Chapter 2

Sheetal, five foot six with warm brown skin, was born to a couple who first prayed for a boy—but soon wrapped their lives around the daughter they received instead.

They believed that she grew up to be the most obedient, soft spoken, religious daughter they wanted her to be. That is how she appeared, but that’s not what she wanted.

She loved to talk, she had so much to share. She loved standing against any kind of oppression imposed on people in the name of religion. With a strong, mesmerizing voice and love for her language, she aspired to become a news reader, a journalist.

‘We gave you love and freedom. That doesn’t mean you can do as you wish. Our society has its own norms and you of all people should know it well. Do you wish to see our heads hung low in front of you relatives, dear?’ Regina spoke softly.

The very moment Sheetal knew how this is going to end. Yet with a little hope sticking to her heart, she looked at her father.

‘Don’t look at me, you heard what your mother said. Media isn’t any place for a family person who wants to live with dignity. We can’t get you married if you show your face to the camera. So stop dreaming. This is never happening.’ Samuel’s words were the end of any argument at home.

Sheetal was not just the first born but eventually, the people pleaser of the family. So being the good girl she always was, she decided to give up on what her heart desired, only to be stopped by her neighbor and best friend.

Sharini got her way with words, and she cleverly managed to negotiate with Sheetal’s parents to support her to become a radio jockey. This way, both parties were partially satisfied and Sheetal’s parents accepted because they wanted to maintain the “loving parents” frame before any outsider like her friends.

The two friends moved to Chennai four years ago, the families agreed only because they went together and secretly they had employed an elder cousin to be a spy and bodyguard.

The girls were quick to find why the weird distant brother tried to hang out with them out of the blue, but couldn’t care less, as it was the first taste of real freedom.

After a year of following, the cousin slowly started to fade away from the picture as the parents were satisfied that their daughters were not in any relationship. Little did they know.

Living together as roommates, these three years they had seen depressions to euphorias, various emotions. But through all that, to Sheetal, Sharini was someone who taught her trust, and an angel who gave her wings.

Sheetal juggled between her part time call center job and voice-over schedules as she spoke in the background for local channel Tamizh advertisements and small TV programmes.

Professionally, both of them had faced many challenges, and have started to get their feet somewhat stable. Sharini’s pay scale raised. Sheetal finally got an offer to host a 6 a.m show in Hello FM.

With life showing a few good signals, it felt as if it was time to face the killer whales they’ve been avoiding. Everytime they visited home back in Cuddalore, the question of marriage popped.

Dodging wasn’t too difficult until potential suitors started to show up unannounced, or as their parents would call it, a surprise. The madness had to end and for that, they wanted to take the big step. Coming clean before their parents.