The Decision

This story is a work of fiction. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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It was their second "arranged" meeting. She always liked the second meeting more. It was so much better than the first meeting which felt more like a job interview but at a much more personal level. Frankly, she was tired of regurgitating her education, jobs, likes, dislikes, aspirations, hobbies to so many unknown people. She wondered whether she should follow her best friend's modus operandi of communicating the mundane details via email and then deciding whether or not to meet in person. Maybe if this doesn't work out she would. On the other hand, if this worked out she may never have to do this again ever!

Prima facie, things were looking quite good. He was good looking with a pleasing personality. He worked in the same field as hers which she didn't mind. She liked to talk about her work and liked having a sounding board at the end of the day. He had lived abroad for 2 years which was great as she believed international exposure and living alone gives you a good outlook towards life. Her mother had screened him out of the multiple possible profiles so that meant he and his family had checked all the boxes in her mom's list as well. 

Tonight, on his suggestion they had come to her favorite Italian place. She was quite shocked when he suggested the venue but then remembered her Facebook check in at the same restaurant a week ago with a million hashtags to go along with it. She wondered whether it was a good move accepting his friendship request but anyway there wasn't much to hide now. Plus she did plan to go over his profile in detail later too.

The dinner was going very well. Having moved past the initial standard questions of the first meeting, they were having a great time discussing their friends, travel destinations, past and current bosses, work experiences in India and abroad and what not. The conversation was flowing as was the wine which she had ordered. It pleased her a great deal that he hadn't batted an eyelid when she ordered the wine and even gave her company. He clearly wasn't a wine drinker and it showed. But it was sweet of him.

Their main course - Napolitana Pizza was served by the waiter. He thanked the waiter and started serving her a piece. She liked the fact that he was polite to the waiter. Her mind went back to a scene from Lage Raho Munna Bhai and she smiled. She took a bite of the pizza slice and suddenly realized how hungry she was.

S (She): I forgot how hungry I am. We should just forget the niceties and attack the pizza.

H (He): Like they do in Satte pe satta??

S: Wow, I'm impressed. You're an Amitabh fan?

H: Of course. From Deewar to Shamitabh. Seen them all!

She was thrilled at this bit of information. Her friends were all movie buffs and a lot of their jokes revolved around movie dialogues.

S: I also love Amitabh. I was actually inspired by the Bombay Talkies story and was planning to meet him somehow.

H: Sure. Let's go murabba shopping and go to Mumbai.

S: Who do you like among the current crop? By current I mean those who started in the 90s.

H: Well, I used to love Aamir Khan. But after his recent comments, I have started hating him. I don't understand why he has to say such things about India. He should just leave rather than saying anything.

A glass shattered in her mind. Or maybe it actually did in the restaurant.

S: Excuse me? Have you actually heard what he said? He repeated a private conversation with his wife in which she asks him whether they should leave India. To which he says it's a disastrous statement to make. From this how do you infer that he is ready to jump on the next plane out of India??

H: Look, I don't understand how can he talk this way about my country especially after Indians have made him so successful. I mean how much are we supposed to pamper these people?

In her mind the words "we" and "these people" triggered alarm bells. She started remembering patterns from long arguments with friends, colleagues, family members. She wondered whether she should talk about the dangers of generalization, responsibilities of a majority but she knew this wasn't the time or place. Plus lately she had started to feel a bit resigned as she wasn't making any headway in these arguments and was spoiling her mood nevertheless.

S: I think let's switch to another topic.

H: Yes, no problem.

She thought maybe he also felt the same way and wanted to steer clear of troubled waters.

The rest of the evening went off peacefully but it wasn't the same. There was some tension and both were more formal now. After they asked for the bill, the waiter came to their table and presented her with the feedback form and him with the bill which irked her as usual. She told him they should go Dutch and he agreed which she liked. After dinner he offered to drop her home as it was quite late though it was out of his way.

Her mother was eagerly waiting for her at home. 

Mother(M): How was it? Did you have a good time? Did you decide on anything?

S: It was fine mom, but I don't want to talk about it now.

Her mother dropped the topic, knowing that she could get through to her in the morning.

In her room, she didn't sleep immediately. In fact she stayed up for a long time thinking about the incident and his words. She thought about making a pros and cons list as she used to for many decisions but she knew the cons part will contain just 1 big point. And it was that point which was going to be the deciding factor, nothing else. 

Later she did go through his Facebook profile. She found a lot of common interests and some mutual friends too. But she also saw that he had shared quite a few posts which she thought were jingoistic and illogical. These were the same posts which used to appear on her timeline as some of her friends and family used to share them.

She knew she had to make a decision now. She could have analyzed more but there wasn't much to gain from that. She decided to sleep on it and convey her decision tomorrow to her mother.

In the morning, as expected, her mother asked her about last night.

M: So how did it go? Did you decide anything?

S: Yes, I have decided not to go ahead with this guy.

M: (shocked) Why? I thought things were going very well. He was exactly what you were looking for. In fact, he was exactly what I was looking for too!

S: Yes. A lot of things about him are good. But our way of thinking doesn't match especially our liberal and secular values.

M: Oh god. Please don't start again. You can't reject him for that reason.

S: Why not? Did you not reject guys because they were from a different caste or were not tall enough or didn't earn as much as me? Even after I told you that I don't care about these things?

M: Yes, but those things are important. They would have created problems later. It would have been difficult to adjust.

S: It's the same logic. These things are very important to me. And I'm sure it will either lead to a lot of arguments later or I will stop speaking my mind to my husband which would be worse.

M: But maybe you can change his thinking. Why don't you give it a chance? Such a guy who ticks all boxes won't come again.

S: Do you really think I can change his thinking? Haven't you heard my arguments with your brother? Have I made any dent in his extremist views? I don't think so.

M: Please think about this. This is your life we're talking about.

S: Yes, exactly....