Periods, Pyaar And Patriarchy

Chapter Eighteen

Vaibhav's trip had been a wonderful, ravishing success. It had been much better than what he had anticipated. He'd been expecting a trip where they mostly thrived on Maggi noodles and fought with each other as they gradually ran out of their hard-earned savings. However, when a friend's rich brother stepped in with a generous contribution- a large part of the trip had been taken care of.

And then, there was their shy but incredibly resourceful friend Darius, who had been in the accountancy department. He was incredibly good with numbers- much better than Vaibhav with his Bachelor's degree in Math could hope to be. And, he'd skillfully divided the money with such efficiency that they'd even managed to have one last party after they'd reached the railway station for home. The trip had been wonderful, but it hadn't been without its ups and downs. And mostly, these ups and downs had been geographical as they scaled the hills they were hiking on; but there had been some inside Vaibhav's head as well.

It had started a few months back when an innocent message had popped up on his WhatsApp. And since then, the correspondence had started. It hadn't started as anything serious- and Vaibhav hadn't thought it would become anything serious. But when his parents got involved in the conversation, it gradually became more and more serious.

This was partly the reason; he'd kept himself away from Shweta for some time- and particularly during the trip. He needed to clear his mind, truly analyze what he wanted. He didn't want to have to hurt her when he wasn't sure of what he wanted. It would accomplish nothing- he loved her too much to hurt her. And for that reason, he'd kept away from her during the trip. Hoping that the time apart would give him much-needed clarity.

His cousin had been the one who'd sent him the message. He had an elder cousin in Australia; who had now settled there. He had married an Australian woman as well and had two twin daughters. And as Vaibhav had broached the topic of pursuing a post-graduation degree, his cousin had been very adamant about pursuing it in Australia. It did seem like a wonderful opportunity- the kind of exposure and perspective he would be receiving there.

In the beginning, it had felt like a pipe dream- the kind of dream that he was simply content to be dreaming of while he held Shweta's hand here. But as time had progressed, it had become more and more serious- with his parents having started the process of acquiring a passport for him. He'd kept Shweta out of the loop of the entire conversation- partly because it hadn't seemed like anything groundbreaking.

A cousin abroad had reached out and reconnected with him. This happened to most Indians at least once a month considering the number of cousins one has. However, now it was real. Because he'd gone ahead and applied.

Now, what Shweta would think about it, Vaibhav wasn't sure. She was always so practical. There were never any dramatic declarations and extra romanticizing with her. It was what it was- and that was how she dealt with things. But he knew it would hurt her- just as it was already hurting him. The only reason he had been avoiding her was that- he didn't want to have to face up to the conversation. 

To tell her that it had been a lovely, lovely three years with her in college but now they would have to separate.

And for how long? Who knew what would happen once his post-graduation degree was complete? What if he found a job there and Shweta found a job in India or another country? How would things work out? And that is if they stayed together during the next two years? Would Shweta even be willing to give long distance a try? Vaibhav had been remarkable at overthinking all of these things in between the actual Maggi stops when his friends would finally quiet down.

Shweta's messages would stay unread on his phone while she kept playing non-stop in his head. Why was he so terrified to tell her?

Now, that he was back home- he couldn't help but keep going back to a conversation he had with one of his friends while hiking. They'd been walking for over two hours hoping to see what had been described as a 'clearing'. They had been supposed to reach the clearing half an hour ago but so far there had been no sign of it. Vaibhav was pretty sure they were lost but his friend was convinced that they weren't.