‘I’m not wasting my time, Ma. I want to be sure about what I’m doing. I don’t want to rush into something just because everyone else is doing it.’

I caught Ma and Papa exchange a look between them.

‘And what if you don’t figure it out even then?’ Ma asked.

‘I need to at least try. Give myself the option.’

‘Have you been speaking to Raghu about this?’ Papa asked suddenly.

My face flushed at the mention of his name. ‘We talked,’ I admitted. ‘And it makes sense.’

They were silent. Ma finally sighed. ‘I feel like I let the ball slip on this because of the pregnancy. At least you should have followed up with her, Shekhar,’ she told Papa, who looked away guiltily.

‘No, it’s okay. I’m glad you two weren’t after me to get admission in some random course.’

‘You children these days are too entitled. We just did whatever course we could get into and figured out what we wanted along the way,’ Papa huffed.

Ma rolled her eyes at him. ‘Just because it worked for us or because we did it doesn’t mean it has to work for everyone.’

‘Times are different, Papa. You always knew I wasn’t going to get into a professional course. So just let me figure this out,’ I said. ‘Maybe I’ll do a course or a diploma during this time. So it won’t be a complete waste.’

Papa looked thoughtful. ‘What about your friends? How have they performed?’

Well, Anirudh hadn’t topped the state as he’d been hoping to and his parents were probably scratching their heads, wondering where he had gone wrong. But he had scored 96 per cent and had been moping around until Nisha knocked some sense into him. She had got 88 per cent and the two of them were going to be busy preparing for various entrance exams. I was going to meet them right after this conversation.

‘They’ve done well,’ I said, with a tight smile.

My parents were silent as they looked at me. I could sense the judgment rolling off them.

‘Listen, it’s going to be fine. Shouldn’t my happiness be important to you guys?’ I asked.

‘But are you?’ Ma asked me. ‘Are you happy?’

I shrugged. ‘I feel like even if it takes time to understand what I want to do, it’s worth it. I don’t want to do some random course just because I have nothing better to do.’

‘Well, if this does make you happy, go ahead,’ Ma said, sighing. ‘But you’re getting into a college next year, young lady, whether or not you figure out what you want.’

‘And do what?’ I asked, surprised.

‘Whatever. Any course that interests you the slightest bit. You can’t just take all your time to figure out what you want.’ I spotted the old Ma in her tone and expression.