Night was slowly creeping over the San Francisco cityscape. Lights were coming on, and the traffic was starting to thin out.

Aarush got up and switched on the lamps in the hotel room.

“Thank you ma,” said Arun, blinking his eyes. Aarush sat back on the bed.

“What plans after 10th?” said Karthik. “Or you don’t know yet?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Aarush. “Avva and Dad want me to do engineering like he did, but Mum says that I can do what I want… only, I don’t know what I want.”

“I didn’t know what I wanted either,” said Karthik, laughing. “So I just did engineering like Amit-anna did. I hated it, but I didn’t know what else to do back then.”

Aarush seemed a bit more relieved after hearing that. But then a question popped into his head.

“What did Rani-attha do after 10th?”

“Exactly the opposite of what your grandmother wanted,” said Arun, smiling. “I mean, did you expect anything less from her?”

“Okay,” said Aarush, unsatisfied. “But that doesn’t answer my question, Thatha.”

Arun scratched his head.

“Well, after they finished their final exams Sandhya started working really hard to get both of them into good PUC schools. She wanted them to become engineers like me, and Ravi being the class topper very easily got into a good school.”

“Same as mine, actually,” said Karthik. “Near our grandparents’ house.”

“Rani, having barely scraped through, didn’t get into any of the PUC schools,” said Arun. “Sandhya was definitely not happy about that.”

“What did she do?” asked Aarush.

“Well, we ended up taking her to a career counsellor,” said Arun. “She suggested that Rani stay in that same international school, but in the IB diploma program. Sandhya tried to subtly convince the counsellor otherwise, but neither her nor Rani were having any of it.”

“Classic Rani,” said Karthik.

“And so, that’s where they ended up after 10th,” said Arun. “Ravi studied physics, chemistry, and electronics in PUC, and Rani studied English, biology, and visual arts in IB.”

“So that’s it then,” said Aarush. “This is where their paths began to split.” Arun nodded.

“One sticking to his mother’s plan for him,” said Karthik. “And the other stubbornly trying to carve her own path.”

“That’s a… poetic way to put it,” said Arun, raising his eyebrows in surprise. “But it wasn’t all roses and sunshine. In the PUC school Ravi continued to make new friends and play football. But all of Rani’s old classmates, including her friends, had left and were replaced by new ones. She had a lot of trouble making new friends as is, and so for those two years she was alone. I don’t actually know how she managed.”

“I do,” said Karthik, pointing. “You remember her English teacher?”

“Vaguely,” said Arun. “Her name was Valerie, I think. I recall speaking to her a couple times, she seemed like a nice lady. Why?”

“Rani told me she wasn’t just a teacher to her,” said Karthik. “But more like a guru. She helped Rani ‘open her eyes’, and ‘look inward’.”

“Really?” said Arun, shocked. “I didn’t know their relationship was that deep. Was it only Rani or did other students get this kind of knowledge from her?”

“Only Rani,” said Karthik. “She said that Valerie only approached her and offered to teach her ‘more than just 18th-century dramas’. Even now Rani says she was the wisest person she’d ever known, and that she wouldn’t have made it through IB without her.”

Aarush sat there in awe, staring.

“No wonder Rani-attha is so… wise. Like she ‘sees’ everything somehow.”

Arun laughed.

“Based on what Karthik is saying I think it’s because Valerie knew that she was bad at her studies, but saw her massive, untapped potential. If that’s the case then I seriously commend her for this, there aren’t many teachers who’d go that far for just one student.”

“But Valerie wasn’t an ordinary teacher,” said Karthik. “At least, from what Rani has told.”

“That may be true,” said Arun.

A short silence followed. Then suddenly Karthik slapped his leg.

“Oh, I just remembered. What do you think of your Dad’s mustache, Aarush?”

Arun buried his face into his hand. Aarush looked at both of them with confusion.

“Mustache? He’s had that for as long as I can remember. It looks really ugly, actually. Both Mum and I keep telling him to remove it but he doesn’t listen.”

“That’s because his Mom is the one who told him to grow it out in the first place,” said Arun, still covering his face.

“I know,” said Karthik, laughing while shaking his head.

“His facial hair started coming in when he was around 16,” said Arun. “So Sandhya told him to grow a mustache. ‘You’ll look so handsome’, she’d say. So Ravi grew it out without question.”

“But he doesn’t look handsome,” said Aarush. “Even Mum doesn’t like it.”

“Knowing Aditi I think she actually did like it before,” said Karthik. “But maybe she just said that because Sandhya-pinni convinced her that way, I don’t know. She wasn’t so smart before you were born.”

Aarush rubbed his forehead.

“So Rani-attha cut her hair which Avva didn’t want even though it looks good, but Dad grew a mustache which Avva DID want even though it looks bad,” said Aarush. “I think I’m starting to get it.”

Arun smiled and nodded.

“Throughout PUC Ravi was going through coaching classes and preparation for engineering entrance exams. Sandhya wanted both of them to study at engineering colleges in India, and so she was pushing him into all of this. Ravi simply did as he was told.”

“But she didn’t do that with Rani-attha, did she?” asked Aarush. Karthik snorted.

“Oh, she tried that with Rani as well,” said Arun, shaking his head. “Even though the career counsellor told her not to. But get this, the coaching centers wouldn’t even let her through the door! One because her marks were so bad, and two because they don’t accept IB students. Sandhya was furious!”

“Valerie’s guidance helped her deal with that I feel,” said Karthik. “Rani was getting tired of yelling at a wall.”

“I know,” said Arun, his voice becoming more quiet. “I could see her withdrawing into herself, talking and smiling less and less. And Sandhya wasn’t helping. With all of her plans for her daughter crashing all around her, she’d taken to calling Rani things like ‘lazy’ and ‘useless’. In spite of seeing the way her own mother was berating her and making her miserable, I’m ashamed to say that I still did nothing.”

Arun removed his glasses and wiped a tear. Aarush watched quietly while Karthik turned away. Arun sniffled, then put his glasses back on.

“One night, shortly after her second year of IB had begun, Rani came up to me and quietly said that she wanted to apply to a big fashion school in New York. She told me that after ‘a lot of thinking’, she’d decided to become a fashion designer. I asked if this was going to make her happy, and she said ‘yes’. I was feeling guilty about not stopping Sandhya’s behavior, so I helped Rani fill out the application, pay the fee, and mail it.”

“Valerie helped with that also,” said Karthik. “She encouraged Rani to move forward with it. That’s what Rani meant by ‘a lot of thinking’ I guess.”

“What did Dad do for college?” said Aarush.

“Ravi applied to big engineering colleges all over India,” said Arun. “But finally he got into one in Bangalore itself. Which, coincidentally, is the same college I studied in.”

“Amit-anna also studied there,” said Karthik. Arun pointed at him in agreement.

“I can still recall that night in June 2013 when Ravi found out he got accepted. It was… a powder-keg of emotion.”

*******

Arun Shivaram was sitting on the sofa watching TV, apparently having forgotten that he was still pointing the remote at it with an outstretched arm. Sandhya was setting the dining table.

“Arun can you call the kids for dinner?” asked Sandhya. Arun didn’t hear her.

“ARUN!”

Arun quickly turned his head.

“Hah?”

“Turn off the damn TV and call the kids for dinner. You can do that much at least, na?”

Arun immediately did as he was told. He ducked into Ravi’s room first as his door was open, and then knocked on Rani’s door, which was closed.

A few minutes later Rani slithered out of her room, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

“One of these days I’ll take that DS away and give it to the maid,” said Sandhya. “No wonder your marks are so great.”

Rani ignored her and sat down at the table. A couple minutes after that Ravi came out of his room holding his laptop.

“What did I tell you about bringing gadgets to the table?” said Sandhya.

“Yeah I know Mom,” said Ravi, looking up. “I just wanted to show you guys this email I got.”

Sandhya, intrigued, immediately dropped what she was doing and walked over to him. Arun did the same, but Rani stayed at the table. She didn’t need to read the email to know what it was about.

Suddenly Sandhya gasped and clapped her hands to her mouth.

“CONGRATULATIONS RAVI!!”

“Mooom…”

Sandhya gave him a massive kiss on the cheek. Which she could only do by standing on her toes and pulling him down to her level, as Ravi had grown significantly taller than her now.

“Congrats, Ravi,” said Arun, patting him on the back.

“Thank you Dad,” said Ravi, his voice completely neutral. Sandhya turned to Rani, who wasn’t paying attention.

“Aren’t you going to say something?”

Rani slowly turned to look at them. Then she turned away again.

“Yeah, congrats.”

Sandhya glared at her.

“Why can’t you be happy for your brother? He got into one of the top engineering colleges in the country! He worked hard for this, much more than you’ll ever work. All you do is sit and twiddle your thumbs on that stupid video game. You’re useless!”

Rani frowned at her. She then got up and stomped back to her room. Arun looked at Sandhya with shock and confusion.

“What? As if you didn’t notice how lazy that girl has become. What is she going to do with her life?”

Arun shook his head as Rani returned, now holding an envelope.

“This came in the mail,” said Rani. “In March.”

Sandhya snatched the envelope from her. It was already open, and she pulled out the letter from inside. Her face turned more and more angry as she read it.

“New York?”

Rani nodded.

“Fashion??”

Rani nodded again. Sandhya looked at her like she’d written another love-note to a classmate.

“Why do you want to do fashion? In New York??”

“I’ll be happy there.”

Sandhya slammed the letter down onto the table.

“YOU WANT TO GO ALL THE WAY TO NEW YORK JUST TO LEARN CLOTHES STITCHING? ARE YOU MAD?? WE’RE GETTING A HOUSE BUILT!! YOU’RE GETTING A BIG ROOM!! AND YOU WANT TO THROW ALL OF THAT AWAY???”

“But I got in!” said Rani, crossing her arms. “They’re even giving me a partial scholarship, they don’t give that to just anyone! And some of the biggest designers in the world went there–”

“NO! You are not ready to leave! You BARELY made any friends in school, how will you manage there??”

Sandhya pinched her nose bridge in exasperation. Then she looked up at Rani again.

“Why can’t you just listen to me like your brother?”

She then stormed off to her room and slammed the door. Arun, worried, followed her. Only the twins were left in the living room.

“When did you even apply to this?” asked Ravi.

“December,” said Rani. “When everyone was busy panicking about the world ending.”

“Don’t you have to pay application fees?”

“Yeah, Dad helped with that.”

Ravi looked at her with confusion.

“I don’t get it. Isn’t this something you’re supposed to grow out of? I mean, how’re you gonna make a living drawing dresses or whatever?”

Rani raised her eyebrows at him.

“Wait, are you seriously taking her side?”

“I’m just saying,” said Ravi, shrugging his shoulders. “You could’ve also worked hard. You could’ve also gotten into a decent engineering college here, and avoided putting Mom through all this pain.”

“So that’s what this is then,” said Rani, putting her hands on her hips. “Not putting Mom through pain. And I’ll have you know I did work hard. I put a LOT of effort into my portfolio!”

“That doesn’t sound like it needs much effort,” said Ravi. “And you could’ve used that same ‘effort’ on something more useful, like engineering.”

“No I couldn’t!”

“Then you ARE lazy, like Mom says!”

Rani looked at her brother with anger and shock.

“Says the guy who doesn’t even seem happy he got into a good engineering school.”

Now Rani stormed off to her room and slammed the door. Ravi stood there by himself in the living room, wondering what he said wrong.


A few hours later Arun knocked on Rani’s bedroom door, wanting to congratulate his daughter. He opened it slowly, only to find Rani curled up on her bed crying.

*******

Aarush was at a loss for words. He just sat in silence for a few seconds, reflecting on the story he just heard. And then he finally spoke, softly.

“Avva and Dad actually said those things to her?”

Karthik didn’t say a word. Arun slowly nodded.

“Looking back I think this was the first crack in their relationship.”

Aarush turned his head down. He wondered what was coming next.