The matrimonial ad was the first step of a 5-year-plan

Since I stayed in Nasik and since there was no provision to insert any ad in the Times of India in Nashik, I had to make a trip to Mumbai. It was a one-day affair. I went by the Panchavati Express. It left Nashik Road station at 7.30am and reached Mumbai at 11.30am. My work was only at the office of the newspaper and, once I completed the formalities, I came out and went to the Mumbai Central bus stop. There I had a light lunch and took a bus back home.

The first batch of responses arrived within the fortnight. The ad was under a Box Number to maintain confidentiality and the address I had given was that of my office. The replies had been dispatched from Mumbai through courier.
Then came the weeding out process. It was a time consuming matter and the final decision needed to be one that had the approval of all three of us – my wife, my son and myself. First I wrote down my preferences on a sheet of paper and then asked my wife to note down hers. Then we gave the bunch to my junior for indicating his.
Well - there was hardly any common factor in our thoughts.
By the time we finished with the first batch of responses, there arrived the next batch. And, there followed a similar exercise. Still no consensus.
The third batch came but, only a few.
We sat down once again, took stock of the situation and decided to send out a few replies and that is how our 5-year plan took off – it was: operation ‘bride hunting’. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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