The travails of a marriage-able guy

hmmmmm......my obsession with all things marriage is growing, may be since these days everyone I meet(and that includes my mother everyday i reach back home), seems to be after my life to get married. Not sure if Darwin's theory of evolution talked about people mecessarily having to get married by 30 to survive or perish (aka giraffes streching their necks to survive) any which ways, here's may take on the marriage scenario, as it happens to you...any sembalance to anyone married or alive is purely coincidential.... 1. Age - 21-23 years well, it all starts when you finish your under graduate college, people in close vicinity get to know that you have landed with a campus offer paying more than what your dad earned after 25 years into a sarkaari job, and they pour in to congratulate, and then add some sweet nothings in their conversation with your mother, "acha hai, college se hi naukri mil gayi, ab to bas ek achi si ladki dekho aur shaadi kar do iski".....and then you have some arguments at your place, when all those girls you knew from childhood as family friends start being talked about as potential life mates.....lovely one-liner from "jab we met" - main to bada ho gaya par ghar wale bade nahi hue....:) anyways, u try and convince your parents that abhi to life shuru hui hai, lets see how the job goes and all 2. 22-24 years of age OK, job starts....and thats IT sector, the girl in the next cubicle/project appears so godly beautiful.....the affairs from college spill over and become even more dynamically romantic, now you have loads of money, and so u could graduate to a coffee shop from the earlier chai ki tapri....and multiplexes from those 7 rupee ticktes at Priya( all those who visited Priya prior to 2002 would relate to the charm of these 7 Rs tickets), and then some days you reach back home from office, only to realise that the far based uncle "jin ki beti bangalore se engineering kar rahi thi" is hoome, and for obvious reasons he becomes the most friendly uncle in the whole world, so very interested in knowing how your job is going....and before you know you have said "yes"....not to the uncle or your parents, but to the onsite manager at work, take the next available flight to US/ONsite...hopefully safely away from all the match making business. 3. 24-25 years The calls to US are damn costly, so u decide to teach your parents how to use email and chat, and before you know the emails are stuffed with profiles....in the hurry to get away from the scene u forgot that the onsite trip is going to get into even more trouble....your potential as a prospect goes even higher.....and you end up extending the onsite stay even if you hated the veggie whopper meals at burger king...."sad burgers to avoid a sadder(??) life....back home 4. 25-26 years Back in India, you realise that your parents had an amazing social circle, and that ur "khyati" has reached far and wide, all the people you never knew existed are mailing/sending you profiles.....you know it deep into your heart that half the girls also look for a hunk and they would possibly say no, the moment they saw the short and dark guy with specs, the pics start looking good and tempting, yet since there still are some sembalance of available girls in your own social circle, you plan to evaluate these options before jumping into the match making game of the parents. 5.26-27 years of age And now the parents are like damn serious, people around you are getting married, and the first fling that you had, the girl is married and has a kid now, and to make matters worse, she meets/calls your mother to break the baby shower news to her.....your best friend is married, and he makes sure that he pleads my mother to come for his wedding at all costs.....some friends....aag lagane mein sab se aagey......u decide its time to take a mid career break, and run away to a business school...ab koi berozgaar insaan ko kyun apni beti dega??? 6. 26-28 years And like all earlier tries, this try goes for a toss as well.....engineer with onsite experience, and then MBA underway at IIM.....dhar lo is ladke ko.....bhaiya, socho bande ke bhi baare mein, nahi karni use abhi shaadi....but you make sure that all those trips that you make back home , end up on a bitter note, what with the emotional blackmail from mothers......main pote ka munh dekhe bina hi chali jaaoongi.....jarror tera kisi ladki se affair chal raha hai, tu mujhe bata, mujhe koi problem nahi hai, usi se shaadi kar le tu....and now that is like rubbing salt in the wounds of a MBA student at IIM, bhai ladki hai kahan jis se chakkar chalega...:( The rest would follow.....