‘Anu ma’am, I saw a pallot, tigel and fox,’

The shrill excited voices surrounded Anu. It was a herculean task to quieten them down so Anu decided to close the classroom door and let them squeal.

At lunch break, the principal summoned the teachers to let them know that the meeting with the parents was going to be in two days. She looked so worried, Anu had an unreasonable urge to make all the trouble magically go away for her dear Sumitra aunty.

When Anu came home with Vicky, Sanju was already seated on the sofa surrounded by colourful brochures. He looked up and smiled brightly at Anu. ‘Look, all I had to do was ask a developer who visited our campus about the houses in the Hennur area. He sent in these many options.’ He pointed at the glitzy papers on the table.

‘Daddy, make an aeroplane!’ Vicky’s highly excited voice brought Anu back to reality. Sanju hadn’t forgotten about the move as she had hoped. Darn!

‘No, Vicky. We will make aeroplanes with the newspaper. Go get some. These are daddy’s work papers.’ Sanju grabbed the glossies before Vicky did.

‘Newspaper not good, daddy.’ Vicky pouted.

Anu picked up Vicky and said weakly. ‘He is hungry, Sanju. Let me give him something to eat.’

She was tempted to pick up all those brochures and blow them out of the window. They were her worst nightmares in technicolour.

‘Come soon, Anu. We will make a map of the places to visit.’ Anu did not have the heart to burst Sanju’s enthusiasm. But she had her routine in place. After feeding herself and Vicky, she was going to take a nap. Then she had her yoga class. After that, she was going to take Vicky to the playground and chat with Yashoda aunty or Kavitha or someone. Anu sighed. This was the beginning of the end.

Half-an-hour later, Anu put Vicky down for a nap and sat beside Sanju with a heavy heart. He began by holding up four glossies as if they were winning poker hands. Anu picked up the one that looked all white and serene. ‘Riviera?’ She laughed. ‘Seriously, Sanju? Have they created a coast in Bangalore?’

Sanju smiled. ‘Don’t pick on the names. Look at the credentials. See this.’ He showed her a brochure named Helios. ‘This is in Hebbal. Built by—’

Anu cut him off. ‘Oh, wait! You said Hennur and now you are showing me Hebbal? That is another ten kilometres from here!’

Sanju slightly knitted his brows. ‘Why are you measuring the distance from Vijaynagar? We should think about my commute to work.’

As if only his work mattered. Anu felt offended. ‘I still have to work here and visit my parents.’