BEATING YOU IN YOUR OWN GAME

       (Individual’s name, country’s name, nationality have been avoided for the sake of privacy)

In the post-Facebook era, where ‘privacy’ has a new meaning, we have seen how hook-ups and break-ups have become banal. Social networking sites do helps in decoding the moves of a cheater, but love usually happens off-line. And here is a story that took place way back in the 1960s the era marked by the birth of various countercultures. Actually, this story was narrated to me by a friend of mine. Here, I am sharing it with a hope that it will warm your heart too. I have taken the liberty to edit a bit, but the plot remains the same. You see I am someone who does not like happy endings; nevertheless, I am romantic at heart.

Once there was a man who made a promise to remain a confirmed bachelor throughout his life. But when the pressure grew from his family and his friends to get him hitched, he being a clever man put forward a condition, the condition was- any woman who could spend two months with him in his deserted cabin which was located in one of the cold mountains of the neighbouring country could be his wife. It seems no woman or man who was drawn to luxury could stay there for more than two weeks. Every woman who confessed their love for him was brought to that cabin, but ultimately could leave him within two weeks, for they did not want to stay away from the so-called ‘civilisation’, disconnected and isolated.  He told his parents, ‘When they say, I love travelling and seeing new places, I didn’t know they mean shopping and sightseeing, more like a tourist, less like a traveller.’

Then there came a lady who took up the challenge without even knowing she was under on. His weeks in the diary were marked like this:

Week 1: She is doing great.

Week 2: Doesn’t matter, all women survive for two weeks

Week 3: She is tough.

Week 4: Is she for real? She seems to be enjoying here.

Week 5: She is doing fine, looks like she is here for a long haul.

Week 6: What if she wins the challenge?

Week 7: I want to shit in my pants…she is winning…my bachelorhood.

Week 8: Oh! She won.

On the last day of their stay, she woke him up. He got up with a smile considering she was quitting 12 hours ahead of the victory time, but the following lines made him realise that she was the ultimate one. She said, ‘I think we need to go to the town and get some supplies for the coming month.’

Apparently, she loved solitude more than him, she was better trekker than him, she loved mountains more than him, someone who loved nature more than him and she was more adjustable than him. After their marriage, she travelled the world reporting news as she was a war correspondent, as for him, he divided his time between babysitting and work.

P.S: I pray you too will find someone who will beat you in your own game not because you are the player and she/he is the coach, but because he/she plays better than you. We are no talking about ego anyway.