‘I guess I have been a little preoccupied since Aryan arrived,’ Sammy sighed. ‘Sometimes I feel like my life isn’t my own any more, you know? Besides, I was under the impression that you were really enjoying your work these last few months—you seemed so much happier than before.’

‘I am happier than ever before, that’s just it!’ I ran a hand through my hair and shrugged. ‘The problem is I seem to be enjoying work for all the wrong reasons.’

Sammy regarded me thoughtfully. ‘You know, Megha, I’m not surprised. You’ve always had an inclination for the arts right from back when we were kids. Remember how in school you looked forward to Thursdays because you’d have art class that day? And how much you enjoyed the drama group and scriptwriting workshops in college? The problem is you weren’t completely hopeless at academics either; on the contrary you were rather good. Maybe if you’d been a total dud the people around you would have encouraged you to pursue something you really liked as a career, like theatre or painting. But you weren’t a dud at all and so you went down the tried-and-tested path, the safe option.’

I sighed. ‘I wish I’d been like you, Sammy. You always knew what you wanted to do, didn’t you?’

Sammy shrugged. ‘Yeah, but I was just lucky, I guess. I know tons of people like you who just go down the conventional route. You know, engineering, MBA, and then in some cases just the best paying job they can get, whether it’s consulting or investment banking. And then they just become a part of the system, like cogs in a wheel. In many cases they don’t even like the jobs that they do but they do them anyway, because they’ve never really stopped to think about what it is that they really wanted to do with their lives.’

‘I know what you mean, Sammy—only too well!’ I grinned at Sammy ruefully and she grinned back and leaned over to ruffle my hair.

‘What is it that you really want to do, Megha? You’ve been with GF for three years now and if this feeling of stagnation has persisted it’s definitely more than just a passing phase. You know what I think? Trust your instincts. Don’t just keep doing something you’re not even enjoying. If creative work is what you really like, why can’t you speak to your bosses and do more of it?’

‘It doesn’t work that way, Sammy,’ I said, standing up. Feeling slightly frustrated, I began pacing up and down on the living room rug. ‘What I really like doing is not even part of my job, strictly speaking. It’s the job of the advertising agency and it’s, like, hardcore, specialized creative stuff. Nobody will understand if I tell them that’s what I want to do. They’ll think I’m a total flake! The thing is, Sammy, if I tell Varun or Shiv that what I really like doing is writing scripts or conceptualizing ad films, as opposed to building the brand’s business they’ll tell me I’m in the wrong place!’