Thought for a Change

It was a Sunday morning. Navi spent some time in front of the mirror. She was a receptionist at a hotel, and she had been at it for a while, for about four years. Lately she had begun to notice a stagnancy in her life.



“I am telling you it is about time. Either you find a good guy or we can do it for you. When you get married everything will feel better,” said Navi’s mother Mrs Baranwal in response Navi tried to discuss it out with her and she was also cutting carrots



Navi with a disappointed expression looked at her mother and said, “Ma, why didn’t you do anything in life, I mean professionally?”



Mrs Baranwal had actually never thought about it, she was one of the people in the world who just casually moved with the flow of life without any questions of their own. All she had done was what she was told to, initially by her parents then by her husband.



Mrs Baranwal looked at her husband who was sitting on the other side of the room, his face almost covered except the top of his head. It didn’t look like he was hearing.



“What is the matter?” asked Navi



“What do you mean?” responded Mrs Baranwal



“Like you are looking for someone’s approval to answer my question”



Mrs Baranwal kept the knife down and looked at Navi, “I was needed at home, to look after you and your late grandparents”



“So, you are telling me that all that money spent to send you to school, college and university was for this?” asked Navi



Mrs Baranwal kept looking at Navi, finding the conversation turning out to be an uncomfortable one and then suddenly she looked at the clock at the wall and said, “I better start cooking”



Mrs Baranwal got up and walked away with the chopping board, knife and the plastic mixing bowl with the pieces of carrots.



Navi looked at her father who was still sitting in the same way as he was before, the only movement was the upper edges of the newspaper moving due to the ceiling fan.



“I am going to quit my job and start writing a book,” Navi spoke suddenly as she walked into her younger brother Ritvik’s room



Ritvik was busy preparing an office presentation when he was startled by his sister’s sudden voice, which he couldn’t hear properly due to the earbuds playing a light instrumental music in his ears.



“Wait what?” Ritvik said removing his ear buds



“I said I am going to quit job and start writing a book,” said Navi



“You want to go into writing all of a sudden? Why? Is there some problem at your workplace?” asked Ritvik



Navi walked over to the window to push the curtains further aside to brighten up the room more and then she sat on the single bed and spoke, “I have a feeling there is more I want to do with my life”



“Oh.. Okay,” said Ritvik with the presentation still on his mind but now beginning to put more focus on what his sister was saying and he responded, “Are you sure? I mean I do understand that doing something of the same nature every day can become monotonous over time, but you want to quit.. Don’t you want to give it more thought?”



“I have Ritvik,” said Navi, “My job has allowed me to experience people in a unique way and I think I have observed quite a lot about them. It was a few months ago when an author who came to stay there suggested it to me, since then I have been thinking about it.”



Ritvik nodded and said, “Well it isn’t going to be that easy and you will have to be very patient with earnings, but I am sure you have thought about that too. Well not bad, I can brag about my sister being an author.”



Navi smiled at her brother showing understanding.



Ritvik paused for a while and spoke again, “did you tell father and mother?”



“Mother thinks I need to get married and I know very well that it is someone else’s wishes that she is expressing,” said Navi



Ritvik smiled, “Well if it is any comforting, you are not the only who is given the advice of marriage being the answer to the life’s challenges”



“.. and father looks more silent than ever,” said Navi



“Right? I thought I was the only one feeling it,” responded Ritvik, “do you think it is an age thing?”



“Nope” said Navi, “it is realisation of ‘people living lives on their own terms and denying to be controlled’ thing. I know there is a feeling of genuine care involved somewhere in there, but not everything has to be controlled”



Ritvik laughed while looking at his smartphone ringing. He picked up the phone and before answering he looked at Navi, “Well you do have your first fan, I am certainly interested in reading what you will write”



Navi got up and smiled as she left the room, closing the door behind, to begin with a new change in life. 

Written by Anuran Chatterji

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