The curious case of the FedEx package

New York, in an alternate today, stolen from the noir thirties' peak of the industrial revolution. A lightning flashes, unmasking the art-deco Manhattan skyline stolid in the smog, painted in the color of morbid steel and rain drenched in the twilight. City lights and luxury cars line Broadway, not too afar a few homeless hunch around a bonfire in a decrepit alley bounded by brick walls covered in old nineties gang graffiti. A few floors up the run down apartment building, a lighted window, the dim glow of a shaded incandescent lamp within. The pale blue smoke from a cigarette, idle on the ashtray, bleeds in to the air, slowly filling the room in a dull haze. Jazz from a radio elsewhere is indistinctly overheard. An empty pocket flask lies beside the chair, smelling faintly of cheap whiskey.He laid stretched back, resting his feet on the table , with a loose tie and his fedora over his eyes.With a half open eye he noticed a silhouette on the smoked glass of the front door to his office. Distinctly feminine, flowing curls and a seductive stance, the woman had trouble written all over her.Her hand moved slowly caressing her thigh, bending down ever so slightly, he saw the shadow of her lips across the letters on the door that read "Alex Irons : Private Investiga..." a 9mm came off her , and within a split second smashing the glass, he saw a bullet right between his eyes...
Bright light. The smooth jazz screeched in to an annoying ring and his head hurt, real bad. After a couple of seconds Alex Vaeliyil Chandy woke up with a heavy hangover to another Saturday afternoon, this time due to the relentless doorbell. Alex stumbled in the general direction towards his front door, with reasonable success, to find not an enchantress from a film noir alter ego, but as it happened, the FedEx guy.

Alex is a mallu in the US of A, dreaming big, and well er.. he is yet to get past the dream phase. Alex opens the package and finds the tickets for his India vacation inside. He immediately calls home to let his mom know the news of his homecoming and she responds with great enthusiasm about the girl his aunt Jessy was mentioning the other day. If I were a cartoonist, I could have drawn a dark cloud pouring down on Alex's previously ecstatic face.

In the 25 and above adult Male's constant battle with the pandemonium of nuptial decision making, the first straight jacket comes in the form of mothers, aunts, uncles and elder cousin sisters thinking its time you got married and started a 'normal' life. "How is life ? and when are you getting married ?" asks every other aunt in the family. Conversations between mothers and aunts are even worse, "Alex is coming down for a vacation " tells his mom to the next door neighbor. "I have a niece who will be a good match for him" she responds back. I can only imagine what goes in spas and salons, matchmaking at a pace that would put NYSE to shame. Jim Crammer does not even come close. The expectation that once you are married, the relationship will bring order to your life is beguiling, forcing unspoken accords of nuptial compromises in each other's lives and the expectation that both sides will understand and honor it. The priorities and perspectives of people differ and that is what makes us human; retaining the human element, making room for another person in your life means accepting another person's priorities and perspectives, even when they are in contrast to your own. The effort required to do this is an often underestimated fact. On the other side, if you have to make conscious efforts to accommodate a perspective contrasting your own, are you being untrue to yourself ? Does it mean the significant other is pushing their ideas and dogmas down your throat and you accept it just for the sake of being nice or for the sake of the relationship ? The equation is not as simple as two people and what transpires between them. There is of course the society which constantly expects people to behave in a stereo typical fashion, there are relatives that expect to see the couple living in harmony. When was the last time you did something just because it was expected out of you ? Would you like to do it again ? How about doing it every day for the rest of your lives ? For some, this means to stop being themselves and living lives that they are expected to live, losing themselves, sacrificing their individuality. This minority is the few who have chosen not to follow,but clear their own path; taken time for some soul searching and and are in search for their own answers. The ones that refuse to be just another brick in the wall.

Don't get me wrong dear reader, I want to get married; but not at the cost of living a compromised life. Whom to marry and when to marry are crucial decisions that Alex's aunts can possibly know nothing about. They don't know Alex to begin with, they know what he should be but not what he is. Society is at the heart of humans' success on this planet as a species, and it fuels itself by forming stereotypes. The ones that do not fit in are also stereotyped as free thinkers or soul searchers just the odd balls. For the great majority of beings, society is a boon freeing them from thought which can be painful and focusing themselves elsewhere, making the cogs turn and the process of civilization move forward.For them entertaining thoughts outside their system breaks the system down, it is incomprehensible. Alas, but they would never know the joy of reassembling themselves to live life on one's own terms.

For Alex, who admittedly breaks the mould and finds the answers presented to him as inadequate, still searching for his own, its important to find a mate who can accept him the way he is, and see things clear. This does not mean accepting Alex's perspective as their own, but merely accepting that an alternate perspective is possible and co-existing with it, if it is at all possible. This acceptance can be achieved with anyone within the system of society as they are taught to be respectful and accommodating, but a problem is encountered in this process. The one who 'accommodates' is compromising. They are becoming something else for the sake of the relationship and what is expected out of them. Even one who is taught to be cognizant of and comprehending the needs feelings, problems and views of another, would sooner or later hit a point where a further compromise would put their own identity at risk. These compromises are minimized when the perspectives match and are on similar veins. For the majority, identities are shaped by society , which does an excellent job of moulding a person's mental make up for maximum compatibility. But then again, I forget what it was that made hand crafted limited editions so special when put against the mass produced ones. When the compromises are minimized, people focus less on the relationship and it just becomes an after thought. This would be the perfect relationship when its so perfect it is not even noticeable.

It is achieved when two individuals have world views that are perfectly synchronized, an impossibility theologically and scientifically, excluding clones maybe. But a higher understanding just short of perfect harmony is possible, better clarity can be achieved. It is definitely not spot free, but the possibility of seeing above imperfections subjugates whatever blemishes that exist. Besides perfection rarely works, its the imperfections that make us humane. It is enlightenment in a way, born out of respect, understanding and acceptance that is mutually reciprocated. An almost perfect animal of the human kind. For Alex this boils down to a woman who understands, for lack of a better term, him in what he believes in, and finds it possible and acceptable, sinless if you will, to let him follow his thought. As for Alex himself he should be ready to accept such a person in to his own, with full understanding that he has to afford the very same liberties to his mate. It becomes a dance where the dancers are letting go, taking in every minute, perfectly coordinated, absolutely un-rehearsed and living the music, as opposed to two people attempting to make put up a performance, trying not to step on each other's toes. For the dancers, the method of the dance itself fades in to the background, but for the viewer it becomes the most exemplary performance. Or simply put, Alex looks for a such a girl that they can simply enjoy each other's company.

Alex was lost in thought for a while, and missed whatever his mother was saying. She continued " ... and shes a well brought up god fearing child with excellent moral values. So what do you think Mone(son) ?"
"Huh ..!!!" after a few disconnected seconds, was all Alex could muster. This was not the first time a girl was being described to Alex, but invariably the descriptions included such phrases as " good family, well behaved, god fearing". To Alex they sounded like sales pitches, like saying 33% Free ! or Two months free subscription ! For Alex, the only thing missing was a 90 day return policy. Alex remembered when he was shopping for an iPod, walking down a Walmart aisle stock full of Chinese knockoffs stickered with offers. The iPod itself carried no frills, no free subscription and the packaging had no words on it; just a picture of whats inside. But this time around, once you selected the iPod, iPod had to select you. Alex preferred the Apple packaging style on his own carton, just a picture of whats inside, and no great offers. This is where he met his second dilemma once he got inside the carton, his aunts stared sticking offers on him, and by the time they were done, he looked like a knock off just as any other. But to himself, he wasn't one and the packaging slammed on him was not truly representative of him. Made him wonder, if the descriptions he heard were equally mutated. It suddenly hit him that he might be actually missing out on a lot of great women with similar tastes out here just because they were represented by people who knew not them, trying to appeal to the widest audience. To Alex, this meant that finding his mate would have to actively involve himself.

On another facet lingered another problem, religion. Alex's parents and family doing the match making on his behalf would certainly end up with a list exclusively of his own religion. Alex's breed is rare, and on top of that, miss out on like minded people in the name of religion? Religion plays no role in his own belief system, and Alex himself couldn't care less. Alex was no renegade heretic; he simply chose what be believed in, and had his own reasons for it. One of the things he believed in was making people happy if it were within his power to do so. Alex could make his parents happy, but not at his own peril. This would be dicey as a woman of Alex's own predilections was sure to be prejudiced upon by his close family. Where does he draw the line, or does there need to be a line at all ? It depends on what happiness means to the one experiencing it. If Alex's parents find happiness in shaping him in to something that he is not, is it real happiness ?; and in turn how can his parents be happy in his misery ? It seemed like a vicious cycle that started with how he was brought up. If his parents took the attitude that they have done everything in their power to endow him with knowledge and the capacity to think for himself, they would not have to worry because they would be able to respect a decision he makes for himself.

He was off the phone now, and his head hurt more than before. He tossed the envelope on to his desk among the pile of other garbage already there and thought that he should avoid thinking too much in to anything. He collapsed on to his couch, through the rabbit hole and in to the enchanted kingdom of Xandraena. The vast meadows blushing in the spring time flowers dancing to the tune of butterflies. The children playing were distracted by the bell sounding in the high tower of the castle. The young prince Alexius returns to Xandraena after his conquest in the icy northern wastelands of Stormholm. Welcomed as a hero, the land knew not that he was consumed by evil and his soul lost to the blade he wielded, the JadeDawn. Alexius brushed away the rose petals showered on him and walked in to the throne room in his battle armor emblazoned with the skulls of his foes, and knelt before his father the king. The JadeDawn, now a part of him, hungered for the throne and ordered its keeper to claim it for itself. In one fell swoop, the blade struck down the court and the ministers. Alexius ascended the steps to the throne and his father cried "Alex! what are you doing !". The JadeDawn soared high in to the air and came thundering down on the king's throat as Alexuis breathed his words in malice "Succeeding you..."