The Journey - Part 6

"The Proposal"

Well , like suman aunty , I also fell for a guy from my childhood story 'Anish'. We were alike. I am still not sure what exactly love is , but we were always very comfortable around each other. We transformed from crazy kids to young adults in front of each other. We not only witnessed every tiny change in our personalities but also helped each other to be better. I was damn lucky to find someone like Anish. That's the reason I never want to change a single second of my life spent with him. If given a choice like today , I will expect to relive every moment as it is.

It was my birthday and also deadline of very first client delivery of our entrepreneurial adventure. Me , Rachit and Guru , my business partners were too busy to even remember my birthday. We had just started our business. We were enjoying this rollar coaster ride. Anish knew me , my ambitious and workaholic nature , he even teased me as 'self obsessed lady' when we used to lie on the lawn just to look into infinite galaxy and talk about our dreams. But he was my best friend , it was impossible to hide my shortcomings even if I wanted to , but I never had to and that's what made him special. I had slept in office for last 3-4 days. He didn't visit me but called me to wish when I was traveling for a meeting , he knew how to snatch time from my busy schedule. He told me to inform him when I finished work. Although I was not a girl to be wooed by chocolates and flowers , he knew how to surprise me. He used to outdo himself every time , but I still had not given up on guessing. I guessed he had planned something at our home. Did I mention , we used to live together ?

“You mean live in relationship ?” Suman asked.

“Yes , for almost for 2 years.”

#13 made a note , he had never met a live in relationship candidate before. He went back on his earliere notes when he had picked up Anu.

“But I remember seeing nameplate embossed with just letters “Anushri” at your home.”

“So?” Anu did not understand the question.

“I think he meant to ask why nameplate didn't contain Anish's name on it.” Mrs. Sarpotdar explained the question .

“I bought that studio apartment with my savings from earlier job , I paid the EMI , he didn't share the EMI” It was very straightforward equation for Anu.

“But not even your own sirname ?” Mrs. Sarpotdar was impressed with this independent straightforward and ambitious girl.

“Okay , not including sirname is a valid question. It was on purpose. My parents had earned everything in life money,respect on their own. They had built a legacy from nothing. Some people called me fool not to join my dad's business , but my parents were never one of those 'some people'. do you remember the story from my childhood about the bicycle? Well, my mother made me go to the same camp next year , and then only they bought me bicycle when I attended the camp for complete 20 days.Mom and dad always taught me the joy of earning everything in life. 

They wanted to buy me a nameplate as a house warming gift and told me how extremely proud they were that I did this on my own without any support.  It was not dad's, not mom's , not Anish's. It was something that just belonged to me 'Anushri' so I thought to use just my first name. I think everyone should have that one thing in life which isn't shared with anyone else but just themselves. Mom and Dad both loved the idea , hence the beautiful nameplate.”

“That's nice , or what you call it ? That's really Cool ? “, Suman tried doing the rock sign with her hand.

“You are almost there Suman Aunty :-)

'Only you can think of this self obsessed nameplate .. LOL , jokes apart , It's damn cool Anu(shri) , proud of you !' Anish had message me after seeing the nameplate.

#13 didn't like diverting topics, “Point noted everyone , thanks for clarification Anu, lets go ahead with day you want to relive.”

“Ohh Yes.”

We finished our work sooner than planned and decided to take next day off to relax. When I went home , there was absolutely no surprise planned , I was quite surprised to see that , but somewhat relieved too. He also had a hectic week. We both were not hungry so decided to go on a long drive. I didn’t even bother to change casual clothes I was wearing. Everything was informal with us. We just grabbed car keys and went to Juhu beach rather than bandstand. Anish loved the crowd at Juhu , he said he enjoyed seeing the normal , simple people there – families , kids , couples sharing bhel. Bandstand was too hi-fi and posh as he called it. He said this place kept him grounded from all the materialistic world around.

I was too tired to celebrate and carry fake smile and cut cake in front of friends and colleagues. This casual time together felt nice , we just sat there , I leaned back on Anish. He congratulated me and asked me to invite Guru and Rachit coming weekend to celebrate the success. He told me about his week , he knew that stories about old Miss Martha from his office will bring a smile on my face ,so he repeated few old ones. It was exactly the thing I needed at that moment .. peace! He stared at siblings playing in sand , fighting with each other. I closed my eyes. We shared silence of few minutes in that noisy crowd.

When I recovered a little energy , we got up to take a walk on the shore. We both didn't talk much , we were just walking, observing everything around us. I didn’t realize when Anish held my hand and entwined fingers. I used to be always amazed that everything was so natural and effortless with him , even the intimacy. Nothing was extra ordinary and special between us , but somehow it was still most beautiful thing I ever felt. When all these thought about him were gathering in my mind , he stopped , looked at me with his black sparkling eyes , out of the blue he just said - “let's get married Anu.”

Anu looked at #13 , then Suman aunty , then Mrs.Sarpotdar.

“Guys , my story is over. I told you it will be typical , boring , small story without any twists and turns.”

“True. It was boring. I am sure the whole beach part was not even as beautiful as you narrated it.” #13 took a shot at Anu as if he wanted to provoke her to tell more.

“Okay , that was really mean Mr.13.” Anu replied.

“It was a good story Anu. Very few people are optimistic to remember the happiness rather than regrets in life” Mrs Sarpotdar liked this girl, don't know why , but she thought if she was an actress, Anu would have been her dream role.

“Right , I agree. Your story was really cold breeze in the hot summer. ” Suman said.

#13 had already made few guesses about Anu. He didn't think the story ended there. Anu might wanted it to end there. He didn’t know how to ask her to tell more , so he decided not to. To end the topic on lighter note , he winked, “I wish Anish was as lucky as Anu was.”

Anu's eyes were moist by now , “He was not!”

“Hey , I was kidding.” #13 apologized after realizing maybe he struck wrong chord.

“No , you are right. He was not.”

Suman took her hand and assured, “This is best chance to take burden off your shoulders Anu. Let it go”

“Okay. I wanted my story to end there ...really ! I wish It didn't go any further.”

“But it does , it has to , right ?” Mrs. Sarpotdar consoled her again.

Yes. It did. I thought he was not serious when he said that so I just laughed. It was the only surprise I didn't like. He stopped me again “Anu, I am serious and believe me , I didn't plan on asking this , I just think it was right thing to ask.”

He was being genuine , we could never lie to each other and it was my time to say the truth.

“Anish, lets not do this today. You know how I feel about marriage. Have I not mentioned this 100 times in front of everyone ?”

“I know Anu , but then , what so wrong about getting married ? Nothing will change. We are anyways sharing our lives 24 by 7.”

“You know there is a difference. And we are not sharing our lives 24 by 7. We had promised each other to keep it that way , to give each other the space, right from the start.”

“Come on Anu. At least think about it. Don't be so childish and stubborn.”

“Anish , try and understand. I can't do it. Let's talk about it later , not today.”

“Well Anu, I do not think I will say things differently later. You know I am not impulsive person.”

“Unfortunately , even I am not going to think anything different.”

“For god's sake Anu , I am just asking you to marry me , just sign a paper for me, that's all.”

“If it is just signing a paper , then why do it ?”

“I know you are smart enough not to let me win this argument. But you have to trust me on this one Anu. Please do this for me.”

“Please don't hurt me like that Anish. You know I really love you , but I don't think I should agree on this just to prove that I do. You know it is not just about signing paper. It comes with obligations of keeping your family happy , responsibility towards you , have kids at some point of time. It will not align with what I want from life.”

“You still do things for me , take care of me. Don't you ?”

“I do that out of love not out of sense of responsibility. I do not want to take care of you out of obligation Anish ! that's the reason I had told you all this before moving in.”

“I know and I was okay with it , but I don't know , lately I have been confused about what real happiness is. Is this success or struggle or wealth will make us happy enough as a couple ?”.

“Aren't we happy right now ? I am. Are you telling me you are not ?”

“Anu , please don't catch me in words. I am trying to genuinely explain you what I feel.”

“And I m genuinely trying to understand. You knew this about me that I was not looking for marriage from this relationship and u had agreed , hadn't you ?”

We patiently talked to each other for a long time about this. He was making sense and so was I. I was trying to convince him to be with me the way I wanted him to be. He was doing the same. We understood each other but loved each other too much to ask the other one to change his/her idea of happiness just to be together. We went back home , pretend to sleep but woke up in the morning with sore eyes and heavy heart.

Anu stopped saying anything. Suman broke the silence , “I am amazed at this new generation. They are so clear on what they want from life.”

Mrs. Sarpotadar nodded in agreement. “Very true. I wish I had that clarity.”

#13 realized Anu was awfully sad in contrast to her chirpy nature , he felt bad for her , she might have really loved the guy. “Hey Anu , I know you are so technically sound , that you didn't take your story beyond that day as per quiz rules. But I will make another exception. Go ahead if you would like to.”

“There is nothing to continue. Nothing happened later. It was mutual decision , we went separate ways , I wish he had not walked on same path as mine for this long. A part was me was so proud about being totally independent woman , it was too hard to accept that I felt empty without him. I fought with myself not to feel lonely. I wanted him to be by my side when I fulfilled my dreams. They say that you really move on when you find some one else worthy to be happy rather than be regretful about past. Anish never wanted another Anu so he found himself a wife. I always wanted Anish and I never found another one. He ruined me for everyone else. He knew all this time that live-in-relationship was all I could give him but he still made me fall in love with him. He knew I never wanted family and kids and he still allowed me be addicted to him. He made me feel like I was stubborn , too ambitious , in human , too self centric to love him. He made me feel guilty for not being what he wanted me to be. The worst part was , when he left me, he made me question myself if I was worthy of any kind of love.”

Who knew happy go lucky girl like Anu could be hurt so deeply. Mrs. Sarpotdar wanted to console her but she didn't find the right words. Mrs. Sarpotdar could understand how Anu felt. It was rare to find such a wavelength match. Mrs. Sarpotdar knew the price to pay if you don't find the right one. Suman also looked confused. She struggled to say something. She could manage few words but she knew it was futile attempt at making Anu feel better, “Some things are just not meant to be. No one knows why. It is not rational and not logical , not fair. But I am sure of one thing Anu , Anish will also choose this day to relive when he is on the journey like us”.

Suman had this skill to understand people. Anu smiled a little with Suman's last sentence, she felt lighter than before. #13 was still busy writing down notes. He also made a set theory diagram and he had eureka expression on his face like he solved some equation. He almost jumped in his seat and was about to tell something , he looked at the ladies , but they all were still in serious mood , so he changed his mind about telling his findings.

“Anu , so I assume you do not want to change anything from that day , is that right ?”

“Yes , I am sure.”

“Well then , I like your story. It was not as boring as you thought it was , but if I have to choose , your childhood story was more entertaining and it suits you more.”

Anu laughed at his straight-face so-called-consoling remark.

#13 continued, “ So by this romantic evening at Juhu , we hereby conclude the end of question 2 in our quiz. Congratulations to all three of you. You did fantastically well. I think you are closer to your goal. My next question is going be very very simple. Best part is that it is an objective question with no options , one word answer , simple right ?”

“Oh come on Mr.13 , those are the toughest to answer” Anu's competitive exam's experience said.

“I think you won't take much time to answer this one.”

“Are you sure this last question will make us remember how we died ?” Suman asked eagerly.

“It depends on how genuinely you answer , but I think the chances are pretty good. Are you ready ?”

“Yes!” all three voices synchronized.

The Journey - Part 5

"Love and Biology  "

I was looking at the calendar. I had forgotten the date of previous month, I never had to remember. I wish I had. I felt cold, I felt urge to sit. I thought I would faint if I won’t sit. I somehow managed to walk to the chair. I again counted days, twice, thrice. The calculation gave same figure every time. The natural instinct was to be afraid and it was strange I was afraid and happy at the same time. I had missed my period.

“Suman, please come in the kitchen, I need some help”. I recognized it was my mother shouting but words didn’t get registered me, only the voice did. I wanted to run and tell someone about this. I wanted to get it out of my system. Mother? No, she will freak out. Harish? I was not sure how he would have reacted. Chinu? Yes, I can tell her that she was probably going to be an aunt of junior Chinu. Her reaction will be definitely –excitement! But no, I can’t tell her, she was not a small kid anymore to accept this without questions or not grown up enough to understand the answers either.

So I had no one to run to when I was happy? Nobody that close who will not judge me? Really? Am I that lonely? I thought.

“Suman, where are you, if you are with Chinu, ask her to spare you some time now, you have to finish this work and go to college.”  She assumed I was with Chinu, that’s the only time I used to be lost in my world. I and Chinu had a funny secret name for my mother - “Alarm clock”. Only difference was, we could never set time to our wish or switch it off when we wanted. She was successful every single time to wake us up from our dreams, sometimes daydreams.

I went to the kitchen, completed my daily chores. I never spent time on looking better since I knew nothing can make that face or body better looking. But I spent 10 more minutes that day in front of the mirror. I laughed because I could not believe that I just checked if I was looking fat. I was excited to meet Harish in the evening.

“So you and the guy from your childhood story were in a relationship?” Anu asked eagerly.

Suman laughed. “No dear, we were not in a relationship, I think we were in love. I was.”

 “Women always know when they are in love, on the other hand, guys are always confused. Traditionally women are famous as over thinkers, but lately I have been thinking about changing my perception.”

“#13, why do you have to make everything about being a woman or man. You are such a gender biased person.”

“Anu, First of all I am not a person, I am Yamdut. And about being gender biased, I have completed my masters in Human resources, and I have got to find a subject for my PHD soon. I think I am going to pick …”

“You are a know-it-all Yamdut by the way. If you have not noticed, that’s typical male on earth.”

“Now who is making it about gender?”

“That was exactly the point! Please don’t tell me that you are picking ‘Women from earth’ as a topic!” Anu said sarcastically.

“No, I surely want to complete my PHD someday so I am not picking that topic for sure.” #13 answered sincerely.

Anu wondered if #13 didn’t understand the sarcasm or he ignored it on purpose.

“Okay, you both, stop fighting. This reminds me of my grandchildren and happy memory is painful. Let’s not add any more emotion to our already emotionally flooded minds. Let Suman continue with her story. Suman?” Mrs. Sarpotdar took grandmom role and she was really good at it.

“Yes, where was I “, Suman came out from trance.

“You were going to college  ...”

“Yes, I was professor in college and my college was located in a town. Nobody knew me in that town, so I decided to confirm my news. I took the test from medical store and I prayed for it to be positive. It was! I was going to become a mother. I was going to have Junior Chinu in my arms in few months. After that I was almost a zombie - doing everything mechanically. Either extreme pain or extreme happiness causes this - where brain controls your body so that you can be with your mind completely. Everything else is just reflexes. Your actions means nothing to you, it is like you hypnotize yourself.

I met Harish in the evening.

“I have a good news”

“Let me guess, Chinu won some prize in elocution which you wrote for her? Your world and joys revolve around her, I am not sure when I am going to be as lucky as Chinu.”

I was too excited to react to the remark.

“I have not talked to her today.”

“Wow, then this has to be something big. You forget almost everything around you when you talk about Chinu.”

“Yes it is. I am pregnant.” I could not look into his eyes. I think I was blushing and I was lost in our future together. I didn’t realize for some time that Harish had not blurted out a single word.

“Harish, where are you?”

“Yeah. I am here.”

“It does not look like you are, well, now is the good time to say something.”

“I really don’t know what to say, are you sure about this?”

“Yes, I am”

“Is it cause of that day, when we went out to sit near the lake, but it started raining so we came back…”

“Does that really matter now, which day it was?”

“Yes it does, we need to see if we can take care of this matter without anyone knowing about this.”

“This is all you have to say about this? Taking care of the matter?”

Later we had the same discussion which you can have with a guy who didn’t know how to take responsibility, didn’t know how to stand up for his love, apparently who didn’t know what the girl, he claimed to love, wanted in her life. He had fallen in love with me that day because I was like a mother to Chinu and now I ‘becoming a mother’ was just a ‘matter to be taken care of’? How did that happen?

“Listen to me Suman. Don’t be dreamy, think practically. This matter is too serious to be handled emotionally. My parents or your parents will not accept the grandkid which was conceived before marriage, will they? Think about it.”

“It is hard but not impossible Harish. We can try convincing them.”

He was now frustrated that his words were reaching me but his thought was not.

“Oh please. You are an intelligent person, think straight. You know how that can end. My father is an orthodox, forget support, he will kick me out for this. You love me, don’t you? Try to understand the situation, this will not do any good to anyone, not you, not me, not to our families. And we can have the baby anytime you want in future.”

“I don’t know, I was so happy from the morning, you know how much it means to me”

He pulled me close, hugged me. He had thrown that card on my face ‘prove-your-love-by-sacrificing’.

“Suman, we love each other and we can’t risk our future for this. It’s too high price to pay for our carelessness”

Carelessness! I cried, a lot for a long time. I took a step back, relieved myself from his embrace.

“I love you Harish, I really do.” Finally I gave in, I touched my belly but I could not feel what I felt in the morning, feeling had already moved on before I could.

Suman took a pause. No one was sure if she finished her story. It sounded incomplete. It was incomplete. Mrs. Sarpotdar finally broke the silence, “I can understand how tough that decision would have been, it is not easy to let go your own part.”

“It was not just part of me, it was more than that. I wanted a family, I wanted to be a mother my whole life, and I didn’t know what else to be as I had been taking care of Chinu all these years. It was the thing I enjoyed the most.”

Anu was too inexperienced to understand this, she knew the world as black and white. “But Suman aunty, why didn’t you marry Harish and had kids later?”

Mrs. Sarpotdar didn’t like Anu’s question “Anu, that might be too personal and something she does not want to share.”

“I think I have already come too far to give up on who I am.”

“Ladies, don’t bombard the questions, it diverts the main topic. What is that you wanted to change in this day Suman?” #13 was back in role of quizzer.

“I wish I would have believed myself rather than illusion Harish showed me. I wish I would have been more firm. I wish Harish would not have convinced me to prove my love by not keeping the baby.”

Anu was still confused. She was thinking to herself and didn’t realize she was talking loudly, “But why didn’t you get married, why didn’t you adopt later? How can one abortion be a life changing thing? It just does not make sense”

Mrs. Sarpotdar was about to say something, but Suman stopped her, “It is okay Nalini. Anu is right.”

#13 and Mrs. Sarpotdar both smiled as they realized that Suman called Mrs. Sarpotdar by her first name. Mrs. Sarpotdar deserved that respect. #13 was impressed by Suman’s nature to understand people even when she was reciting the toughest part of her life.

“I think she is asking right questions and I have asked them to myself before. Those answers are morally questionable, but will satisfy her curiosity. So Mr. 13, do I have permission to go beyond that particular day and let Anu know what happened?”

#13 made a call and checked something on his iPad.

“Yes, I can surely give that exception. We just had a news flash that there was a terrible landslide on the earth so my colleagues have left for earth on emergency to collect dead bodies.

There is a heavy traffic jam on the way to heaven. Thanks to our earth construction department, we have time.”

All three ladies were now used to #13’s casual tone while talking about death. Besides, death didn’t seem as scary as they had thought.

“Okay.” Suman took a deep breath as real landslide started from here. Like Mrs. Sarpotdar, she also believed in this group now, she decided to tell plain white truth and not her version of it.

“From that day Anu, everything started changing slowly. I will not say that we were same old us but we still loved each other, at least I thought so. Harish always made me feel that he needed me and I loved that since it satisfied my ego. I was almost 27 then, way passed right age for marriage in a small village. My family was financially dependent on me, so they were not in hurry as such. My grandfather was very fond of me, he respected me to be the man of the house. He was worried, so he asked Harish’s father about alliance.  But as they say, life is what happens to you when you are busy planning. I was planning my future with the guy who rejected me for marriage.”

“Really? Don’t tell me. Guys are such jerks.” Anu was furious, she had found another villain in the story now. “But what was the reason?”

“His parents and my grandfather tried to convince him but he was firm on not marrying me. He had never met me in village, so no one knew about us, not even his close friends or siblings. We used to meet in town, our meeting spot was very far from my college, I was not sure if he did this on purpose to protect me or protect himself or was just ashamed to be seen with me in public. Somehow his parents got to know about my abortion, then my parents, then my grandfather, maybe he told them this in one of weakest moment. His parents could not accept girl like me after knowing that. This news was a good gossip in village, obviously nobody was ready to marry me. Not even Harish. “

“That’s really pathetic. Our society is such a ... is such a …” Anu wanted to use ‘f’ word, but then Mrs. Sarpotdar was sitting right in front of her.

“Harish got married to a pretty girl later that month and I could not leave my family due to responsibilities so I had to see him every day.”

Mrs. Sarpotdar felt bad. “Life is never fair. You deserved more than that Suman, being man of that house. You sure did. ”

“Wait, don’t feel sympathetic so soon. I don’t want you to regret your words later. His wife was not a very kind person. She used to fight a lot with Harish, his parents too. But I convinced myself every day that they were having a good life. But they were not, one day he came back in my life.”

“Then? Did he leave his wife?”

“It was old days Anu. It was not possible to leave her, she had no one to go to. He talked me into believing that he needed me more than anything else and how stupid he was not to marry me. Call it blind love or fear of loneliness, but I forced myself to believe him. My conscious told me not to, but what option I had. What kind of life I was living? Earning for my family? Trying to take my mother’s place for Chinu? Taking everything on my shoulders and keep myself busy all the time so that I don’t think about being Happy for myself? Was I ever going to get married again? Have kids? Have family? Was I not supposed to have any kind of emotional and physical needs just like any other person? Wasn’t I paying too much price for trusting someone? I knew I was being unfair to his wife but I still decided to be with him. I was convinced that this was my best chance at happiness.

This time everyone knew about us. His wife had no option that to accept it. She had kids so she’d found new purpose of her life. Unfortunately I was with him, love of my life and was still alone. I treated his kids like my own, I did everything , but after all I was not his wife , or was not their mother , I was just a caring aunty who loved them like a mother , yes , ‘like a mother’.  ”

Suman felt guilty - one more time! No one said anything. Suman did not expect anyone to say anything. She was used worse reactions than silence.  It didn’t matter if she was a good daughter, aood g friend, a good sister, a good teacher if she was someone’s extra marital affair. Suman thought for a second if she made mistake by revealing this part of her life, but she was ready to pay this price to know about how she died.

“I knew it was not right thing to do her and Harish was not worthy of my love. I was probably weak, stupid and thought ‘love’ will be sufficient to find eternal happiness. I never forgave myself or expected anyone to forgive me.”

Mrs.Sarpotdar’s eyes were wet. “Suman, I respect you to be so brave to share the truth. Very few can own up to something like this with such clarity in the thought.”

“Yes Suman Aunty! I think you were born in wrong generation. Society which is morally imperfect has no right to judge you, even if they do, then Harish should not be spared either.”

#13 surprisingly had something good to say this time “See it is hard to let go and you are not the only one who couldn’t. Harish also could not. Your parents could not. His wife could not. None of them could not let go what they had.

Besides, Death Department strongly believes that every decision is a combination of complex entities like sufferings in the past, support from loved ones, survival instincts, spontaneity and majorly the situation. It is not just based on being fair and being morally correct. It is a very very thin life, not visible to bear human eyes. We are equipped with special glasses for that.

We also have a research team which is exploring this complex algorithm to come up with perfect formula to decide to differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong, Goodness and Sin. But it is taking forever since the birth Departments’ research head is not a cooperative person, rather his thinking is very orthodox, he does not understand the need of innovation and how useful this algorithm will be. It will make our lives so easy and save the cost of operation so much, plus reduce the Yam-Error.” #13 felt this was the best way to console Suman.

“Too technical and corporate Mr. 13” Anu laughed.

“Oh Sorry. But let me assure you Suman, that Chitragupta-Excel’s current version 99.99 isn’t too bad. Formulae will consider that you have been so good in all the other areas. It does not work the way humans do.”

Suman didn’t expect such subtle reactions rather than harsh judgments. Maybe it was the quiz or opening up about our bad decisions made then sympathetic. If she knew death will introduce her to such imperfect world accepting imperfect people so gracefully, she would have embraced it long ago.

The iPad notification popped up. #13 informed “See the traffic is bit cleared now, so I think Anu should start with her story, so that we can have time for next question.”

“I want to change my story. It is very clichéd, uninteresting and short compared to Mrs. Sarpotdar and Suman.”

“Now please don’t tell me Anu, that it involves a guy. You ladies are following pattern now.”

“We are so incomplete without guys you know.” Anu hit Mr.13 with another sarcastic reply.

“And you are supposed to be supportive Mr.13. You are our Yamdut. I found and read newsletter of yours, you are supposed to comfort us as per your goals in next appraisal.”

#13 replied, “That was confidential. And change the story if you want to. But choose carefully, since you want to remember about how you died, right?”

Suman stepped up like a true professor “You should not use someone else’s scale to measure your life Anu, create your own scale, maybe your story will be like a fresh breeze for old ladies like us. Go ahead.”

“Alright.” Said Anu, thinking she was ready to look back in the past.