Gehraiyaan.

Chapter 15

"When are you coming back, Nivi?", Maa questions, right away, after answering the call. How typical.

"I'll come back soon, Mumma. If the deal gets finalized tomorrow, I'll take the next flight home. Otherwise, I might have to stay longer", I explain and she lets out a long, loud and worried huff.

"You said you were going for a day!", she complains. "Maa, I'm not on vacation. I don't have a choice, right? If they say that I'll have to stay, I'll have to stay back. It's not my company", I argue. "I'm so worried about you, Nivi. You've never been out of Mumbai in a while, and now look at you - miles away from home with people you don't even know and you don't even know when you're coming back", she sighs.

"Are you worried that someone's going to harm me? Maa, they're all good people", I assure her. "You never know! Everyone's good to the eye, because you can never look into their underlying intention", no matter how old and independent you grow, a mother and her worries would never change.

"Just stay inside and don't hang around a lot with people. You never know what they might do to you", she throws her usual dialogues at me and I simply nod my head to everything she says, only to shut her up and calm her down.

"Anyways, you tell me. What's happening at home? How's Tia and Rani doing?", I change the topic. "Don't even ask me about them. I just cannot deal with them anymore. They've grown up to be such...I don't know! You were never like them", she whines. "Why, what happened?", I take a dig and hug my pillow close to my chest.

"You know, Sasha, right?", Maa prompts. She's our neighbor, and the girls' best friend! "I do, what about her?", I narrow my eyes.

"She's getting in two weeks and she has invited us over. Tia is adamant on buying a new lehenga for the wedding. I told her so many times that we're short on cash. She stopped talking to me, Nivi. She's not eating, she's not coming out of her room and she's not even looking at my face!", Maa narrates. "And you know that I cannot buy a lehenga for Tia, alone. Rani won't complain but I know she'll feel left out. I told Tia that if I ever decide to buy her an outfit, I would have to think about Rani, too. But you know her, right? She doesn't think about anyone when it comes to certain things", Maa sounds utterly disappointed.

"It's fair for her to make a fuss out of it. It's her best-friend's wedding, she wouldn't want to wear something old and Maa, for how long will they wear my old outfits? They're so outdated", I explain. "It's not fair that she doesn't understand what we're going through", Maa points out.

"I'm sure she does, but there's only so much she can compromise", I say back. "But you understood. You never complained when you were their age!", Maa argues. "Maa, that was a decade ago. Times are changing now, and so are the kids. You cannot expect them to sacrifice all the time, right? And please stop comparing them with me all the time, they'll end up hating me so much. We're talking about two different timelines, right? You know what? Tell Tia that I'm sending some money and that you're going to let her buy whatever she wants. And buy something as good for Rani, too", I order. "But it's the middle of the month!", she stresses. "I'll figure something out, Maa. Chill", I calm her down and hang up.

"And...how are you doing? Did Advik tell you anything?", Maa's hesitant about picking the topic. "Maa, that chapter is over, let's not talk about it. And I'm doing okay, I'm so busy here - I don't have time to think about anything. Anyways, I'll be completely fine with time", I comfort her and hang up.

Now, where do I arrange the money from? Because I barely have money in hand to cover my day-to-day expenses, and I know I should've just told Maa to let Tia be and she'll get over it. But every time, they complain about not having something, it breaks my heart. They never ask for anything, and when they do - I feel the need to fulfill their needs, somehow.