Periods, Pyaar And Patriarchy

Chapter Seven

"Where's the little dasi? Tell her the queen is back!" Shruti exclaims dramatically as she enters the house, their mother behind her.

"She's probably asleep, Shruti. Must you be so loud at four in the morning?" Seema asks with a bit of irritation as she lugs the suitcase into the house. She had left very early in the morning to get Shruti from the airport. She hadn't disturbed Shweta and had locked the door, rather grumpy at having her morning slumber ruined.

"Well, I was expecting a celebration," Shruti says, mock-pouting and Seema rolls her eyes. "You have become more theatrical and dramatic with time. What happened to my sensible, dependable Shruti?"

"Oh, she's here in one of my pockets." Shruti says, carelessly as she bounds up the staircase before turning back and saying, "Maa, leave my suitcases and catch up on your sleep. I'll sort it out."

Seema shakes her head as she sees Shruti's fading back. She's very grateful that Shruti's hair is now a very normal shade of black and not a bizarre color. Seema had been rather afraid at the airport, scenarios of a bald Shruti with an orange scalp passing through her drowsy mind.

As Shruti climbs up the staircase, the change within her is noticeable. She is no longer the sad, tortured twenty-one-year-old she had once been. The serious lines that framed her young face are still there, but the confidence in her eyes makes up for it. Her mouth that once had hard lines from pressing in a secret is lighter; it's has known that release sometimes comes in the form of people far removed from the secret. She is brighter, more charming, and effusive than she has ever been.

She's strong and decisive and when she walks, you know that this is a young woman who knows that there is nothing wrong with being confident. Men have always been intimidated by Shruti, her classmates have long forgotten the girl who walked on a tightrope, precariously avoiding arguments. She has become a woman who knows the importance of standing her ground, of not backing off when she's right. And if a few people were butthurt by her, Shruti knows now, their insecurities are not hers to deal with.

Shruti pauses at Shweta's door, glancing at the clock in the dimly lit hall. She didn't want to disturb Shweta but she was so desperate to have a nice, long conversation with her sister. Phone calls simply didn't simply give her the satisfaction of in-person heart-to-hearts. Absent-mindedly, Shruti thumbs the ring that she's woven in a necklace around her neck. She had planned to remove it before coming home but she'd forgotten it. In the wee hours of the morning, Seema's eyes had been aching for sleep and had not noticed the promise her daughter seemed to have made to a man. A small, delicate white gold ring with two thin elegant bands, in the middle of which was seated a dazzling, dark blue sapphire.

A gemstone ring that when Ashish had seen had made him sigh; the blue latching onto his soul and the depth reminding him of someone he couldn't quite put his finger on. Then, as fate would have it, his phone had rung. A smiling Shruti in all of her bubble-gum pink-haired glory calling him.

That was when he had known; with certainty that still stunned him; someday her name on his phone would change to something else; sweeter, scarier, and still serene. Ashish was a practical fellow and as financially prudent as he was, he found himself withdrawing a good fraction of his money to buy the ring. What both Shruti and Ashish didn't know was that he would replace the sapphire with a three-carat diamond someday; after she'd shocked him by going down on her knee and asking him to marry her.

Shruti gives three hard raps on Shweta's door to wake her up and then enters. A groggy Shweta, her throat dry and unused gets up, rubbing her eyes. In the darkness of the room; her vision still blurry, she asks, "Maa? Are you leaving for the airport now?"

"It's morning, silly. And it's Shruti." Her sister replies, switching on the tube light. The bright LED sends forth the exact amount of brightness as promised in its advertisement, causing Shweta to rub her eyes violently.