Episode 19

It is weekend and I am at my parents’ place. First order of business, I recite everything except of course my life sounds routine and normal and extremely boring when I omit all the bits about Karthik. Wow, doesn’t that say something. I know that Sravan is going to pop into the conversation anytime now and I am just abiding my time. I enjoy being pampered though. My dad gets all sentimental and makes me feel guilty and then I have to remind myself that there is nothing to be guilty about. My mom keeps asking if I am getting anywhere with anything. Well, my mom has always been the practical one in the family.

It takes my dad almost four hours from the time I came home to bring Sravan up. You remember Sravan? My dad’s best friend’s overachieving prodigal son?

‘Really Priya ma. I don’t understand only. I can’t even ask you. This Sravan’, he says shaking his head in disbelief, ‘I don’t know what chemistry is. He says he doesn’t feel chemistry with you. Apparently you feel like only a friend. These days you guys just have too many preferences…’.

Ohh.. Sravan did not feel chemistry? Is that his great excuse?

‘He said that? That there is no chemistry?’, I had to laugh.

‘Yes Priya. It has become like this reality show, he talks about chemistry, vibe and all that.’, this from my Mom.

I know I might have felt a bit of the chemistry if Karthik wasn’t in the picture, he does have memorable forearms.

‘Sorry Priya. I shouldn’t have brought him like that to your house and then he said he isn’t interested. You should have been here, this might not have happened’, my dad sounds guilty. He also has the habit of trying to depict how all my life would be better if I were still living with my parents.

I should thank Sravan. If he hadn’t said what he had said, I would be hearing why I don’t deserve Sravan and why I am an idiot in all categories of idiocy known to man for rejecting Sravan.

‘Sravan is very sweet dad. Don’t feel bad about it’.

‘Ohh.. You are not angry with him or anything?’

I shake my head. ‘Okay. He and Sarathy are coming in the evening for some coffee and snacks.’, this statement meant that they are coming to meet and spend time with us but are not staying late or for dinner.

I would like to meet Sravan.

‘Oh great, I can meet Sarathy uncle too.’

My dad positively beams and asks me to go and rest. Right, like I did something too tiring.

‘Rest? Priya, help me clean up the kitchen’, says my mom. Right. I follow her to the kitchen.

We start putting things away. ‘So, what is happening?’.

‘Nothing mom. Just work and friends’

‘I can say for sure that there is more…’

‘No mom, not really’

‘It’s Naren isn’t it? Or that guy Aditya?’

What? ‘No mom. Naren has a girlfriend’.

‘Hmmm.. okay. Don’t tell me. But I know something is different.’

My mom did this always, to make me say things. I stopped falling for it since my mid-teen years.

‘I am a bit relieved though. Sravan is a good looking boy, well settled. But I don’t think you would have gotten along with Jamuna’, Jamuna of course, is Sravan’s mother. If you didn’t get the subtext, my mom hated her.

‘I would have gotten along with her mom’, I tease. She just ignores me.

That is when I get a call, I see who it is, and it is Karthik. I let the call go.

My mom looks at the phone pointedly. ‘I know something is going on’.

‘It’s just some unknown number’

‘I can always tell when you are lying Priya’. This wasn’t true always, but at this particular instance it is true. I get a call again, ‘I have to take this mom’,  I say and move away. Yes, I make an escape. It is Karthik again. I go to my old room to take the call.

‘Hey’, he says.

‘Hey’

‘What’s up?’

‘At home, I mean my parents’, had great food sometime back and was talking to mom and dad, you?’

‘At home, but working…’

‘Oh no. No solution yet?’

‘We have an approach, working on it..’

‘Poor guy you’

‘Ya.. Very poor guy. What is the rest of the day looking like?’

‘Good. There are going to be guests. Sravan and his father’

‘Sravan?’

‘Ya, dad’s best friend’s son’

‘That Sravan?’

‘He is just visiting, we are a pretty close family kind families..’

Karthik sighs. ‘Why is it that you are always surrounded by guys?’

‘That is so not true.’. I can actually visualize him shaking his head.

‘I wanted to meet you today….’

‘Sorry.. I cannot get away from this..’

‘Okay, I will call you later again?’

‘Okay, take rest Karthik. You sound overworked’, he chuckles, but hangs up. My room hasn’t been changed. I spend some time hanging out in my room texting Anitha. She is spending the weekend at my place and is nervous about the talk with Naren.

Sravan and Sarathy uncle arrive. I am hurriedly called out of my room.

‘Hi uncle, hi Sravan’.

‘Hi Priya. You are looking so sweet. How are you? Look at her Sravan’, Sarathy uncle says. Sweet? I look sweet?

‘Hi Priya. Yes, you look sweet’, he says, jokingly. I roll my eyes at him.

‘I am fine uncle. How are you? How is aunty?’

‘All good Priya. Why are you living by yourself and struggling ma? You should be with your parents. You are an only daughter’. Right.

‘No uncle I…’

‘You shouldn’t be like this ma. But these days you people never listen to your parents.’

Right. I look at Sravan. Sravan is grinning outright. He has on a deep blue tee shirt and dark jeans and most of his toned and muscled arms are visible to the naked eye. I quickly look back at my dad. He is nodding along for whatever else his friend is saying, so I turn to my mom, she is actually observing Sravan with a thoughtful look on her face so I look back to him and he is still looking at me with a grin on his face.

Sravan, you idiot, no chemistry remember, stop looking at me with interest? I try telepathy which for some unknown reason doesn’t seem to work.

‘I talk to her and she isn’t even focusing on me. Krishna, I don’t know how you handle her’.

‘No uncle, I am listening to you’, but Mr.Sarathy isn’t anywhere near done. I am sure this is the effect of my dad unloading his disappointment about me to his friend. So I keep quiet. Growing up, Sarathy uncle was always scary, he still is. I sneak a look at Sravan, he gives a small nod and manages to give me a look that translates into a reassuring pat. I look at him with what I assume is my puppy-dog-eye look, which works apparently -

‘Dad, I actually happen to respect Priya for this. This is her decision dad’, he says. So maybe it did not work either, I look at my mom, she has a frown on her face and is still keenly observing Sravan. Unable to communicate with a look unlike Sravan, I send him a stronger mental pulse to not show anything that would be misconstrued as chemistry, but it still doesn’t reach him. Damn, I wish I had super powers. Since I don’t, this is what I do,

‘Coffee?’, I ask to no one in particular and walk away not even waiting for response, to make coffees. They will all drink it whether they like it or not.

I make coffee for everyone including a strong one for myself and hope that my mom doesn’t come in. Luckily she doesn’t. I of course can’t stop thinking of how very similar to a bride seeing scenario of an arranged marriage this whole coffee thing is.         

I take the coffee and place it on the coffee table, grabbing one for myself and sitting down. My mom gets up to offer coffee to the guests while glaring at me. Apparently, they can’t be bothered to lean forward and pick a cup.

‘So as we were talking, looks like you guys should just spend some time together. I don’t think you had enough time last time to decide…’, says my mom. What about Jamuna aunty?

I had coffee in my mouth and I struggle a lot not to spray it on everyone. I look at Sravan, he shrugs.

‘What?’, I look at my dad.

‘You are right Prema’, says my dad. I hope Sarathy uncle disapproves of me, so I look at him.

‘I don’t understand this chemistry concept. You met her for what five minutes?’, says he to his son.

Crap.

‘You guys want to go out now? There is a coffee shop some five minutes’ drive from here’, my dad prompts. ‘Priya ma, take my scooty, Sravan can’t drive here, and you don’t know to drive a car, you never learnt’. What? I look at Sravan, it looks like his eyes are going to bug out of his eye sockets any second now.

Before I know, I am taking my dad’s helmet, as it is mandatory to wear a helmet, I am starting my scooty and Sravan is standing by my gate, looking embarrassed as all hell. He wordlessly hops on and I can’t help but think he is heavy.

‘I am sorry’, I tell him. He sighs. ‘I did not think this will happen’.

We reach the coffee shop and I park. I leave the helmet and adjust my hair in the rear view mirror, Sravan observes me for the entire time, making me conscious.

We start walking in together. ‘Your mom was always shrewd’, he says.

‘I tried to warn you’

‘You did?’.

‘Yep, telepathically’. Yes, I said that aloud and in a serious tone.

Sravan laughs. ‘You are silly’, he says. Right. I feel much complimented.

We sit and order drinks. I ask for some green apple fizz drink and he orders for espresso. My god, he drinks espresso, just thinking about the bitterness of an espresso brings out goose bumps.

‘You are nervous?’, he asks.

‘What? No?’

‘You have goose bumps’

‘Ohh.. I was thinking how bitter an espresso will be’, I reply honestly.

‘I am nervous though’

‘What? Why?’

‘You really like that guy? Love him?’

‘Sorry, what?’

‘I like you. If you are interested, I want to see if there is something between us.’

What?

‘Sorry. I am used to the western way. People tend to be direct and quick in these things back there’

I sigh. What is with this sudden influx of very eligible men in my life?

‘You are going back soon aren’t you?’

‘I can work from home, my job is flexible enough. Of course I can’t work from here indefinitely, but I can talk to my supervisor and figure something out. I haven’t taken even a sick day in the last four years so I have a lot of leaves anyways’

‘You would do that? If I asked you to?’

‘Priya. I will be honest. I came here with the intention of getting engaged if not married. I was blackmailed into it of course, but by the time I came, I was resolved. We know each other. I want to give this a try. But….you told me that you guys were just exploring too. I don’t see a problem if you decide explore with me.’ What? What is this guy saying? Did you all hear the same thing that I heard?

I try to answer and get interrupted by a call. It is Karthik. I take the call in an attempt to escape again.

‘Hi Karthik’, I say.

‘Hi. So? How is it going?’

‘What?’

‘Your dad’s best friend’s son’

‘Ohh.. It is going fine’, shit, I think.

Karthik remains silent for a second. ‘He is there isn’t he? Sitting right in front of you?’

‘No Karthik. Why would you think that?’.

‘Give the phone to him’

‘You are mad. I am doing no such thing. I am not giving the phone to him’, I again make the mistake of saying this aloud which I had to, so not really a mistake just misfortune and Sravan looks at me his eyes translating into a question mark. He then stretches his hand for the phone. ‘You are mad too’, I say pointing it at him. ‘Give the phone to him Priya’, Karthik says.

Okay, if that will solve my problem, then so be it. I hand over my phone to Sravan.

I try to hear what Karthik is saying, but all I can hear is only Sravan’s side of the conversation.

‘Maybe’, Sravan says. After a minute or so, he laughs, all while my heart is beating heavily and loudly.

‘You don’t know that’, Sravan says, pauses, looks at me and goes, ‘She probably doesn’t herself’. What?

‘She is here, in a coffee shop with me’, Sravan says further on.

‘What is going on?’, I ask him.

‘Can you really?’, Sravan asks and looks at me, grins. What the hell? I have no idea what is going on and I am pissed off. So I do the only thing that occurs to my pissed off brain, I show Sravan a certain single finger on my left hand.

The idiot laughs with Karthik still on the line with him. Crap. Sravan hands the phone back to me, laughs again.

‘Go back home Priya. Alone.’

‘I can’t. I have to take Sravan back. He…’

‘What are you doing with him?’

‘I will tell you later Karthik. Let’s talk later. I have to go back home.’

‘Fine. I don’t like him Priya.’, is the last thing I hear before he hangs up. Right.

‘We are leaving’, I tell Sravan. I wish I had carried my purse, so I could have dramatically placed a wad of cash on the table and walked away. But in the hurry I hadn’t carried anything except my phone. So I could just stand up and observe when Sravan downs his espresso shot, asks for the bill, pays it and leaves as if nothing happened here.

While on the bike, Sravan says, ‘You are not sure about him Priya. So nothing wrong if you think you like me now. You told me he isn’t like a boyfriend or anything’, he says. Right. I did say that. ‘What were you guys talking about?’, I ask.

‘Not anything you should be worried about.’

‘What are you doing Sravan? We had an agreement.’

‘I changed my mind.’

‘You have to change it back.’

‘I don’t want to Priya.’

‘You like me? You just find me convenient. You know my family, you knew me growing up, so you think this is easy… that’s all this is.’

Sravan laughs. ‘You are right. I agree. But those are not the only reasons. I really do like you.’

‘I don’t believe it. I can’t see why’

‘If I could explain why, I won’t be doing this at all…’

What? Does that even make sense?

‘Think about it Priya. What if things don’t work out with him? Our parents like each other already. It will be so easy. It is the next best thing to marrying a best friend..’

‘I have thought about it Sravan. I still find exploring things with Karthik a better option.’

‘Ouch. That hurt’, he says but with a smile in his voice.

We reach home in silence. I go in.

‘You guys are back early’, this from Sravan’s dad. I don’t say anything.

‘You take your time Priya. You meet him how many ever times you want. You let us know once you are ready’, he looks concerned, and probably because of the way my face is.

‘No no. Sravan should travel soon. You both let us know as soon as possible okay?’, my mom says.

‘Ya. What is the big deal? You can inform us by tomorrow’, agrees Sarathy uncle.

I look at Sravan, he shrugs.

I find myself cornered again. I telepathically damn him to a flight back to U.S on which he eats spoilt food and spends the flight puking his guts out. Damn Sravan.

‘Okay mom. I will tell you guys soon okay? Not tomorrow, but soon’, I agree for now. I am not sure if I should tell my parents about Karthik. It is probably too soon.

I look at Sravan, fortunately he nods and says, ‘Yes, I need time myself’.

The rest of the evening goes on a bit awkwardly. Since Sravan expressed his interest, I can’t stop wondering about each and everything he does. He passes the water bottle to me and I feel he is trying to sway me. He asks me to get him another bajji and I feel he is trying to get me to do things for him. Of course, I am paranoid. I hope there is some huge issue in the investment bank he is working for and they ask him to come back immediately as he is the only living person on this entire planet that can help them. Well, not all wishes come true.

 Since they had come only for snacks and coffee, they leave soon enough. Thank god for small favours.

I once again tell my parents that I have to go to my place and cannot stay over for the weekend. I now have painted a picture where I am the most critical person at my work and we are delivering a major product for our client pretty soon. This excuse of being busy at work, works almost every time. My parents complain, whine and threaten, but finally I did leave. Every parent wants his or her daughter to achieve at work.

I come back to my place to find Anitha in the balcony sitting in the dark and staring ahead with clearly unfocused eyes. It doesn’t look good. I am also a bit concerned that she left the front door open.

‘What happened Anitha?’, I ask.

She turns around clearly startled by the sudden voice she hears. She calms down and says, ‘Hi Priya. What’s up?’.

I sense she needs some more time to talk about it. I knew she was going to have a talk with Naren.

‘I am to decide whether or not I am ready to marry Sravan as soon as possible’, I say. I sigh. She snorts, of course and whistles.

‘I stalked Sravan in social media as soon as you mentioned him. If it were me, I will dump Karthik and choose Mr.Hawwt any day’, she jokes.

I frown at her. ‘Anitha, what happened?’.

She sighs. ‘We had a long talk Pri. I told him how I felt. I told him I felt that he is deciding something as basic as what I should wear and that I was hurt that he will get so angry for something so trivial. I also realized lot of incidents where he was deciding for me and I realized that I have reached a place where I am not very confident making my own decisions. He said he wasn’t deciding. He just told his opinions and obviously his opinions were better in few instances.’

‘Right’, I say. Naren is arrogant, I knew that.

‘I told him I am willing to try again, but there are going to be certain ground rules now.’

‘Ohhh.. How did he take that?’

‘He says a relationship with rules isn’t a relationship.’

‘What did you say?’

‘I asked him to see them as mutual compromise and not as rules, so that neither of us feel that the other is more invested in the relationship.’

‘Okay. So what are the rules?’

‘Neither of us is going to decide what is better for the other. It will always be a topic open for discussion.’

‘Obvious, but good one. Next?’

‘Preference of one will be considered, but only if it is in turns.’

‘Huh?’

‘Like once I do what he wants and the next time he does what I want. We get extra turns on important occasions like birthdays.’

‘Hmmm…’, not sure if this is practically possible, but it is only a rule, not a law.

‘We will never compare the other with anyone else.’

I had to try not to laugh at that. Tough to do that.

‘Only these so far. We also reserve the right to add rules if required.’

I am entirely not sure if life can work based on these rules. But this is not the time to tell her that, is it?

‘Okay. Did he agree?’

‘Yep. Then I realized one more thing. I was almost hoping he won’t agree. I was a bit disappointed when he did and I think he sensed the discomfort that I had’.

Uh oh. Not good.

‘This made him add another rule. That we always tell each other our true feelings, if not immediately based on the situation, never leave it to grow inside for more than a few days.’

This one makes absolute sense. I nod.

‘Why do you look so gloomy? Looks like things went fine?’

‘Not gloomy Pri. Just reflective’, she says and smiles. Okay, maybe. I am not yet well-versed in the nuances of Anitha’s moods. I text Naren a thumbs up. I am happy for them.

‘Cool. I wish you guys luck’. I leave her to her thoughts and go to my room and call Karthik. He answers immediately.

‘Where are you?’, he asks right away without any form of greeting.

‘At my place.’

‘Okay, good’

‘What did you and Sravan talk about?’

‘Nothing important. What happened? Why were you out with him?’, his voice sounds neutral, but I know he can easily wipe out emotions from his voice and face. I have no clue what he is thinking.

I tell him everything. He listens with a silence that is completely unnerving.

‘So? What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know Karthik. I considered telling about us. But doesn’t seem like a good idea.’

‘Why isn’t it a good idea?’

‘Umm.. Because then I am sure they will start to search for marriage halls and caterers right away?’

‘Okay, so?’, his voice is neutral, but I somehow feel that his tone has an icy inflection. Yikes.

Also wowwww. What?

‘Karthik? What do you mean? It is too soon to tell them Karthik. What if it doesn’t work out?’

He sighs. ‘This is not a conversation, I would have wanted to have over phone. But the situation sort of demands it’, his icy tone causes goose bumps to raise on my skin.

‘Okay?’

‘Are you not serious about us?’, more intense goose bumps.

Crap. ‘Umm.. Why do you ask this Karthik?’, I stall. Damn. Shit.

‘Priya’, he says, pauses. His voice gets icier if possible. ‘Once you have an answer for that question, call me. Until then…’, he pauses again.

‘Until then, happy figuring it out’, he says and hangs up.

Whoa. What just happened? 

Link to previous episodes : Episode 1  Episode 2  Episode 3  Episode 4  Episode 5  Episode 6  Episode 7  Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18