The Snarky Indian

Part 23: The Parent Talk.

"Yes yes, I'll do that... I know I need to.... Yes, gotthu (I know)... Okay, yes... Hmmm, but... Okay yeah, true... Alright, I'll skype you tonight... Okay bye!" I sighed, keeping my cell phone back in my bag. Aryan looked up, wearing those adorable think-framed glasses of his, "What's up?" "Oh, nothing. Mom's stoked about me getting back home for the Summer, she wants me to pack right away." "Oh, right. Summer. But you'll be getting back early, right? For the project." "Of course I will." He nodded, looking down at his laptop. We were in the canteen, eating and peacefully doing our work. On a Sunday. 

I thought back to an hour ago when he came banging and crashing into our place, "Ana! We need to work!" And just dragged me to the canteen. At 9 am. On a Sunday morning. Sometimes, I felt like throwing a trash can on his head. He was a work-a-holic. And I'd never been any kind of holic so far. Sometimes I felt that I hadn't discovered what I really wanted to do with life, but he was utterly sure. He'd planned out what he wanted, a M.S and then a PhD. Then he wanted to work as a professor along with focusing on research. He even made video games, damn good ones. When I'd asked him if he wanted to make video games as a career, he merely shook his head, "It's something I love doing, I don't want any deadlines imposed on it. I wanna be free to make a game when I damn well want to." He'd stated it proudly and it had made me wonder whether I had any talent like that. My first thought had been music and it was then I'd understood what he meant by doing it just because you wanted to. But I'd never really shown a passion for programming, like he usually did. He was enthusiastic about everything he learnt. I came to the US to just do my MS, and probably get a good paying job after. When I thought back to why I chose to do a MS, the only thing I could think was 'I don't know'. I supposed that since a lot of the high scoring seniors had taken up MS, I took it up too. It was herd mentality that made me take it. Do a B.E or B.Tech, then either work for a year or two and then do your MS and work again, or directly do a MS and then work. That was how it worked. And those were the only two choices that went through my mind when I graduated. I'd thought about a MBA but I was too lazy to study for GMAT, not that I'd admit it to my parents. They'd go ballistic, "You should study well to achieve what you want to. The tougher the path, the tougher you become when you're done." 

"Hey Ana..." He said softly, shaking me out of my stupor. "Yeah?" "Have you told your parents about us?" I froze. I hadn't. I honestly didn't want to, not this early. They would definitely take a flight and drag me right back if they found out. "Um... Why do you ask?" He gave me a sad smile, "Yeah, I thought so. Why not?" I blinked, "I didn't say anyth..." "You're an open book to me." I didn't look at him, "Okay, I haven't." "And were you planning to?" I began mindlessly tapping my fingers against my laptop's keyboard. "I guessed that you weren't." 

I didn't say anything. 

"My mother likes you. A lot." I looked up at him, blinking. "I sent her a picture of you. And I guess I talk about you a lot." I had no clue what to say. "She... Uh... Wants to talk to you. So, I was hoping you could come along the next time I went. She was yelling about how I should have invited you over for Christmas and New Year's." 

Finally, my throat cleared, "Wait, you're not angry?" He shook his head, "Nope, I'd expected it." He said it with a sad smile on his face, a kind of smile that made me want to put a trash can over my head. "I'm sorry. It's just that my parents, well, they'll pull me out if they find out. And probably get me married." I added it as an afterthought. It was true, after all. I had a suspicion that my mother was happy about me getting back because she wanted me to meet guys, not that I'd tell Aryan about it. Also, not that I'd agree to get married so soon. I remembered the exact reason why I'd been so uncomfortably scared to accept that I liked Aryan, because my mother had 'allowed' me to go to the US only if I'd agreed to get married after two years. And also because I'd gotten a full scholarship. Indians are cheap like that. And proud of it, as Russel Peters says. My mother had seemed serious, but I wasn't. Predictable, considering I was just 20 when she said it.