I didn’t answer. Somehow the thought of being in Delhi and seeing ditzy
Punjabi girls by day and dad at night didn’t seem terribly exciting.
‘You come with me wherever I go,’ I said.
‘Where? I can’t leave Delhi. All my relatives are here. You will be in office all
day. What will I do in a new city?’
;I want to go to Chennai,’ I said.
‘Oh God!’ my mother’s mellow mood shifted gears to overdrive. She got up
from the bed. ‘I find this harder to deal with than your father. Are you mad?’
‘No, I like Ananya. I want to give our relationship a shot.’
‘You’ll become a Madrasi?’
‘I am not becoming. I’m only going there to live. And Citibank transfers you in
two years.’
‘I should meet an astrologer. I don’t know what phase you are going through.’
‘There is no phase. I love someone.’
‘Love is nothing, son,’ my mother patted my cheek and left the room.
I didn’t submit the Citibank form until the last date. I kept taking my pen to the
‘location preference’ question. It had asked for three choices in order. I couldn’t
fill it.
‘You’ve sent your form?’ Ananya asked on the phone.
‘I will. Almost ready,’ I said
‘Are you crazy? It is the last day. You put Chennai, right?’
‘Yeah,’ I said and hung up.
I gave one final glance at the form. I looked at God above and asked him to
decide my love-life. I filled up the form: