22. His Best Man

There are two actually.

Meeting them, separately for the first time was almost as worse as meeting the in-laws. Oh, and I haven't actually met the in-laws in the official capacity which is probably because in our society, we meet "officially" at a max of a year to six months before the actual marriage, and we are to get married not in the next four years!

But best friends are a different matter altogether. Their stamp of approval is needed at the inception, more than the parents'. Or so I believe.

Now I am a very gregarious, extrovert, out-spoken, out-going, witty... blogger. Only. Meet me in real life, you will have to twist me for words. I am shy, an introvert, seemingly cannot string two words together and yeah, dumb too! Especially when meeting new people I lose my tongue and become a witless scatter-brain.

So imagine my state when I was to meet each of his best men. Anticipating meeting his friends was an ordeal, and I was visibly nervous before both the meetings.

My observations, once when I used to The Cynic, were my only tools in approaching the impending disaster it was bound to be.

Firstly, though of course, you will tell me otherwise, I don't consider myself remotely beautiful or even, pretty. First strike against me, as I felt, a good-looker goes a long way in befuddling a man's brain long enough to hinder him in looking beyond the superficial. No one's fault, it is just the way it is.

Secondly, befuddling the brain wearing skimpy dresses don't work. Because when the best friend feels the blood draining out of his brain, that is strike two, as this is not the girl he is going to allow his friend to be with. For leisure, or a week, that's more than fine but a lifetime, no way!! Men are strange that way.

Thirdly, I just detest being put on show, to be judged: nice, good, sexy or merely passable!

But I was newly in love. I hadn't thought much of it.

And my subconscious was busy struggling with another set of problems.

Boys, the ones especially friends for a long time, tend to begrudge the time their newly engaged friend spends with his girlfriend. This is something that I haven't really seen among girls but among the younger guys, it is very rampant. And after some time, the more serious the relationship, or more loyal or doting (are those the words?) the guy is, the worse are the reactions of the friends.

So it was like me facing the gallows, waiting for the judge to bang on his gavel!

But the funny thing that happened was, the love those two guys have for T, okay okay not love, he glares at me I use the word 'love' ("We do not love each other...Men don't love other men!" accompanied by rolling eyes)... So, what happened was the bond that they share, the friendship or whatever you call it (I still call it 'love', being a woman I have no problem with copious usage of any L-word) was extended to me without an extra thought. They cared for me because their best friend did, because he was in love with me, and that was enough for them. And not for a single moment did they judge me. They liked me even before they'd met me, and meeting me strictly was just that, meeting me. No judgement, no verdicts nothing.

By being in love with a wonderful man, got me friends too, ones for life.

And when I bared all to him, he was taken aback, "So, what's the big deal? You expected, what?" Of course, I realised, he didn't know what privilege and honour his best friends had bestowed on him, on me, because he would have done the same. That's why they were best friends.

And it is hard to keep on being a Cynic, when you cannot apply your cynicism.

Today, I am best buddies with both the crackpots!

One of them is a computer geek and a composer-guitarist and the other a football fanatic and a bizwhiz... One of them is totally opposite to T, and hence just like me, the other was the one who introduced blogs and Blogger to me, and was my first reader too. Both are as crazy- one madly, one philosophically- as me, and as brilliant too.

And the real thing is, they are no more just Ts but are My Best Men, too.

(Erm, I think they might be a bit disagreeable about the term "Maid of Honour")