I do need one. My soul is lonely. Ok, let’s not get into un-necessary debates here. It is my soul that is thirsting, not my body, ok? Anyway, stop interrupting, let me get on with the story.

So I decided to place an in the newspaper. Now how would I write the ad? Beats me. How will the mate recognize that this is the soul she was longing for?

I take it for granted that it has to be a SHE. Definitely. No confusion or compromise there. So it’s a lady soul. Or girl, maiden, witch, whatever. Female soul.

WANTED SOULMATE – Female

At least the caption is done. Now what would I write?

Ok, let me be honest.

It would be really nice if the soulmate comes packaged nicely in the form of say Charlize Theron, Lindsay Lohan, Aishwarya Rai or Bipasha Basu. That’s just wishful thinking. I wouldn’t mind a Jennifer Lopez’que packaging either.

Uh oh, now my ad reads like a Hollywood or Bollywood director in search of a heroine for his latest movie. Ok, detour here.

Now when I think about it, it’s actually too early to be searching for a “soulmate”. Usually that happens when you have successfully written a few best-selling novels, made couple of millions or billions and you can afford to have one. It’s definitely got something to do with mid-life blues.

And perhaps publicity. An aging author and a leading actress suddenly discover that they are actually soulmates. Next day it’s all over the TV, papers and the internet. It does help give a boost to his book sales and the actress will definitely land a couple of juicy movie roles. It’s good for both and they feel good about the whole thing.

After all it isn’t everyday that you bump into soulmates. Ok, so what if we are not sole-mates. Thoda Adjust Karo.

But there is a risk factor. What if we suddenly discover that we’re not soulmates after all? And the real one is someone else? I mean you can’t changing soulmates, after all? Can you?

This is where a contract comes in – legalese- just in case. No, I am not denying the fact that we are soulmates, but then it’s always better to have an exit option, right?

What if the young, desirable actress decides that her real soulmate is a young desirable actor whom she just met on the sets? You see what I mean. An old author will stand no chance.

But in-spite of everything, the word “soulmate” does have a magical ring to it. It reels in the female of the species in droves. I don’t know how and why. But it does. Maybe it’s because it’s so phonetically connected to “sole-mate”.

Somehow I get a sneaky feeling that this business of soulmates originated in the west due to counter a very very scary word – alimony.

Soul-mate, ladies?