It was Friday evening. The streets of Mumbai were abuzz with excitement as usual. Ananya was in a hurry. She was running through the streets of Mumbai to catch a cab back home. In the rush hour it was an arduous task to catch a cab. She saw the cab coming towards the designated stop. It was a no que stop. She glanced at the competitors who were vying for the same cab. She increased her pace and started running and by the time the cab came to a halt she overtook everyone and leapt inside the cab with a smile of a winner. She opened the cap of her water bottle and instructed the driver to drive her to her pet beauty parlour.
Two weeks back she was informed by her mother that she has to meet a guy for prospective marriage proposal. She had to meet him this coming Sunday. For reasons best known to the boy’s family the meeting was preponed to Saturday morning. She had fixed an appointment in parlour on Saturday. But the last-minute changes made her plans go for a toss. She had a heated argument with her mother over phone in the afternoon. Her mother wanted her to take half day leave from office and get her parlour job done that included some beauty treatment for her tanned skin. Ananya was furious. She was already not very happy with the change in plans and she was in no mood to compromise her half day leave over a marriage proposal. Her mother was furious too. Ananya had just taken a half day leave last Friday for a weekend getaway with her friends. The mother and daughter were angry enough for different priorities in their respective lives.
The cab came to a halt. In about half an hour the parlour was about to close. She went inside got the basic things done and came out in a hush to rush to her home which was at walking distance from the parlour. She went inside the house and threw open her wardrobe. She checked out the dress she was supposed to wear for the meeting. It was smart formal black trousers paired with a casual top. She tried the dress and gave a good look in the mirror. She was just not looking nice in the dress. She checked other dresses stacked in her almirah. The Indian wears were either too loud or too simple to wear for such an occasion. She gave an afterthought that nobody keeps a wardrobe set aside for such purposes. Then there were some indo-western wears. But Some required ironing. Some looked dull and there were some she just did not deem fit to wear. Her mother wanted her to wear simple salwar suit. She just did not have the personality to carry that kind of dress. Plus, she did not have any simple suit. Again, after having round two of heated argument with her mother she zeroed down to a casual jeans and t-shirt. She was most comfortable in that dress. She checked some blemishes on her face. There were few here and there but she could not do much about it now. She was feeling helplessly tired .She was in a hurry to have dinner and hit the bed as soon as possible. Her heart was heavy with the fact that she had to forgo her sleep and wake up early on Saturday morning . In her heart she had already rejected the guy. She somehow could not understand that what sort of guy wakes up early on Saturday and intends to meet someone at 10 am.
Ananya’s maid Lalita handed over the dinner plate to her. She had already guessed that Ananya was tired and sleepy. She instructed her to have warm food and go to sleep as early as possible and not to lie down on bed fidgeting with mobile beyond midnight. Lovingly she told Ananya that all these dark circles are result of not getting adequate sleep. Although this was the last thing Ananya wanted to hear today but sometimes she liked Lalita for the care she used to show towards her. The occasional ginger tea, the home remedies for cold and cough, the occasional massage of her hair and the chit chats she did when she was around. Breaking from the chain of thoughts Ananya promised herself she will sleep by 11 at any cost.
It was eight in the morning. Ananya had already woken up. She intended to get ready by nine fifteen and leave by nine-thirty. The venue for meeting was a café in nearby mall. Suddenly the mobile rang. It was her mother. She picked up the phone hurriedly. Her expressions changed when she heard her mother. The boy had apparently postponed the meeting again for tomorrow and this time he called for lunch. Ananya heaved a sigh of relief. She was apparently happy that the meeting was postponed. Atleast she can get the facial done today and a nice haircut from a good salon and above all she can go back to sleep. She disconnected the call and sprawled herself on bed to sleep again and slowly dozed off.
It was twelve in the afternoon when she headed for the salon. The beautician looked at her face and suggested some advanced facial treatment to her. It was grossly overpriced. She thought she was too young to get that kind of facial. She had the time, she had the money and above all it was hot outside. She scrutinised the chic and relaxed environment of salon and decided to go for it. The said facial was of longer duration and she was in no hurry. She enjoyed the music and aroma of salon and decided to go ahead with manicure and pedicure also.
She was lying down for facial totally relaxed with her eyes closed. Her mind ventured towards events that happened since last afternoon. She went in to deep thinking. She thought about the uneasy feeling which she had gone through yesterday when she rushed towards the local salon, last night when she was choosing dress, the early morning rush. It slowly dawned upon her that the meeting was rescheduled twice without asking her convenience, or did the boy’s side ask but her mother happily agreed to what they said? Why she is happily changing her plans at the behest of someone else.
She was sitting for pedicure and manicure. She felt the happiness swelling inside her. The feeling of getting pampered. Every muscle inside her twitched for comfort. She opted for a bright shade of nail polish, before finalising the haircut she wanted to have from the hair stylist.
It was four in the evening. The sun had lowered its intense gaze. She paid the bill at the salon picked up her phone and conveyed to her father politely to cancel tomorrow’s meeting with the boy.
