On the other side

Sumi drove back home with her head swirling with the smell of pressure cooked rice. It was queer to her how nostalgia was mixed in the smell of cooked rice, ends of green beans on a cutting board and grated coconut. She was getting back from her favourite new client's house who was from her own hometown, a place that no longer held visuals in her mind. They had become friends and Priya invited Sumi home. In a few seconds of entering Priya's house the screeching sound of the girls, sharp whistle sound from the pressure cooker and over hospitality of Priya's mother brought her childhood back to her. She had taken those things in her childhood for granted and actually never missed it later in life. Having migrated to NY for college education, Priya had consciously decided every step of her career from then on. She met her husband in law school, an aggressive farming lawyer. Sumi and her husband had always stepped each other's career up. Every decision concerning them, and their only son Ananth had been consciously taken and in their opinion, the best way for their son to learn. Ananth went to montessori day care,trained to be a latchkey kid and had a packed schedule to meet that of his parents. Sumi and her husband made sure Ananth did not decide their career. She loved her job. Every client and case brought her a high that routine family time failed to give. They could also easily afford Ananth's private soccer coach, Montessori day care, play dates, private schools and Disney land trips. Sumi felt it worked and Ananth had no regrets.

Priya's house hold got her introspecting every decision she had taken so far. Priya's lifestyle made her think if she was denying Ananth a childhood that she had enjoyed.

Priya and her husband had moved to Connecticut right after the birth of their first daughter. Being raised to be fiercely independent, Priya had lived by herself in her early twenties in Manhattan. She had graduated from Colombia and worked in the city for three years. Thats when she met her husband. The economic recession ate into her job but she quickly grabbed the opportunity to do other things that she had always wanted to in life. After the birth of her first daughter, she decided not to go back to full time work. It had been willful. She thought she knew exactly what she wanted from her life. Besides, between selecting home furnishing, picking up the family's groceries and carpooling, she hardly had time for anything else. Her girls had her full time and her husband's salary was enough. Her husband was not all for throwing away a Masters diploma from Columbia but soon realized she looked pretty contented at home. What he made was enough. She debated that if his pay was not enough, then what she brought back would not be enough either. They could afford fancy vacations, a town house at connecticut, and the girls' trainer. Probably not a private education yet. With the girls' grandparents constantly visiting, the house always buzzed with Indian cooking and high pitched conversations, she felt the girls were secure and happy. She convinced herself, her husband and her daughters that it was a decision, not a sacrifice.

Priya picked up a green scarf that Sumi accidently left behind. The soft fabric and the smell of Armani coming from it made for a second longed for busy 9-5 days, dressing up,coffee to go, mail-check on the train and the gratification finishing a code brought her. She admired Sumi and for a second wondered how much of difference she was making in her daughters' life.

Parallely, across the states a single thought wandered - At sixty, when the kids had grown up and left home, when they were back to being a couple, vacationing and debating where to retire, then would they feel every decision had been worth it?