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Sunita looked at herself in the mirror. She was sixty-nine years old and she felt her age and looked her age. She saw a face with wrinkles pigmentation on her skin, though her hair was surprisingly black. She looked at her clothes, it was a cotton sari with a white blouse. That is what she always wore .She had a couple of silk saris but she was saving them up for even she did not know what about.

It was difficult to leave the safe cocoon of her home. She lived there with her two sons, and their families. Her husband had been dead for long. Her children were good to her but it was difficult to come to terms with her loneliness .It was a large family but somehow Sunita used to find herself alone sometimes in midst of all that noise and gaiety.

Her only comfort and solace was that she was that she was financially very comfortable and was not dependent upon any one for her material needs. Her daughter, Anshu had been pestering her for a long time to spend some time with her. She did not want to but Anshu was relentless in her pursuit. She would alternately cajole her and fight with her. Sunita finally agreed to come but with a lot of trepidation.

Being at Anshu's house was good. It was a small family, Anshu her husband and her daughter.

Anshu was sweet but if Sunita thought she was a balm to her loneliness, she was mistaken. Anshu lived a mad life far from the staid life she led and far from the sedate Anshu she had brought up. Sunita always felt her 45-year-old daughter did not accept her age. She was either talking on the phone and giggling loudly and actually discussing guys or she was smsing messages on her mobile or sitting on the computer.She was always trying out anti wrinkle creams or going to the beauty salon.And if she was bored she was talking to her dog.

Sunita told Anshu once I think you do not accept your age. Act your age, do you have to wear lilac lipstick and tight pants and especially with a bulging midriff.

Anshu laughed and said "mama please you think you are so old. What is sixty-nine? It is no age. You should go out and have fun. Why do you think you are old? I walk with a sixty year old guy and he is so alive."She wanted to add he is good kisser too but she thought that would be too scandalous for her mom to digest.

Anshu was after her mom to enjoy life. She would keep telling her do what gives you happiness. If happiness is enjoying the serials on TV so be it. If you get happiness from praying please let it be. Have some passion in your life. Sunita would just ignore Anshu and go back to her bed. Some times she would have long conversations with Anshu about her father or her sons but she could see Anshu pretence of being so interested

Tanya her granddaughter was another person altogether. She was young vibrant pretty and in her early twenties. She was home for a holiday otherwise she studied in a different town. She was laid back in her approach to life.

Lying down with a book, a coke and wafers was her idea of fun, but come evening she would be all dressed to go out with her friends. She would come late in the night and Sunita could see that Anshu with all her bravado used to be really worried and only went to sleep when her daughter was home.

Tanya was very fond of her grandmother. She would listen to her chat with her and lie down with her. She would introduce all her friends to her. They would show her all their shopping. Sunita did not know what to do when they came home screaming with joy at the sale they had gone, where they got everything for a steal. Sunita casually asked to see what they had bought. Out came tumbling Thongs of various colors, some with pearls some trimmed with fur. Sunita had a great desire to giggle like her daughter but she kept quiet.

Anshu took Sunita to all the movies in town. She took her to the nice eating joints. If Sunita grumbled Anshu would silence her by saying better than staying at home. Let us go out and enjoy life.

Sunita could not make up her mind whether she was having a good time or not. She could not fault Anshu's behavior. On the flip side Anshu had a Pundit coming every day to do pooja. She saw to it that her mother had her material comforts.

One day Anshu's husband was out of town. Anshu wanted to have a ladies dinner. She told her mother and took her advice on the menu. And then very diffidently added, that every body drinks including herself and would she mind if she drank.

The dinner was on and Sunita sat with Anshu's friends and surprisingly she enjoyed herself. Anshu's friends were pleasantly high. They discussed everything from Abdul kalam's hairstyle, to the drought that India was facing, to Aishwarya's beauty in Devdas.

Sunita was tired and excused herself to her granddaughter's room. Tanya was sitting with her friends. And they were DRINKING all with Anshu's permission. They were genuinely happy to see grandma and did not want her to go. They kept teasing her and telling her about all the boys in their lives.

Sunita was back home after her two-week stay at Anshu's.

Life was as usual. She was with her sons. It was the weekend both her sons had gone out with their families. She was alone. She went to the kitchen to tell the maid what she wanted to eat. The kitchen was empty .She looked around opened a few cupboards. Was not that a bottle of vodka lying? Let me taste it, she thought, if it gives my daughter so much pleasure. She picked up a steel glass. She poured some vodka in it. She poured some chilled coke in it. She saw the maid and told her to make some cheese toast and get it to her room. She went to her room and put on the TV. There was a serial which her daughter swore by.

She took quick sips and felt an air of well being around her. She laughed to herself and did cheers to the TV like she had seen her daughter doing to her friends. Tonight was the night to a new day.

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