May 15, 2021

Saturday, 9 AM

Vishnu Dyuthi’s accommodation at a ladies' working women’s hostel was all she could ask for. She had a lovely roommate, Rupa, who was a cheerful college student and narrated tales of her hilarious college experiences to entertain Vishnu every night. Their room was cozy, with a TV, two workstations, two single beds placed on opposite sides of the room; Vishnu’s side of the room being organized and Rupa’s side of the room representing the chaos of a college student’s life with scattered books and assignment worksheets.

It was a quiet Saturday morning for both, free from office and college schedules. Vishnu and Rupa were both fast asleep. When Vishnu’s phone near her pilow started buzzing continuously, she moved a little in her sleep. The phone’s vibration, however, didn’t stop.

Vishnu jerked awake with the noise and drowsily reached out to her phone, blinking her eyes to gain some focus. A picture of Vishnu with her arms wrapped around her mother flashed on the screen. It was her mother calling her.

“Yeah, ma…” Vishnu answered in a hoarse, sleepy voice.

“You haven’t woken up yet?” Padma asked.

“No, I’m sleepy today.”

“It is past nine.”

“Hmm… But it is Saturday. No office today.”

Padma grunted an ‘okay’ before launching into the intention of her call. “I sent you a marriage proposal’s details yesterday night - the guy's photo and profile. Did you go through that? His name is Dinkar.”

Vishnu groaned, “Hmm... Not yet. I had a late night meeting with the client yesterday. I slept at around two-thirty.”

“Why are you overworking so much? What good is it doing for you?” Padma seemed a little upset.

“Ma, what can I do if my client is USA based and has a packed schedule? Allen had only one hour free.”

“You spend so much time at work. Yet, you don't have time to look at marriage proposals and the guys' profiles. Why can't you prioritize what's important?” Padma complained.

“Ma, my work is important and it's my priority,” Vishnu reasoned, now fully awake and getting a little irritated.

“Are you telling me marriage is not important?” Padma’s voice turned intimidating.

Vishnu took a deep breath, pressed her fingers into her temple, and accepted defeat. “It is important too.”

“Then? Why can't you go through the men’s profiles and select a good one? How long will it take for you to read a few pages?” Padma was getting angrier by the minute. Vishnu knew she couldn’t argue with her mother on this one. Ever.

“Ma, I will look at it after I wake up. I promise. Please let me sleep for a while.” Vishnu pleaded slowly.

“Fine. Sleep.” And Padma hung up as unceremoniously as she could, making Vishnu feel like she had pissed her off big time.

Vishnu smacked her lips in frustration and looked up at the ceiling, distress clearly written all over her face. She closed her eyes putting her forearm across her eyes and forehead, trying to get back to sleep. But she couldn’t. A few moments of tossing and turning later, she sat up on her bed, fully awake.

She took her phone and opened the WhatsApp chat with her mother where she had shared the pictures and profile of a Dinkar, and opened the profile with disinterest. It was going to be an exhausting morning for Vishnu, filled with profile analysis, discussing the match with her parents and setting a date to talk to this stranger.

Varun’s bachelor pad was his haven. He had furnished it over time in a simplistic white and brown palette, had the woman he was dating over in his room every weekend and had enough drinks stocked in the fridge to keep him going.

This Saturday seemed no different either. When he woke up after a sound sleep, he realized his girlfriend was not sleeping next to him. He popped up his head to see if her bag and jacket were still in the room, to get a hint if she had really left the place.

Nope, she was still there. Her clutch was on the bedside table, next to a finished bottle of whiskey and his phone, which seemed to be buzzing from a series of messages or a call.

Varun buried his head back into the pillow, his head throbbing from hangover.

Rachna, his current girlfriend, walked into the room with a cup of coffee in her hands. She placed it on the table, sat on the bed and tried waking up Varun, shaking him by his shoulders.

“Oye, your phone has been ringing for an hour now; some uncle of yours. Must be something urgent. Wake up and take the call.” When Varun still didn’t wake up, she raised her voice, “Varun! Varun, wake up. Wake up man! The phone calls are getting irritating now.”

Varun groaned and turned to his side, opening his eyes a little to look at Rachna as she picked up his phone and held it in front of his face, displaying the incoming call to him.

“Pick your damn phone,” she spoke strictly.

Varun fumbled as he took the phone. The caller id made him groan again. Why was Ganesh uncle calling him so early in the morning?

“Hello…” he answered.

As he heard the news from Ganesh, his eyes widened. “What?”

He listened intently to whatever Ganesh was saying and then replied, “Oh God! Hmm... Okay. I will be there by afternoon. Yeah, sure.”

He cut the call and stared at the ceiling momentarily.

“What happened?” Rachna asked nonchalantly.

“One of my aunts passed away,” he answered.

“Oh, sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry. “Were you two close?”

“I don’t know,” Varun replied after a moment’s thought.

“How can you not know?”

“Some relations are like that.” He turned to Rachna and asked pointedly, “Do you think you and I are close?”

Rachna looked at him introspectively and slowly nodded as if she understood. “It is subjective. But, I get your point.”

Varun turned his head to stare at the ceiling again while Rachna sat engrossed in her coffee.

“I will have to head out for the funeral in a while,” Varun informed.

“Is it far?” Rachna enquired.

“About a couple of hours away. I might not be back till tomorrow night, or Monday even.”

“You want me to leave from here?”

“Your wish. You will have the whole weekend to yourself. You wouldn't wanna stay holed up here.”

Neither Varun nor Rachna seemed interested in the time spent apart.

“Do you have spare keys to this house?” Rachna asked.

Varun thought it through before replying, “No, I misplaced them last year.”

Rachna gave him a knowing look, as if she could see through him. Varun smiled at her waterily and got up from the bed to get started with the day.