One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

‘Your weekend trip to Delhi and talking to your mother has really shaken you up.’
‘Maybe I needed to be shaken up. To really think about what I want.’
Neel sat up in bed.
‘Sorry to say this, but you aren’t thinking clearly. If I go by what you said in Dragon-I,’ Neel
said.
‘I said I want to have a family. Have kids. Be a good mother and look after them well. That’s
not thinking clearly?’
‘You are a star at work. What is all this mundane stuff you are talking about? Any woman can
do all this.’
‘But I can’t?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘So?’
‘I see you as someone exceptional. And special. You could be an MD, a partner.’
‘Yeah, I will be. I like my work too.’
‘But you said you want marriage, IKEA, bunch of kids. Baking cookies, really?’
‘Yes, I want all that too.’
‘Radhika, you are getting carried away. You saw Kusum the other day and you are getting
competitive over me.’
I too sat up in bed, almost panting in anger.
‘It’s not always about you, Mr Neel Gupta. I am talking about myself. My needs. Do you get it,
Mr I-am-so-smart Goldman Sachs partner?’
‘It’s just that.. .’ He turned silent.
‘What?’ I said. He did not respond.
‘Say what you wanted to say, Neel.’
‘It’s just I never thought of you as the maternal type. I don’t know if you were even meant to be
a mother.’
I felt my face turn hot. My whole body began to quiver. Neel figured he had said something
really, really wrong.
‘Okay, that did not come out right.’
‘Get out,’ I said, my voice calm.
He didn’t move.
‘Please leave my apartment, Neel. Get out now.’
‘Come here, I will make you feel better,’ he said, leaning forward. He tried to kiss me.
Slap! I gave him a tight one across his face. I didn’t care who the fuck he was.
‘How dare you? How dare you fucking say that?’ I said.
‘I am sorry.’
‘Just leave. Or I will send an email to all of Goldman Sachs tomorrow. About us. Would you
like that?’
He slithered out of bed. I kept a stern gaze on him as he dressed, picked up his laptop bag and
left.
I curled up in bed, tears rolling down my cheeks. I cried and cried. I buried my face in the
pillows, including the one that smelt of Neel, and just cried.
You are so stupid, Radhika, I said to myself.
What was I thinking anyway? Neel and I would walk off into the sunset? He thinks I wasn’t
meant to be a mother. How could I ever love this man? Did I not know this day would come?