Looking for Love in Quarantine.
You are just one swipe away….
The social construct is becoming more peculiar day by day. We have started to value a person by their social media followers and apple watches.
Almost everything we desire is at the palm of our hand. Big corporations and Social Engineering have made the most addictive dopamine Sources. And their businesses are doing good.
Be It Food, Cars, Homes, and even Love, there is an App for all. Just a click or swipe, then tick-tack the notification icon. And Voila, you have the thing that your heart desires.
With the start of COVID and nowhere to go, I also tried my luck in one of the technology gimmicks. I used the “Technology” that can apparently find me, LOVE.
The setup
I fired up my laptop, signed on to Google, and searched “Find me a girlfriend……..”. And, Google never disappoints.
Like any other sane minded person, I clicked on the first result. It said Tinder.com, with a fire symbol in it. I was already sold at the Icon let alone the website.
After Quickly analyzing the site and reading the community guidelines. I was ready to go. I hovered over the top right where it said to make your profile.
Click, click, click, a sexy photo, a sassy Bio, and setting the meter to 100km. I was swiping left and right. (Mostly Right :P).
And with patience, I waited for my match. After all, it guaranteed to find me, my partner. Constantly checking on my phone for every second, turned a few minutes then a few hours, and after the day passed. I went to bed disappointed but not disheartened.
A New Day, I opened up the app first thing in the morning. Again it started, “The swiping game”. In desperation, the only thing I swiped left were the Adds.
Finally, after some more failed attempts and 15 $ spent, I matched with another human. ( P.S. tinder is filled with bots.)
Let’s name her Violet for the sake of anonymity. Her bio was quite similar to mine and was another tech employee stuck at home.
The app had done its job, now it was my turn to perform. I hopped on to the messaging section, the screen said, “Enter a Message. Don’t make them wait for you.”
The Conversations
Hovering over the text message, my fingers swirled as to what I would type to make a good first impression. Trying to find the perfect icebreaker, I revised all my past encounters.
As I was staring blankly onto the glass slab, while it said “Typing……………”. A notification appeared.
“Don’t think, Just Say..” — Violet
I was supposed to say something smart to impress. In turn, she impressed me. I had to reply to her fast but In haste, I wrote.
“Hello, How you doing?” — Me
And at this moment all my writing marvel went into the drain. I was expecting a half-hearted answer to this question. She replied.
“How would you like me to be?” — Violet
Yet another witty answer. I had to step up my game.
“Miserable as me….” — Me
Judging by my conversational skills, now we all know why I am single.
“Haha, Can I make your situation any better?” — Violet
I was very sure for the first time, that God has smiled on me. And I took a leap of faith.
“Of course, order me your favorite food?” — Me
At this point, she must have thought I am 12 years with an internet connection. But, Boy I was wrong.
“Your address? and Yeah surprise me with your food choices” — Violet
She passed her address in her subsequent messages.
I went straight to google. “Best restaurants in my area and delivering”. I order the fanciest things I can think of, with food enough to satisfy three college students. I was going big this time. I had to outdo her.
I got a message again :
“Now that we have our orders set, why not set up a date? ” — Violet
As I looked around for the perfect spot on my already beaten up condo. The balcony came to my rescue.
“Sure, I would love that. I hope you don't mind if I wear anything fancy.” — Me
She replied with her number and a short text, “I like a fancy”.
I calmed myself and with a stern expression, I started to go through my wardrobe. A glance at each one of them. I made all the permutations possible of the perfect pair. And there it was, the adequate formal yet fancy pair of clothes, aka, a bluejeans and a black shirt.
The doorbell rang after a few mins that followed up. It had a note in it, “Don’t open before we meet”.
There was a sense of anxiety in the air, as almost I had been transported back to my teenage days. A random Saturday had just become a special one.
I had set up my seat on the balcony, it was way past our lunchtimes. The golden hour had to have to affect the mood of the evening. I placed myself in the frame, and the wait started.
After a long 7 minutes and 45 seconds, my phone rang. I gave myself a little pep-talk as if Al-Pacino had been my coach from the movie Any Given Sunday.
I swiped up. And there she was.
She was in a purple sweater(Now you know why the name Violet), her smile warm as a sunbeam in December. There was nothing much special about her, but at that moment she seemed perfect.
“You do look fancy.” She was smiling ear to ear.
She had no special place planned, I could even look at the dirty curtains behind. I looked overprepared or even desperate as some might say. I was relaxed though.
I could see all the packed food lying all over her clothes and sheets. She was happy to see all that I supposed. Excitingly opening them up, explaining to me what she liked about each.
I was taken aback by what she had got me. A faint smile came across my face, It was again a simple choice just like her. Plain and nothing fancy.
As If She Knew Me
As loud as I can be, that day I just listened. From her boss’s back pain to the high school sweetheart, she poured her heart out. Almost as if there was no filter to her, she was all RAW.
Time passed as if water flew through a sieve, without resistance. The flies on our stale plates indicated it was a bit too long. We bid each other goodbyes and took back good conversation, food, and warm feelings.
Aftermath
She texted that she will be out for a while to buy groceries.
Until the time she came back and replied, I had been glued to my phone once again. Checking for that green dot at the top of her beautiful face.
I closed my eyes and went into all the places we could have been. I even revised the count of my number of paid leaves. Fantasy land is a good place to be.
A sudden buzz and notification made me travel back the reality. It said.
Tomorrow at the same time, And Surprise me!
And after that my friend, Quarantine didn’t look so bad. After all, I had the two most desired things in my life Good Food and Good Company.
