 30 was practically middle age she thought and panicked at the seconds that were slipping away from her life. Now she was 2 months away from turning 30 and finally her mother had found a boy who was also willing to move things fast. The boy, from what she could gather from the photo, was attractive, he was tall, dark and seemed confident; so, clearly out of her league. A slow alarm went off when she said yes to the guy without even talking to the family or the boy and the date for the engagement had been fixed. She was going to meet the guy today for the first time. Butterflies threw up a storm in her body and she only took small breaths to keep calm. She then took a final look at herself in the mirror before having to head out into the prying eyes of everyone who were gathered to observe the spectacle of her biting the dust. She didn’t know if she looked good, she definitely looked different; with all the jewellery her mom had diligently saved up and the red silk saree she had finally agreed on. She bent one knee in the mirror and tried to stylishly place her arm on it like those Instagram savvy friends of her did in their posts; she looked like a cripple she thought and decided it would take time to master these things. It was not as easy as it looked. “arya, aytha? Open the door fast I need to check the pleats of the saree” her mom spoke through the gaps of her room door. Her mom finally stopped pulling and tucking things and looked at her breathing a sigh of relief. “Drishti aagbidatthe” she gushed and cracked her knuckles on the sides of her forehead and that gave arya some confidence to leave her room. A weird energy went through the room when arya entered the hall like people were waiting for something out of the normal to happen. My parish priest also arrived at the same time and I folded my hands in a namaste to everyone that looked senior. I then shyly laid my eyes on my husband to be who was impatiently shaking his legs looking a little distracted in his chair and had my heart clock my throat because he looked better than the pictures. Sure, he was two shades fairer and I had two panic attacks in half a second’s time. And before I knew it we had exchanged rings and I floated about not really able to think anything other than thanking my lucky stars for catching a man that handsome looking! He seemed polite and confident but smelled like a lot of sweat and that was still okay with me. Then the “beegaru” were sent off with their bellies full of delicious snacks and food and I sneaked a final look at the man of my dreams as he got into the front seat of his black car. Her mother beamed about finally feeling like she accomplished something and could finally join the league of ladies whose kids were considered “settled”. Her father who had little patience for long events retired to his book after patting arya’s head with a smile. Everyone was happy and Arya was feeling somewhat more whole after the engagement. She wasn’t unwanted and she wasn’t a looser. She had a masters degree, a job in a good publishing company that paid okayish; still not bad, and a marriage that was coming together beyond her wildest imaginations. The next day, Arya, went about stalking her to be husband’s profile and final thought it would be okay to send a request. She did shyly and held the phone to her heart all excited.