Sanju shook his head vehemently. ‘No, Anu. You will work there, not here! Also, I have been commuting twenty kilometres to work all these years! So you can travel twenty once a week to visit your parents.’

Anu looked at him disbelievingly. ‘You sleep in your office cab both ways. How does the distance matter to you? I meet my parents five times a week, not once a week!’

When Sanju grew quiet and gathered the brochures, Anu knew she had pushed him too far. ‘Hey, sorry. Sit down.’ She patted on the sofa next to her. ‘We will look through them.’

Finally, that weekend they were going to visit two places in Hennur and two in Hebbal. All of them looked so posh, Anu made a mental note to check if any movie star had a weekend home there. A selfie with Upendra or Yash would look good on the DP.

Anu picked up her coffee from the self-service counter and looked for a table to sit. The meeting with the school parents was in another half hour. Her colleague Disha was going to join her for the coffee. As there were no empty tables, Anu sat on one that was occupied by two women.

One of the women seemed to look distinctly uncomfortable with Anu sharing the table. Anu smiled at her. ‘You are not from here, are you? It is common to table share here.’

But the woman instead of smiling and saying it was okay, looked a bit irritated. ‘Then thank god I am not from here.’

That was rude! Anu looked at the other woman who looked familiar and mildly embarrassed. Before Anu said anything, her phone rang. Shwetha. Anu forgot all about the women and perked up. Disha too joined her with her coffee.

‘Hey Shwetha,’ Anu began enthusiastically when Shwetha asked where she was. ‘I had told you, no? Meeting with the parents today? Silly that they are worried about the education of their toddlers.’

Anu felt Disha’s foot on hers and withdrew hers. Then continued. ‘Some parents are demanding that the school affiliates with a central board. Overenthusiastic folks, man. They can’t let their children enjoy childhood.’

Disha’s foot kicked hard at her shin. Anu moved her chair a little and bid goodbye to Shwetha. Now, the rude woman caught Anu’s eye and asked. ‘Couldn’t help overhearing you. Are you a teacher?’

Anu perked up and enthused. ‘I am. Today we have a meeting where we have to convince the parents that our school is good.’ Anu rolled her eyes. ‘We have the best system. Kids are not stressed with exams or homework.’

Disha whispered, ‘Anu, listen—’

But the rude woman cut in. ‘So, you don’t think the kids need to develop a competitive spirit through exams? Don’t we need to teach children to work hard?’