A Suitable Husband

Dinner Date

The first hour of Pragya's dinner date with Angad was awkward. Angad had come out in just jeans and a polo, so Pragya felt overdressed. In the car on the way to the restaurant, they exchanged small talk, but still couldn't bridge the tension of the situation.

Things improved when they finally arrived at the restaurant. Pragya recognized it as the place she and Bulbul sometimes came to treat each other for special occasions. Angad was pleased to see her smiling as they entered, and bent to explain to her why he'd chosen it.

"I always come here when I'm in Mumbai," he whispered in her ear. His hand pushed gently at the small of her back to guide her to the reception stand.

The intimate gesture made Pragya feel uncomfortable, but she reminded herself that she was supposed to give him a chance and that what he had done so far was perfectly normal. Hadn't she seen Purab touch Bulbul like this a hundred times, and the same between Abhi and Tanu?

It was new for her to be on the receiving end of a man's solicitude, but she could take it as a good sign. If she married Angad, maybe he would be a thoughtful and chivalrous husband - and that was no bad thing.

She could get used to him being physically demonstrative. Once they knew each other it would feel more comfortable.

And once she wasn't married to Abhi anymore, the faint feeling of guilt heating her skin would surely disappear too.

They made more small talk over appetizers. Pragya told Angad about watching his show with Bulbul, and he laughed and told her how much fun it had been to work with his costars on that serial. Pragya was surprised at his calm and humble tone. The show had been immensely successful, but Angad didn't brag about that.

He seemed so down to earth, and she liked that he didn't have an ego to match his outsized reputation.

"And what about you?" Angad prompted. "Are you interested in returning to work? Or is it your goal to start a family?"

An answer jumped to mind for the first part of his question, but the second derailed it. She felt jolted back to reality, with the heavy weight of the expectations surrounding their meeting pressing down on her.

"I - well both, I suppose," she answered hesitantly. "I love teaching and I do want to go back. But yes, I thought I'd be taking a few years to - to start a family."

"That's important to me too," Angad replied. "And you know, in a sense, work will always be there? But at some point you just have to make your personal life a priority. I realized recently that if I don't have children soon, I'll be changing diapers and pushing prams in in my forties! I think I'd much rather be teaching my little ones cricket and going to school functions at that age," he concluded with a laugh.

"Do you plan to be a very involved father, then?" Pragya asked, intrigued by his mention of baby chores.

"Of course! What's the point of having children if you don't put them at the centre of your world?"

Pragya liked his answer, as it matched her own point of view. However, she had never heard a man express the same sentiment, as it was generally assumed that women did most of the work when it came to raising children. Times may have changed but culture and tradition were slow to catch up, so even a working mother was expected to do more for her children than their father would be.

Yet the way Angad was talking about his hopes for the future, it sounded like he had something other than the usual roles in mind. She asked curiously, "And where would your wife - or partner - fit into this?"

"Right by my side, I would hope," Angad said with a smile. He met her eyes then, and as she looked into his face, Pragya thought she could read an honesty there that somehow made her feel safe.