Colors - part 7

continued from Colors - part 6

Tina beamed at the sight of Siddarth and received the same response from him. “How’ve you been, young one?” Siddarth asked Tina teasingly.

“Cool as ever, Bro! So you’re getting married, huh? I never thought you’d marry.” Tina giggled.

“Hah! Just stepping into the next phase of my life, as they say.” He winked. “So what’s up with you?”

Tina was dying to answer that question and sprang on him with her reply. “I got a job! I’m now a technical support executive at Omega. How does that sound to you?” She asked hopefully.

“Sounds cool, Tina. Congratulations! I’m happy that you’re starting with a big one like Omega. So what’s your profile like?”

Tina rambled on with the nicest description of her job profile as a technical support executive and also gave him a good picture of what her workplace looks like. Siddarth listened to her, smiling at her words, and hoping the best for her.

“So what’s going on?” Tina’s Mom interrupted her, much to Tina’s disgust.

“Congrats, Aunty! Tina’s telling me about her job. I’m happy for her. You always used to worry about what she’d land up with and I’m quite impressed with what she has landed up with.” Siddarth answered happily.

“I’m happy for her too, Siddarth. Hope it works out good for her.” She smiled at Tina. Tina faked a smile and turned to Siddarth. “I want to meet the bride-to-be. Where’s she?”

“Come, I’ll introduce her to you.” Siddarth led Tina and her Mom through the crowd, towards the bride-to-be.

She was beautiful. Siddarth beamed at her sight, Tina’s mother seemed awestruck, and Tina watched her with a smile. She was impressed by her beauty but not enough as affected as her mother was.

“Look at her, Tina! Isn’t she a beauty? Sid is lucky!” Tina’s mother nudged her.

“She’s fine, Mom.” Tina said, trying to look normal with her smile, as they all approached her.

“She’s Anindita, my better half!” Siddarth introduced her proudly. Anindita acknowledged with a nod and a smile.

“And she’s my Aunt, and Tina, my favorite sister.” Siddarth winked at Tina as he introduced them to Anindita.

“Hi!” Tina smiled at her.

“Hi Beta! Your name suits you to the core. Anindita means beautiful and so you are!” Tina’s mother couldn’t hide her awe and Tina hid half of her smile. She wondered at her own behavior and if she felt jealous of Anindita.

Anindita smiled at the nice words and turned to Tina. “So do you study or do you work?”

“I’ll start working soon. I’ve finished my studies already.” Tina replied, widening her half a smile.

“Yup, she’s going to work for Omega. It’s her big day today. She got her first job.” Siddarth added.

“Oh, congrats! Omega is a Call Center, isn’t it?”

“There she goes!” Tina thought and almost rolled her eyes.

“Thanks, but it’s a BPO. I prefer calling it that. They do a lot more than just take calls.” Tina explained switching glances between Siddarth and Anindita.

“Yeah, the BPO word makes people feel better, I guess!” Anindita laughed and Siddarth joined her. Tina’s mother had been smiling through the whole conversation and sensed the smoke that Tina had begun to emit.

“Nice meeting you, Anindita. We’ll now excuse ourselves and check out the food. I’m quite hungry already. Aren’t you, Tina?" Tina’s mother changed the topic.

“Yeah! See you around, Sid! Let’s go, Mom.” Tina thanked her mother in her heart and the two of them proceeded to somewhere.

Tina, as expected, was all daggers for Anindita, and wanted to blurt all the hatred out. She was cross with her mother for praising her and with Siddarth for laughing with Anindita at her. Tina’s mother, having sensed it already, chose to keep mum about it. She knew that they’d end up spoiling the whole evening if they brought it up.

Tina felt that her evening has already gone bad and tried to concentrate on the thoughts of her new job. She had no idea about how to keep her emotions under control and wondered if this will affect her performance at work. The funny part was that she knew her strong and weak points quite well but had no idea about how to work on her weaknesses and always ended up ignoring them.

“Have something, Tina. See they've put up some nice dishes for you!” Tina’s mother tried to distract her.

“Ya, I see that. Where’s Dad? Let’s leave after having dinner. I’m tired.”

“The ceremony will begin any time now, Tina. We can’t leave just like that. You sit here and have something while I look for your Dad.”

Tina took her favorite chaat from the Chaat stall and found a seat for herself, away from the crowd. She felt good, finally, away from the noises, having her favorite food, lost in her dreams. She knew that her parents are going to be busy with the relatives and she can just sit there, talking to no one, wondering at people, especially women – women dressed up in the best of their dresses, women talking animatedly about their Saris, women gossiping about the people next door, women rambling about their kids, women eying other women, women noticing her, and women not noticing her. It might just be a good evening for Tina.

to be continued...