Few months back
Master Shubh Venkar, a normal college student from a small town in Goa. He lived in a middle class family and was the only child and raised well. Shubh means 'Auspicious' in Indian languages, thus his parents had named him thinking he was their luck. But he thought the opposite of it. His parents never had good relationship. He blamed that on the arrange marriage system. They wouldn't talk for months and fight in his presence, which affected him a lot and made him well matured for his age. He was never the topper or well build boy since childhood. He was barely five feet five inches in height, which was less than all his cousins in the family. Even though he didn't have an ounce of fat on his body he had well developed muscles. Dark and thick hair with dark brown eyes, perfect eyebrows and eyelashes could have made him a perfect candidate for dating. But he was still single till college life.
He did have an experience of, almost, a girlfriend but it never really reached the dating stage. He could never talk to a girl he liked or was attracted to. In any attempts to impress, they would always end up in a failure. He thought "I would make blunder even while writing my name if the girl I like is standing and watching me". Although he had many female friends which he got mixed up very smoothly. Also, many confided in him for their problems. But he never gathered the courage to do so with his crushes. He would rather just run away from them. Thus, an under confidence romantic person was on the hunt to find him a perfect girlfriend.
He did have an overall characteristics of the girlfriend he would like to find. He would tell his friends," She should be far better than me in all aspects. She should be street smart, good at shopping and bargaining. And love my family as much as I do. Off course understanding me is also a priority."
On hearing this his friends would reply," Best of luck buddy. For finding such girl is not very possible to find currently." And he would always show them bright face with hope but totally broken from inside. It was his feature of not expressing the feelings in public.
It's been a year since the pandemic hit the whole world. It was such a chaos and confusion regarding the situation around. Goa had never seen anything like this since the liberation. People had never heard or experienced the curfews and lockdowns. Shubh and his family weren't contracted with virus till now. They were very thankful about it. Meanwhile he got admission for teacher education course which he was awaiting for. He was well prepared for the new experience and also excited that finally he may find a girlfriend. Problem that bothered him was, he didn't like to be groomed and dress well daily. He was either too lazy to do it or believed "Everyone should like me the way I am". This was also the reason he felt sure that no girl would like him.
The day of his college orientation program was near. He was preparing himself with all the necessities like formal shirts, trousers, shoes etc. All set up to look good for being a teacher. He thought of using all the perfume bottles, which had been unused since they were stocked in his cupboard. He searched for his stationary and bags, which he had placed somewhere and wasn't used ever after lockdown because the exams were called off. Finally, he found them all in his bag under his old book, which itself took another three hours to find.
During lockdown all the barber shops were closed. Shubh had used his old beard trimmer to trim his hair. His father volunteered to help him. But eventually messed up his hair cut. After having a bad haircut in last few months, he didn't think twice about going to barber by ignoring the fear of contracting the virus. His father, Mr. Jai Venkar, was of the same height as Shubh, a bit plump in his abdominal area and looked a lot younger than his age. He quiet didn't look like a senior citizen at all. But it was also the case with all his family member. Maybe it is in their genes thought Shubh. Looking at the messed up hair, Shubh mother ,Mrs. Shalini Venkar, gave few of her own advice on hair cutting," You should always keep comb for cutting the hair on forehead part." The advice was wise but a bit late to be implemented. She was short and thin. She easily qualified to look like Shubh's older sister. Nevertheless, all his cousins as well considered her a friendly aunt. He inherited his sense of humor from his maternal side. All would say, "He is just like his maternal grandfather." No wonder why people adored him. He made all around him, known and unknown people, laugh with his impromptu jokes and sarcasm. Everyone felt that he is always a happy go lucky person, although truth was he laughed to suppress his own sadness.