Did one just decide because it was the right time to meet, procreate and have kids and carry the lineage and then the oldies would be happy? She pondered what drove him to jump into bed with her? Suppose he hated pasta and didn’t like pepperoni and thought pizza was meant to be eaten with ketchup and a set of knife and fork.

She shuddered.

Rahul, thought she looked fine but suppose she had a latent strain of activism and would be one of those funny bhel puris, golgappa type girls and hyper about their looks and would put gooey stuff on their faces and stain everything in the room with an orange pancake?

He just hoped she wasn’t someone who needed constant fawning and praise all the time. He hoped she didn’t want to be called baby, honey and all those sickly sweet nauseating terms.

So, he took the step, and just asked her outrightly, ‘ Would you wish to marry me, take a chance on a life together and I promise to be friends and treat you as such and we can build a life together ?’

She was aghast, no one had ever said this to him. She didn’t know what to say. It was an original way and she just needed time to assimilate and let it all sink and then say something. Should she agree and become the memsahib and lead a life that meant just giving up her dreams and adjusting to a life where she lived in the invisible norms. They are just like Umbridge’s sentences and would forever poke her skin. They were laws to live, talk, and conduct oneself. And, then even when to have a child. I am sure they had precise times to conceive also!

Eating mangoes and apples and Chinese calendars were passé, now it was the latest sex selections. Did she want all this? The de rigeur ways to conduct, and live and be prepared for the patriarchal set of laws that would forever govern her. She knew them, she was comfortable with them, but she strived for change. Was love such an anomaly? Should she settle for it all?

Would he be ok to hug at odd hours, cuddle or was he straight wham bam thank you ma’am guy? Did he think walking in the rain and sunsets were for the books and would he like the nerdy things she liked? Should she show her vulnerable side to him?

Were Harry Potter reruns ok, and would he be ok to leave her alone if she wanted to watch a web series alone?

Lots of things on her mind and she needed Ayesha to calm her down, and the most important was it ok for her to travel to Paris with her for a girlie trip even if she was a Pakistani and she an Indian.

Would he rear his ugly head and say no?

Looking at Rahul, she wondered whether she had grown extra hair on her upper lip, he was staring so intently. Had she spoken her thoughts aloud?

I think …..