The Argument · The Quiet Exam · Pulse Beat
They had it in the car, which was the only place his father ever had difficult conversations. "It's a simple thing," said Mr Malhotra, driving, eyes on the road. "You have the ability. You have the…
They had it in the car, which was the only place his father ever had difficult conversations.
"It's a simple thing," said Mr Malhotra, driving, eyes on the road. "You have the ability. You have the discipline. One more year."
"I don't want it, Papa."
The car slowed. "What do you mean, you don't want it?"
"The college. The engineering. The whole thing." It came out in a rush, and once it had started, it would not stop. "I've been doing it for five years because you wanted it and I didn't know what else there was. I'm good at physics. I like physics. But I don't want to spend fourteen hours a day for a rank. I don't want that life."
His father pulled over onto the verge. The monsoon wind rattled the trees. For a very long time he did not speak.
"What do you want?" he said, quietly.
"I don't know." Dev's eyes were stinging. "That's the thing. I don't know. Nobody ever let me find out."
His father looked at the windscreen, at the rain. "I wanted to be an architect," he said slowly. "When I was your age. My father said engineering. I have never told anyone."