Accident Unites Them

PART 1

When Sagnik was about to slow down the vehicle, it skidded and fell on the road. He could not get up. His helmet fell off. A 25-year-old girl driving the car behind him got out, recognised him as a college senior by his bald head, moved the motorbike to the side with the help of passersby, took out the bike key and put it in her purse. When she searched for his mobile, she could not find it, as passersby had picked it up.

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Sagnik was born into a traditional, spiritually minded family. His parents believed in astrology so much that they used to plan their daily activities by consulting the lunar calendar, including the Amrita Kaalam and Rahu Kaalam, and followed it in their daily routines. His father was a government employee and decided on his daily work by looking at the calendar, except during office hours. His mother would wake up early in the morning, take a bath, get dressed and pray to the gods. Every day, she would perform pujas for one hour to the respective gods of the week —i.e., Shiva on Monday, Hanuman on Tuesday, Vighneswara on Wednesday, Dattatreya on Thursday, Lakshmi on Friday, Venkateswara on Saturday, and Surya Deva on Sunday —along with their Ashtottara Shatanamam. She would play Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatam on her mobile phone while working in the kitchen.

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After Sagnik's naming ceremony, his father gave the astrologer information about his date, time and place of birth to write his horoscope. Occasionally, they would look at it, and everything in Sagnik's life would happen as predicted.

Sagnik continues his parents' tradition of consulting the almanack and performing puja in the early hours of the morning, and then starts his daily activities.

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Sagnik has completed his Master's in Computer Science and is currently a software engineer at an MNC in Bangalore. He was among the top ten in college and was selected in the campus interview. He completed his internship in the same company. He has three years of experience as of today. He is 28 years old. Sagnik stays in a separate room in a bachelor's hostel.

Sagnik's parents had asked a matchmaker to find a suitable girl for him. Sagnik left the decision on his marriage to his parents.

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Sagnik reads technical magazines, self-development books in English, and literary magazines, stories, and novels in Telugu in his free time on weekends. One Saturday, while he was browsing through the bookshelf, he came across a calendar that predicted the future of candidates according to their zodiac signs. He immediately bought it. It follows the lunar calendar, which runs from April to March of the following year. The month of June is running at that time.

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The June prediction.

It is the first week of June. He is supposed to join an online course on the latest cutting-edge technology. The following week, he receives an email stating that one of the renowned IITs is offering an online AI course. He is thinking of improving his skills in AI implementation and believes the present is a good time to put them to use. The course is conducted over six weekends, with eight hours of instruction per week. Every Sunday, there is a one-hour test. He passed all tests with distinction in the first class, earning a certificate of merit.

He presented the certificate to his superiors. They are planning to hire a machine learning expert to lead the new project. Hence, he is promoted to the position of team leader with three members to assist him. There are two boys and a girl in the team. He has to train them and make them work on the project.

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August Future

When the calendar was changed to August, it said that he would have trouble in the office in the second week. One of his colleagues in the department learned of Sagnik's promotion and became jealous. He complained that he was more deserving of the promotion than Sagnik. He submitted a memorandum to the boss, stating that he had also taken an online AI course, was senior to Sagnik at the company, and should be considered first.

When the boss told Sagnik about the complaint, Sagnik said he had no objection to obeying the boss. The boss considered every response from Sagnik to be positive, which is very necessary at the managerial level. The complainant had negative thoughts like anger and jealousy, which made him unfit to be a leader.

The boss told the complainant that he would consider him for the next opportunity.

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September's future

When he looked at the September calendar, he saw that he would be attending a marriage proposal arranged by a matchmaker. One evening, his father called him home to meet the girl's family. He went on Saturday morning and planned to see the girl on Sunday morning. The matchmaker confirmed with the girl's parents. They took a cab and went to the girl's house at 11.00 am.

The girl's parents greeted them at the entrance and made them sit on the hall sofas. After offering them sweets and snacks and enquiring how their journey was, the girl served tea to all of them, placed the tray on the teapoy, and sat in the chair opposite them.

Sagnik had the girl's bio-data. She was two years younger than Sagnik. She was an engineering graduate and worked as a software engineer in Bangalore. She seemed pretty to Sagnik. Sagnik's mother asked a few questions, to which the girl answered politely. Sagnik's father had already sent Sagnik's photo through the broker.

Sagnik had a cap on. She wanted to know why he was wearing a cap. She expressed her doubts about the cap to her father.

He said, "Modern youth wear caps, and she need not worry about it".

However, she wanted to confirm it and asked her father, "To make sure Sagnik takes off his cap during their conversation, because it would not be nice for her to ask".

So her father hesitantly asked Sagnik, "Do you wear a cap at home too? You can feel free here and take off your cap."

With these words, Sagnik realised they had doubts about his hair, so he took off his cap. The girl and her parents were surprised. Sagnik's head was completely bald, except for a few hairs on the sides. With a bald head, he looked like an older adult. At the sight of the baldness, the girl's face changed. Sagnik understood her feelings and remained silent. He had this experience at the college as well. There was nothing he could do about it.

After some exchange of views, Sagnik's parents said, "We will inform you after going home through the mediator," and took their leave. The girl's parents saw them off from the main gate.

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After they left, the girl told her parents that she was not interested in the bald boy. Her parents tried to convince her that baldness was not a factor in marriage. He had a master's degree, worked for an MNC with a good salary, and came from a good family. He was the only son. His parents were friendly people. You two would live a happy life. The girl did not like her parents' words. Her parents informed the mediator that they were not interested in this match. No reason was given. Sagnik understood that the lack of interest was due to his baldness and asked his parents not to look for girls.

Contd. Part II

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