Left at the Altar – What next!!

Nothing about being left in the altar is funny. It is potentially a life altering experience the scathing wounds of which may hurt for life. Not till Chuck Lorre decided to give it a totally new perspective did people think too differently. Ted Mosby’s never ending search for his suitable life partner was extended by at least three more seasons and all of us got a fresh way to shatter our age old conception that being left at the altar is life ending.

As the few of you who will end up reading this blog already know, I was in love with a girl who was supposed to get married. These kinds of things never end well and it did not for me too. Two of the most important things I have realized in life are breaking up is never easy but it is tougher to try and hold on to someone with whom the future is bleak. So it is important to realize when to let go. One of my friends Animesh had told me that “If a story does not have a conclusion then let’s leave it at an interesting end.” How all of us keep missing this simple fact!!!

From here on, I will leave the painful and excruciating details of the sob story and move on to the fun part. After I came back from Bangalore I was shattered but then I was blessed to have people around me who stuck by me through thick and thin. I had people who actually put up with my fickle behavior and tried to work around it. They stuck the perfect balance between when to crack the first joke and when to actually stay quiet and hear me mourn. And voila here I am, a changed guy, playing counter strike every night, darn excited about leading (what looks like an invincible team) my team every Sunday, crazy drives, sloshed as hell on weekends. To think that I could have been married and raising a child is not very pretty. Phew, dodged another bullet and this one was close!!

I do not claim to have all the know hows about what to do and what not to do in a relation. But 11 years and 37 girls later I can always stake my claim at the coveted and controversial position of Break up King. The most important thing about breaking up is to know when to break up. I have seen people sticking it out because they are too insecure to let go and trust me that never pans out well. Even if you manage to stick it out, it is not pleasant. For me, the equation is simple if it is not working let go now than later. How do you know the right time? Well, if you do not feel like picking up his/her call understand that time is drawing near. If it happens on a regular basis, understand it’s over. Look around you and you will find friends who are there for you irrespective of what you are going through. Hobbies are a good start too and work for me.

Anyway this is Souptik signing off with a simple moral – If you do not have the guts to break up when you want to, look around you and you will find friends to back you up like I and Ted did.