Ria Bandyopadhyay
Sep 8, 2018 · 6 min read

A Different Flavour.. part 1

She loved ice creams. And yet she didn’t have a choice of any particular flavor. That’s how it was, since her childhood she tasted whatever her parents thought she would like. No doubt she liked them, but there was a lack of personal favorite. She never knew which one to chose when she was alone. ‘Vanilla’, it was. The simplest flavor of all and the easiest one to go for without any complicated thought process involved.

Happy or sad, an ice cream would always match her mood or make it better. If not daily, she had at least one every other day.

Life rolled over it’s pages and she lived all the chapters without keeping any significant bookmarks. School, college, office and now about to get married. Vanilla was her flavor. Simple and plain. So was her life, a vanilla life.

Her parents had (as always), chosen a guy, whom they thought would be good for her. She liked him too. Things were going pretty smooth. They started meeting occasionally after office, over ice cream breaks.

Once again, she was handed a new flavor, which her fiance thought would be good enough for her taste buds. And of course she liked it. They talked about random things, met after office and started hanging out frequently. The date was near, and her excitement knew no bounds. What was even more thrilling for her was the fact that both the families had gelled up so well in such a short time. The shopping was done together. The couple sent to choose their rings. The decorations had ideas from both the sides. Things seemed so fairy tale-ish.

He insisted her family to let her shop for the wedding dresses with him, and they happily agreed to that. Everyone adored his efforts.

“I think pink suits you better than red. I say you pick this one rather than the red lehenga”, he said as he handed her the pink lehenga.

“As you say, however, I feel the red one with those detailed floral prints might also be a nice wear..” she replied softly.

“Well, you see, it’s me who has to be wooed by your wedding look *wink*, and I would love to be impressed seeing you in this one rather than messy floral prints, what say?”

“Sure..” she smiled and headed towards the trial room with the pink one instead of the red. As she entered the trial room, a naive voice in her mind spoke to her, “since when do we like pink? “

She turned back and paused for a second as she watched the sales staff take back the red one to the stand. She looked to the other side, he was gazing at her impatiently now.

“What are you waiting for?” He said with a little frown this time.

She quickly went in and put on the pink lehenga and came out to see the big smile on his face. She looked pretty and he was amazed. She tried to smile but her eyes kept on searching for the sight of the floral printed red lehenga which she would have bought only if she had a choice.

The dresses, jewelry, cosmetics, etc, every time she was accompanied either by her fiance or his mother. And every time she thought she was given a choice to pick anything, turned out to be later replaced by something that they decided would suit her better. Soon she stopped bothering them with any of her picked options at all. Which of course went unnoticed as everyone was so busy choosing the best for her that they actually forgot Her.

It was a Monday. Things were pretty much the same at office. Her excitement had pulsed down a bit amidst all the pending work which she had to complete before going on her leave. She tried to finish as much as possible and leave early as her fiance had already booked an appointment with the event manager and her presence was inevitable unlike her choices. She had to be there on time, so instead of leaving by the regular bus, she booked a carpool from her office.

As she waited outside the parking, a dozen of thoughts came to her mind. Was she happy about the attention and care that she was getting from her in laws? Was this what she deserved? Moreover, was this something that she really wanted? Her parents had always been protective about her and now her fiance and his family were doing the same thing. She was habituated to all this pamper and interference in her personal life but was she ready to live like this forever? Though she wished for a caring family and simple life, but was this exactly what she wanted? She did not have the courage to answer herself on any of these yet. She was too feeble to face her own heart. And yet how she wished she could change something about her life.

A sudden horn distracted her. It was her carpool. The guy had been waiting a few minutes for her to take a seat while she was day dreaming about a thousand things, forgetful of the fact that the car was right by her side, honking.

“I’m so sorry, I was kind of lost in a thought”, she apologized.

“It’s okay, we aren’t running late either, you could continue with your business, inside as well..”, he dropped a subtle smile.

Some soft songs played while she stared out of the window. The street lights made her reflection prominent on the glass. She looked at herself and then turned back to the stranger to introduce herself properly. They were from different departments. Different work culture, different families, difference of opinions on almost everything made their conversation weirdly interesting in one go. She felt relaxed after a long time, as they say, sometimes baring your heart to a stranger could be more comfortable than speaking to the same old faces. They talked about their works and other office related stuff, office gossips were her all time favorite. For some time, she almost forgot how tensed she had been in the past few weeks.

Something told her that he too liked her company. As if there were so many things he wished to speak about but limited it, due to the time constraint. And then suddenly, he asked her, “hey, would you like to have an ice cream?”

Before she could answer, he continued, “look, I like ice creams and would love to have one right now, it’s okay if you don’t want to join me, I could drop you and then get it anyway..”

She wanted to say no but said yes. How strange, of all things he could ask, he wanted an ice cream? Strange but interesting, she said to herself and smiled as she looked at her reflection on the glass again.

They got off at a nearby ice cream parlor and went inside. She stood behind him as he ordered a coconut flavored cone for himself. She waited for him to choose hers as well, but he asked her what she wanted.

“I’m sorry, I generally don’t think much before ordering ice creams, I would like to go for a vanilla..”.

“Vanilla?”, he exclaimed.

“Is it because it’s the easiest thing you could get around?” he added abruptly.

“Maybe..”, she smiled.

“Well, not today, you may take your time here and choose a real flavor that you like or want to try”.

She took more than five minutes to observe all the flavors available and before she could still insist to go for a vanilla as she was unable to pick another, he came near and stood by her side silently. For the first time she could feel a calmness. Neither was he impatient, nor did he come near to choose on her behalf. She took another few minutes and finally came up with an almond flavored ice cream. That was her choice! That was the flavor she chose, for the first time in her life, she made an individual choice and almond it was!

As he went to the counter to pay, she stood at a distance and observed him keenly. He was different. His tall height, fair complexion, formal dress up and manly voice did not make the difference, rather it was his attitude. He was calm, patient and a good listener. His gestures were friendly and his company, comfortable.

They sat face to face and enjoyed their ice creams slowly. The conversation had taken a shape by then. They started talking about their lives. She opened up a bit about her recent dilemma while he didn’t hesitate to share his monotonous life with her either.

He couldn’t suggest much to her keeping in mind they had just met.

“Take some time to observe things around you and more importantly, take time to observe yourself first. No matter how much your parents or in laws care for you or they say they do, you have to decide for yourself as this is your life and you must take it’s responsibility solely.”

The words weren’t so important to her, as that’s exactly what she had been telling herself all the time and yet was unable to action on it. What mattered was the fact that first time, someone actually supported her to decide things independently. She loved the confidence she could gather in that short while.