Indifferent

No expectations

Deepika's POV

They say your life is like a graph. A graph with a straight line, and just a few ups and downs here and there. A graph of constant emotions, of constant feelings, of constant happenings, of constant reactions and responses. Just a few highlights here and there.

And I believe that's true. I mean, look at me. Deepika Acharya. The only daughter of the celebrated lawyer Adv. Ram Acharya. A princess as one would say looking from far away. Farther away - note these words. But the world doesn't really shine and sparkle from near as it does from farther away.

For an outsider who knows nothing of our family apart from my dad's humungous and larger than life career and all of the goods that he has done, the thousands of pro bono cases he's fought, and the other thousands of popular celebrities he's represented, my life seems perfect. Not that I have ever been in the limelight, but come on, take a wild guess. The Ram Acharya who does so good for the world around, won't he be the poster child of being the perfect father? Seems so right?

But now, take a closer look. And my story's not really filmy, I mean as much as I do love films, I am so very thankful that my story so far hasn't been filmy. I mean, not much.

Mom passed away while giving birth. I might have felt her warmth for a minute or two before she passed away. Me still being in her arms. And the last time my dad admired or even acknowledged me must have been for those one of two minutes, before she passed away. Because after that, it has been a constant tale of ignorance and a bit of tolerance of my presence - that too, from a distance from him.

Priya maasi, my nanny told me, apparently I reminded him too much of my mom and her passing away. Well, what should I even say here?

(maasi - maternal aunt, ideally, here, Deepika just refers to Priya as her maasi)

I mean, look at Bittu, sitting near me - my sole bestie. He's just one year elder to me. His dad too passed away some few months after his birth, and I have seen some photos. He's like a spitting image of his dad, but maasi completely adores him. She loves him beyond her life and does everything that she can to have it known to him that she does love him.

So, why this unfairness in my situation?

Honestly, I shouldn't sound so ungrateful - Priya maasi does a lot of things for me. She so vehemently tries to fill in that void left by the absence of both of my parents in my life - but that too does have some extents right?

Besides, how could anyone really fill in the void left behind by parents.

As I said, or more like, as I quoted what they say - life is a graph of constant happenings. It has always been disappointment, loneliness for me, and guess what happened. Remember, I spoke about ups and downs here and there. I still have to figure out if this is an up or a down, but the disappointments I have always been through tell me to have too much or even too little hope from what happened today.

My dad wants me to marry his protégé.

"But Mitthoo, what if he's a really good guy?", Bittu was sat alongside me on the sofa as Dhoom 3 played in the background. It was our movie day, our 'us' time on each Saturday, and he was as big of a cinema fanatic as I. The only difference - he would get to enjoy those movies in the comfort of his home, whereas me - I need to be in his home to watch movies.

The reason? Well, watching movies together was a dad and mom tradition, and now that she's gone he refuses to play a movie in his mansion. He too was a movie fanatic - I had once caught ahold of a few pages from my mom's diary when papa wasn't there in his office. Invading his privacy was a wrong thing - I know, but what can you really do if you do not know either of your parents at all. One because of fate, and the other because of choices.