Chapter Seven

Days turned into weeks, but Neelu had not returned any of my calls and his wife’s phone was busy most of the time, so I had trouble getting through to her as well. A dark cloud had started to fill my days with melancholy and dread of the awaiting proposal. I decided that I’d try Chandrika’s number one last time. The phone was ringing and finally there was a voice on the other end.

“Hey Sonali! What a surprise, we were just talking about you.”

“You were...” I enquired glumly.

“Yeah, my cousin called me to say that Vani auntie was dead set on fixing her son’s marriage with you. She just adores you. Isn’t that great?”

“Uh...yeah. I was wondering if Neelu was beside you.”

“Yeah, I’ll give it to him, one second.”

I heard some arguing in the background, possibly Neelu refusing to talk to me. He finally came on.

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself, why the bloody hell aren’t you answering my calls.”

“I was just a bit busy this week, it wasn’t intentional or anything.”

“The hell it wasn’t. I’ll believe that excuse when I’m old and grey, not now.”

“You already are.”

“Ha ha, you think you’re so funny. I want to see you right this instant. Meet me at the Starbuck’s Cafe in 10 minutes.”

Before he could think up an excuse, I disconnected the call. He would have to come now.
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Seated near a booth at the back of the cafe I glared across it at Neelu.

“You know this is all your fault you know.”

“What is?”

“My life falling apart.”

“I’m sorry. I fail to understand how you getting married will cause the degeneration of your life.”

“Don’t act smart with me. You know I don’t want to get married. You’re supposed to be helping me. Instead, because of your selfishness to please your wife, I’m trapped in this proposal, at least until the guy gets here from India.”

“Oh don’t overreact. If you really don’t want to marry him just tell your parents.”

“Don’t tell me what to do. I called you here so you can fix what you caused.”

“I caused...?”

“Yes, your wife, your people.”

“Look Sona, what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to get me out of this mess, it’s that simple.”

“How can I do anything? You’ve got to me kidding me. What say do I have in who you marry dimwit?”

“Gosh Neelu, at least give me an idea.”

Just as I began another heated argument with Neelu my phone came alive. I checked the caller-id to find out who was calling but it came up was unknown caller. I signalled Neelu that I would just be a moment and took the call.

“Hello.”

“Hi, is this Sonali?”

“Uh...yeah. May I know who’s speaking?”

“Oh, right! My name is Gautham, my mom came to your house about the proposal.”

I was more than a little shocked. This guy, Gautham, was actually calling me only a week after his parents had come to my house.

“Hello.....hello...”he chirped. This brought my attention back to the present call.
“Yes I’m here. I just wasn’t expecting a call from you so soon. Auntie Vani told me she’d introduce us formally after you arrived from your business trip.”

“Well yes but the thing is...I was wondering whether we could meet informally before that was arranged. I was hoping to discuss certain things with you in private. Would that be alright?”

Oh my god! O my god! What the hell was I going to do? I mouthed that Gautham was on the line to Neelu. Grabbing a napkin and a pen out of my bag I scribbled down my predicament. He wrote back that I should agree to meet him and that he’d tell me why later. There was no more time to think, the guy was waiting on the other end for my response.

“Sure, that would be fine. When and where would you like to meet?”

“Well there is a Timothy’s coffee shop right near where you live, I hope you know the one. How about I meet you there at 5:00 p.m sharp tomorrow? Coffee will be my treat.”

“Ok.”

“Great Sonali, I’ll see you there then. Take care.”

No. NO. No. What was I going to do now? I looked to Neelu for help. He patted my back and forced me to take a sip of my caramel apple spice so that I would calm down.

"Look Sona. All you need to do is meet this guy in person and express your dislike towards this marriage. Approaching the guy first is far more easier than fending off the family.”

“You really believe that?’

“Yes I do. In fact, I bet he’s making this meeting with you so that he can call off this proposal himself and explain himself to you.”

Neelu’s cool appraisal of the situation made me feel marginally better. I gave a sigh of relief. I could get through this, I was sure now. Then my brow furrowed into worry once again.

“What now?” asked Neelu.

“What if he puts me in a position where I can’t tell him that I don’t want this marriage to happen? What if he doesn’t come alone? Worse yet, what if this guy actually intends on marrying me? I don’t know what to do Neelu.”

“Oh you are such a drama queen. Which acting school did you graduate from exactly?”
“Oh shutup. My misery is so funny to you?”

“What misery? You’re over thinking things.”

“You’ll help me get out of this proposal? Swear on me.”

“Ok, I swear on you that I’ll help you chase this guy away as long as that’s what you still want. We good now?”

“No. You don’t care about me, you’d let me die. Swear on my mom instead.”

A small smile swept across his face. He loved my mother like a second mother and could never bear to hurt her. It was not that he didn’t like me enough to ensure my survival but he adored my mom far more. It was a joke between the both of us that I would never swear untruthfully on his mother, nor he on mine. However swearing on each other was another story.

Once at a relative’s party, out of spite over a fight we had, I had stolen Neelu’s watch and hidden it in the backyard so that he would get blamed for carelessness. When he asked me to swear on him, I did exactly that. All the elders believed me, but Neelu knew better.
In retaliation, he dropped bottled ink all over my notebook and watched as I got yelled at by our private tutor. When I asked him to swear that he hadn’t done it, he swore that he hadn’t done any such thing. The next day he got caught red-handed by me when he attempted to do it again.

Hence swearing upon each other was not something that bound us. Peculiarly, promising on the other person’s parent did bind us to faithfully honouring our spoken word.

“Sona, I don’t need to promise on Paru Auntie to keep my word to you. You’re like my kid sister. Let this be a brother’s spoken word to his little sis.”

“Ok. I trust you. If you let me down though, just know there will be consequences.”

Neelu feigned cowering in fear and remarked, “I’m so so scared. God save me from this Devil.”

“Who you calling a devil?” I laughed jabbing him in the arm. The anxiety and dread that had been pressing down on my shoulders had dissipated in mere seconds of speaking with my best friend in the entire world.

Imprint

Publication Date: 11-05-2011

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Dedication:
To all friends that aspire to be authors...