She has been avoiding the topic of marriage with her own parents for forever now. She couldn’t believe Parag wanted her to make up her mind so that he can be at peace with his family. ‘So that’s the real reason why you have been pushing for an answer all these days?’ she was rightly miffed. ‘Come on, don’t over react. I am discussing this with you so that we can sort this out together.’ Tanya knew this conversation wasn’t going anywhere. ‘Answer this Parag, what are my options?’ she sighed. This was almost a rhetorical question and she wasn’t expecting a response either. He knew he had no answer but asked for some more time and promised her that they would sort this out together.
The next day, Tanya woke up to a rainy morning. She loved the smell of wet Earth after the first rains. She opened her windows and took a deep breath feeling all of it. But she hated stepping out in rains. She decided to take a day off. After all she hadn’t taken a single day off for over a year now. Later in the evening, Urvashi convinced her to catch up at a nearby coffee shop. It is only with Urvashi that the little girl hiding somewhere in Tanya rarely showed up. The two girls could chat for hours together and they usually did. Topics would vary from movies to shopping to food to everything under the sun. But today the only hot topic on the agenda was Parag and Tanya’s future. Urvashi had spoken to Parag a few times on video chat but didn’t like him much. She thought him and Tanya would make a very boring couple. So after discussing Tanya’s new peep-toes, Urvashi asked her how she imagines her relationship few years down the road. Tanya was lost for words.
‘I definitely don’t see myself in the mountains Urvashi,’ as straight a face as she could have. ‘You need to decide if your career is more important than him. You do know that there is no way he can change cities,’ Urvashi reciprocated. The discussion went on for an hour and concluded in no man’s land. Through the course of discussion, Tanya did realize that her not wanting to change cities wasn’t the only issue. She was also not pleased with Parag’s additional insistence due to his parents. Urvashi, supportive as always, advised her not to rush especially for a decision as big as this one.
Later in the night, Tanya did convey how she needed more time. Parag replied how time was the one thing they were running out of. It was another dark, long, sleepless night for her. The train of thoughts running thru the night was derailed by Alarm Clock1.