Destiny & Dismal Science
She didn’t go, but the whole entire family sans her and Ma did to NOIDA even NAINA (because Inder was going go with Harsha)
The boy and girl had met a couple times informally at coffeeshops and cafes (and pubs without Bua’s knowledge)
The financial machinations worked out well, the girl wasfrom a propertied, Varsha Asthana
She was pretty not very tall, with curly hair and a bright smile. The only daughter, no other kids
Harsha had struck the marriage lottery, everyone gushed itwas “destiny” and hugged each other
The family had a bunch of spare parts stores in Khari Baoli and NOIDA.
But to Naina’s disappointment Inder’s Dad came to townsuddenly and he did not go
Divine intervention Viveka thought because Bua being awitness to Naina’s frivolities would have been a bit much
Dadi began talking about Viveka’s Rishta and Naina’s rightthere with Mr Asthana
Insisted Akash share pictures of his daughters
The roka happened, Ma tried to call in from Ireland butthe connection was choppy at the resort she was at so she could not talk much
Viveka was afraid to bring up the topic of Naina Inder with her Ma
She didn’t want to say or hide things
About Raanav… NOBODY knew
The evening of roka, Naina was at work and the twins were at a friend’s squaring away homework
Viveka and Papa, who were besties anyway hung out together listening to old Hindi songs and flipping/scrolling through old pictures on the home laptop
“Oh my god…. My glasses have always been too big for my face”
Akash leaned over sipping his beer
“Dikhao”
He laughed out loud
“Uff… no wonder I got teased so much”
“Bachon mein aqal thodi hoti hai beta”
“Even some adults” she mumbled
“Kiski baat ho rahi hai?”
“Hahaha…. Nobody… I mean… I wanted to share something”
“Bolo”
“Abhishek thinks the Parashar kid is a charsi” she said
Akash looked stunned
“Aisa kya?”
“Hmm”
“Can you identify a cokehead?”
“Is this a trick q?” she laughed
“No I am asking”
“No Papa… I can identify a drunk person I guess…. Maybe ifI looked hard enough?”
“Tumhe lagta hai?”
“He smells fine” she laughed
“Matlab?
“I am guessing it must smell right?”
“How is he so sure?”
“Pata nahi… he hates his Dad’s employer”
“Poori company?” Akash thought that was unusual as well
“I feel they might have been unfair to his Baba”
“Ho sakta hai beta… large corporations are not just andquitable”
“But Mr Parashar seemed very compassionate”
“Kya pata kya hai… maybe loan voan liya hoga Ph D ke liye?“Maybe he asked for education assistance and Power Engineers declined?”
“He can always go to a bank” Viveka smiled and did a gesture to “present” Akash
“Banks mein rates kaafi high hotey hain… based on years of service he might have expected a break”
“Oh… I never thought of that” she sniffed and pushed her glasses up her nose
They made Italian together, burned half the garlic bread while toasting , but enjoyed the meal a lot
“dadi ne tumhari baat ki waha” Akash explained
He caught her shift awkwardly in her chair
“She never learns… she is like Bua on steroids”
Akash laughed
“Don’t u love my family”
“I don’t want to marry a rich man”
“Beta aise rigid nahi hotey”
Akash had promised Anubha he would “make some progress”
“So you have written off Abhishek?” she laughed
“No I thought YOU HAVE” he said looking at her confused, pushing up her glasses
“Whoaaa? What did I say?”
“Umm” Akash thought for a bit
“Oh sorry… tumne kuch KAHA nahi… but mujhe laga you are entirely not on board with the idea of him judging Parashars?” Akash just dropped the bombshell
She tried not to be self conscious
“Oh no… he is smart and funny… his Insta handle is A-kar”
“jaiee YEH KAR?” akash was amused
She nodded
“To theek hai”
“Matlab?”
“If you like him”
“OMG…. You are doing a DADI on me” she laughed “Uff”
“No beta”
“Papa I want to enroll in Ph D, and give it a year or two”
“To wait kar lega jo bhi hai” “I wont talk with the parents or PARENT” hesmiled
“Don’t talk only”
He ate quietly
“Is this what Ma and you gossip about?” she laughed
“Yeh aur bahot”
“Ufff”
“Ma ne to yeh bhi socha… sirf Kalpana kee Ma ne… gussa nahi karo…agar tumhari shaadi agar Raanav Parashar se hui to kaisa hoga”
She dropped her fork with a loud clatter
“YOU both are mad”
“As parents we aspire for magical things beta… its like aprince and a castle and such u know”
“Hahahah…hahahha” she laughed
“We want to imagine picture perfect fairy tale life foryou all”
That’s funny” she sniffled and pushed her glasses up shaking in laughter
“There is no fantasy in economics”
“Its called dismal science for areason Papa” she said calming down
“Wow”
"It means acc to Tom Carlyle a Scottish philosopher humans are captive in a world where population growth will always strain and outpace natural resources and bring widespread misery."
“Tumhare dimaag ke barabar ka kidhar se laayen?” he stared at her in wonderment
Edited by Nisha0604 - 4 years ago
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