Sister Esperanca smiles tenderly, ‘So many words from one so young.’ She addresses ma, ‘You should be proud to have such a strong daughter.’

Ma says, ‘I am . . .’

She is?

‘. . . but she has to finish her studies first. She can do what she wants after that, I will support her once she is professionally qualified.’’

Sister Esperanca nods, ‘Yes, that is correct. Girls must be professionally qualified today to look after their own futures. My child, would you like to finish your schooling in Poona?’

Oh yes, please, since it is Poona.

‘We have a fine convent there, with a small boarding school where you will be happy. It is the ideal environment for you, I can speak to the principal there.’

Ma cuts in, ‘Yes, yes, that is a very good idea. I have a relative there, I can request her to be the local guardian.’

Sister Esperanca smiles again and pats her hand, ‘I will not ask you to be a good girl, I know you are not a bad girl. But I will ask you to be less angry, will you control your temper in Poona, my child?’

‘I will try. But then they should not purposely make me angry.’

‘My child, the world is filled with people who want to do only this, purposely make other people angry. We must not rise to their bait. Still, you have said you will try. You promise to try?’

‘I promise.’

Everyone is happy, specially she.

So that’s all it took, would have taken.

‘But ma, I love him. I want to marry him, he wants to marry me.’ ‘You are too young to get married.’

‘Ma, I am nineteen years old, not all that young. Besides, what objection can you possibly have? It was you who appointed her as my local guardian there, he is your own relative’s son. You know how much she has stood up for me in school?’

‘Yes I know, she told me on the phone that you were caught reading love comics in the moral science class and she told the nuns, “Well, good morals are about pure and undiluted love, so why should anyone object to such reading material?” Very nice, but I wonder if she would have been so accommodating if it was her own daughter.’ Ma sets her mouth primly as she says this.

‘C’mon ma, don’t get all hoity-toity, you know we both like her, she is a strong woman. And he has been good to me throughout college, you let me go to college in Poona because you felt theirs was one home I could safely go to. Besides, it’s not like I am marrying a cousin or uncle or something; she is, after all, your distant relative. They are rich, they live in a fancy bungalow in Poona. What more can a mother ever want for her daughter?’

‘I do not know what other mothers want for their daughters and I do not care. What I do know is you have fared well in school and college, are you going to just waste all these good percentages?’