Yesterday, I was looking at some code and suddenly, I realised that I was missing something or rather somebody in life. A soulmate.
Someone with whom I could program. You know, two people coding in perfect harmony just like a couple figure-skating on ice. Both know what is to be done and take up parts of that task without even uttering a word to each other. Even without talking, the design of the program lays out in our heads in the exact same way and we go about in perfect symphony. I write the class stubs, she writes the interfaces. I write the methods while she writes the handlers. And during the moments that we do talk, it turns out that we both were thinking that the same classes should be refactored.
And when it comes to research, though we may be working in two different fields, perhaps I in AI and she in Economics, we both compete with each other for results, trash each other’s approaches and theories and yet cook supper right after the argument as though nothing happened. Of course, I will be doing the dishes and cutting the vegetables while she does the actual cooking. Synchronized, just like the programming.
On days when we both labour away into the night, I turn to her at 2 in the morning and say, “I think we should take a break. How about a walk on Mysore road?” She says “Yes” and we talk the most romantic walk ever, with our minds at peace, relishing the silence of each other’s company. Yes, we will not be holding hands. On days when one of us is working late, the other sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, prepares soup and then convinces the other to take a break and eat it.
And when one of us wins some honour, the other is a bit jealous but mostly exhilarated which of course will never be expressed in words or even body language. The eyes may betray a dutiful silence, if only to whisper, “Sic transit gloria mundi”.
A person who would say, “Potato, only if you have anything new” rather than “Potato, what the hell are you talking about?” when I say, “I think we should talk about time loops.” A soulmate who understands natural selection, chaos theory and probability, a deep understanding, an intuitive understanding. A soulmate who is painfully aware of the many paradoxes of life but is never unsettled by them. A soulmate who has no hope but is hopeful at the same time.
A soulmate who would surprise me, “I have written the Python wrappers for Festival. Now could you please write the Rythmbox plugin that you always wanted to.” And then I give her a peck and say, “Thanks tomato. That is much appreciated. I will get to the task right away.” Someone who could accompany me on the violin while I play the piano. Someone with whom I can read plays aloud.
A soulmate who thinks I am crazy but not crazy enough. Perfectly reconciled with our imperfections, we go through life with “peace that passeth all understanding”.
Soulmate, where are you?
Note: This is purely a work of fiction, an attempt at a “refined” stream of consciousness narrative.
