“Whoa! What’s going on?” Rupali’s office door was open. Paritosh was passing by and saw Rupali sitting on her chair with her head buried in her hands. Her table was practically covered with papers.

“Three-fourth of the semester has gone by, but I can’t seem to get through with this paperwork. I am really out of my mind. Why does everything happen on paper here in the twenty-first century?”

Paritosh laughed out loud, “Welcome to Indian academia, Dr. Banerjee. What happened? Let me see if I can help you.”

“Will you?”

“Sure. Show me.”

“What am I supposed to fill up in all these fields?”

“Just leave them blank.”

“Really? They aren’t marked as optional.”

“Nobody is going to read them. If it comes back, we will see.”

“You really know your way around all this, don’t you?”

“Ten years in the system. One has to know.”

“Yeah. And this?”

“You didn’t do any business in US, did you?”

“No.”

“Then write N/A.”

“Is it that simple? Why can’t they phrase question more simply?”

Paritosh smiled and helped her fill several more forms.

“There is something else I need to discuss with you,” she said after the paperwork was done.

“Tell me.”

“I got e-mails from two of the faculty members from our department and another one from Sociology who would like to do something about my little challenge during the faculty meeting.”

“That’s good,” Paritosh looked more thoughtful than excited, “But do you know about our record of publications in international journals?” He wanted to ensure that she was aware of the challenge she was up for.

“Yes. The last one to be published in a worthy journal was your paper, four years back, in the Journal of Contemporary History. And since then you haven’t published much.”

“I got caught up in administrative work, especially with the Delhi stint, and honestly didn’t focus much on research.”

“You can focus again.”

“I don’t know. I have lost the momentum.”

“Then you can regain it,” she smiled, “Besides, there is ample contributions to be made on the administrative side of things too.”

“Raising money, I believe. And I have no experience whatsoever.”

“I know where to start. My family’s business. Their CSR arm has been sitting idle,” she said and added theatrically, “They can contribute towards education in the country.” It drew a smile from him. She continued, “You just have to be there.” Seeing him silent and thoughtful, she suddenly felt awkward about the entire conversation. Why was she assuming that he was with her in the fight? He might not want to do anything with all of this. Despite his encouragement. “Am I imposing on you?” she asked.

“Imposing? No. Not at all. I want you to succeed, Rupali. And anything I can do for that is good. Fix up the meeting.”

“Thanks a lot, Dr. Khanna. That’s a big morale booster.”

He smiled, “So, what is the plan? Funding is one part. What about the research ideas?”

“I was planning to kick start the entire effort with a group meeting. Would you join that?”

“Sure.”

“When will you be free?”

“Monday? I don’t have any classes or meetings.”

“I will check with everyone and let you know.”

“Great! I should get going now. I have a meeting with the director. Should I tell him that you are putting your army together?”

“Dr. Khanna!”

“Don’t worry. I am joking.”

—

Rupali had started going to Paritosh for advice often and he seemed to be happy to help her. She mentioned this to Mouli.

“He is a nice man!” was Mouli’s reaction.

“Seems like that Mom. You are fond of him, aren’t you?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Just like that. If you like him, it makes it easy for me to trust him. My own history of understanding people has not been that great.”

“Rupa. Darling – don’t be so hard on yourself because some people turned out to be jerks. There are good people in the world.” Rupali didn’t say anything, instead just smiled sadly. Mouli continued, “Also dear, you must think about your future, about settling down. You look settled in your job now. You need to find a partner too. Else the life will get lonely after a while.”

“Mom. Please. I have you. I don’t need anybody.”

“I’ll not live forever. No parent ever does.”

“Shut up. You will live long enough.”

“Rupa…” Mouli made to say something, but checked herself.

“What?”

“Nothing. I don’t want you to spoil your mood by pestering you. But do remember this. I will be worried about you.”

“Mom!”

“It’s okay. Let’s not talk about it now. Will you make me another cup of coffee?”

“Sure, Mom.” Rupali was happy to end the discussion.

—

“Coffee?” Paritosh peeped in from the door and asked Rupali. She was working late due to an upcoming deadline for a paper submission. Paritosh was known to work late nights in the office. So Rupali was not surprised to see him.

“Sure,” she replied and got up to go with him.

“I am not in a mood for the pathetic coffee of faculty canteen. How about we drive a little and go to Mocha nearby?”

“I am not fond of faculty canteen either!” Rupali replied.

“So, how is the paper coming along?” Paritosh asked after they had ordered their coffee at Mocha.

“It’s coming along well. Having a couple of good Ph. D. students would have helped though,” Rupali replied wryly.

“Ph. D. students? I can get you as many as you want. This country is degree crazy. ‘Good’ ones, that too in humanities, are what are difficult to come by.”

“I know!”

“Did the condition of Indian academia come as a surprise to you, Rupali?”

“No. Not really. I was well aware.”

“Why did you come back then? And don’t give me the politically correct answer you would have given in your job interview.”

Rupali laughed slightly at that. “It’s a tough one. But I guess that country was not my type. Too lonely, too aggressive for me.”

“Professionally?”

“No. Professionally I would have managed. I managed fine, in fact. But the day to day life, the interaction with people, the relationships – I just didn’t get it.”

“What was the problem?”

She sighed. “Multiple problems. But worst of all– Have you ever been in love?”

Paritosh managed to hide his discomfort at that sudden question and cleverly evaded it, “I am too old to answer that now. You tell me. Have you ever been?”

“More than once! At least I thought each time that I was in love,” she gave a sad, self-deprecating smile, “The problem was that I was good at understanding ghosts of history, but not the people of present. I managed to fall in love with some illusions every time. The real people behind them were just not right.”

“Hmm…” Paritosh noticed that she was staring down at the table, and not looking at him at all. It was as if she had started talking to herself. She spoke again before he could say anything.

“That’s just another way of saying that I didn’t understand people at all and made mistakes all the time. Relationships, friendship, anything. I started feeling lonely and scared. I needed to go someplace familiar, and safe. I had to come back to Mom.”

She suddenly stopped her ramblings and looked up guiltily at him, “I’m sorry. I am boring you with my meaningless blabbers.”

“You don’t have to be so self-conscious before me. You can trust me, Rupali.”

“I know. Shall we leave now?”

She was embarrassed about baring her heart like that. Paritosh wanted to comfort her, but figured that any such attempt on his part might only make her more uncomfortable. He called for the bill.

—

To be continued