Bhuvana, Eshwar and Raghav had a sumptuous dinner and returned home at around ten in the night. Raghav brought out tins of cola and the three of them stood in the balcony, leaning against the railing, and chatted away cheerfully. Sipping into their drinks and taking a pause in between from talking, they looked out into the night, taking in the crisp, cool air and the view of the sprawling, well lit neighbourhood. The wind chimes in the balcony swayed with the wind, ringing pleasantly.

Raghav glanced down towards the entrance of the apartment complex and noticed familiar faces walking in.

“Our noisy neighbours are coming home,” he remarked.

Eshwar and Bhuvana followed his gaze to watch a family of four entering the apartment complex. Two kids, a boy and girl around the ages of eight and six, were skipping ahead playfully, teasing each other, while their parents walked behind at a distance watching them, laughing at something their kids were saying.

“Wow, no one would be able to guess the way they fight early in the morning everyday,” Raghav observed.

“Maybe they are just sensitive in the morning,” Bhuvana opined. “You know, people sometimes have very specific times of the day when they become sensitive.”

“Nah,” Eshwar shook his head. “They fight most of the time, irrespective of where they are or what time of the day it is. The kids are well-behaved; they never get into any trouble. The little girl won some essay competition yesterday. They must have gone out to celebrate that.”

“How do you know all of this?” Raghav was curious.

Eshwar jerked his head towards the husband who was now disappearing into the cellar of the apartments, and answered, “He called me over in the morning when you were in the shower. There is some issue with the plumbing in their wash area. So, I went in to check that. They fight amongst themselves but they are extremely polite to others.”

“I still don't understand why they live like that,” Raghav said. “The husband and wife both seem to hate each other. They are not at all compatible with each other. It's like they are just sticking together for the sake of their kids and to maintain the front of a good family for the society.”

Bhuvana analyzed slowly, “A lot of people do that, Raghu. Staying married for the sake of kids, for the sake of society, family, because their parents wanted them to get married, because they don't want to be lonely, because they are scared of being left alone in old age. Many reasons, which might not have anything to do with the actual, true feelings of the married couple. People who stay married because they love each other, for such a simple reason as love and friendship, are few compared to the ones obligated into being married.”

“True,” Raghav nodded. He paused, pondering over it for a moment and then wondered, “You know, one thing confuses me a lot about this noisy neighbouring family. They are loud all throughout the day. But, once night falls they become quiet. I hear them laugh at times. Either the kids are doing something funny, or the couple are just nice to each other, making each other laugh.”

He turned to his friends with curiosity and asked, “Makes me wonder how they can just put everything aside, pretend like they haven't fought at all. I mean, I have never heard them resolve any of their issues completely, let even amicably. Yet, they just put it all behind, probably forget it all or pretend like nothing ever happened. How can they do that when they have so many unresolved issues?”

Bhuvana gazed softly as she replied, “Maybe because they just want some peace.”

Eshwar and Raghav looked at her, listening intently. Bhuvana stared away into the night with a tranquil and understanding expression as she elaborated, “At the end of the day, everyone loves some sort of peace. Who would want to constantly live in anxiety, hatred, disappointment and seclusion? It gets tiring after a while. At some point, people come up with a routine for themselves; their own way of handling unresolved issues and misgivings. To have at least a little bit of peace in an already messy everyday life. Some people burry the unresolved issues and move on. Some avoid the issue, wanting to ignore everything. Some try to talk it out and arrive at a middle ground despite high chances that it might not work. Some compromise and try their best to accommodate others. Some just give up and surrender, to reconcile with the ones they care about, because they can't handle the consequences of trying to win the fight.”

Her words echoed in the way five people tried to resolve their issues that night.

Raghav’s neighbours, Saral and Lekha, sat at the opposite ends of their living room couch, away from each other. Their kids were sprawled on the carpet in front of them, drawing and painting on sketchpads. Saral and Lekha glanced at each other for a long moment before Lekha decided to bury the day’s fights and gave a soft smile to her husband. Saral, in a pleasant mood after celebrating a good dinner with his kids and wife, smiled back at Lekha, noting to forget what he had fought with her about that day.

Elsewhere, in Bhuvana’s ancestral home, Chalam was having a heated discussion with Prakash in the living room. Ramesh was sitting in his lounge chair silently, facing away from the argument that was in progress. As hurtful comments about Bhuvana passed between Chalam and Prakash, Ramesh squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to hear the argument anywhere. Choosing to avoid the problem at hand, he got up wearily from his chair and left the room quietly, not looking at the two men who had paused their argument upon seeing him rise.

Just outside the house, Varun was staring at his estranged parents as they sat separately on either ends of a bench. They weren’t speaking to each other, not even glancing at each other. They had exchanged not a single word the entire day, and the only reaction they had given Varun himself was a greeting and a question of “How are you?” The day’s events, especially Bhuvana’s attempt at reconciling with her estranged father had triggered something in Varun, and he wanted to try the reconciliation aspect himself. He knew it might not work, yet he wanted to talk it out at least once with his parents and come to a middle ground. He slowly walked up to the bench and sat in between his parents. “Hey,” he said to both of them. They responded back the same way. Varun tried to create a small talk with his mom first and then with his dad, and it became blatantly obvious that all three of them were feeling awkward with Varun’s attempts of a casual talk.

Back in Abhi and Siri’s new house, the housewarming function was in a full swing. Their relatives and guests were moving about busily with tasks related to the rituals and socializing with each other. The older aunts of Abhi and Nirgala were seated at one end of the living room, busily chatting amongst themselves. Nirgala knew they had already discussed about her outburst earlier that day, but Abhi’s words about having a peaceful ceremony at home were still ringing in Nirgala’s ears. She loved her brother too much to jeopardize his plans for the ceremony. Compromising with her relatives was the only way out. Taking a deep breath, Nirgala picked up a plate of sweets and walked over to her aunts, a soft smile playing on her lips. They looked up at her in surprise as she offered them sweets, greeting them brightly and sat down next to them, starting a conversation with them.

Over at Vishnu’s hostel room, she was sitting up on her bed, leaning back against the headboard and viewing the photo of Dinkar, the guy whose matrimony profile her mother had shared with her, on her phone. She closed the picture and opened up the WhatsApp chat of her mother and typed in, “Ok. Pass on my number to Dinkar’s parents. Ask him to call me. I will speak to him and go on the blind date.” Vishnu knew that message was not enough to pacify her mother who was very much stressed and agitated with Vishnu’s lack of interest in marriage. So, Vishnu decided to give up, surrender to her mother’s wishes, all because she knew she could never win over her mother or deal with the consequences of not listening to her. She straightened up on her bed and typed another chat message, “I will get married, okay? Please call me mom..." She waited with bated breath for her mother to see the messages and pick up her calls.

At the end of the day, everyone wants to sleep in peace. Everyone has a way of dealing with issues to find that peace.