Plan B

He looked into my eyes anxiously, with hopes of hearing a “Yes!”  To his surprise I got up, eased the creases in my gray skirt and said, “Thank you, for the offer sir! But I have other plans.” He gave an uneasy smile. We nodded, shook hands and yet again I smoothed the creases on my skirt and I left.

I waited for the lift, wondering why he didn’t ask me what my “Other Plans” were. There he was hoping that I would take up the job as Marketing Head of the tools division in his company and I said no because of “Other plans”. Neither did he ever want an explanation from me, nor did he coax me with new and improved salary. May be he knew, maybe he sensed that I had a Plan B.

All my life I have travelled the length and breadth of this country selling everything from pins to ships. 17 years into marketing and sales can feel like an eternity especially for a person like me. All that grounded me was my lovely 12 yr old daughter, Aneesha.

It was for her that I had always post ponded my Plan B. It is hard to take care of a daughter as a single parent. But she was in all means thoughtful and aiding me in the uphill task. It was her choice to go to a boarding school, in hopes of better future. I begged and pleaded her not to. But she wouldn’t listen. She asked me for just one chance, to be by her own. I could see myself in her. I asked the same thing from my parents nearly 2 decades ago, when I got an admission from IIM-A. Time flies. Now my daughter asked me the same. “Give me a chance.” There is no point holding back when children are sure about what they want. I let her fly.

Ever since she left, my burning desire to follow my Plan B increased. When I was a little girl, I used to cut out articles about exotic places throughout the world from magazines and newspapers. I collected it all in a yellow cloth bag from one of the famous shops in town. My family taught me to aspire. My father would never buy fancy clothes for me or adorn me with jewelry but he would even skip a meal to buy me a book I was dying to read. Once in a while he used to take us to very fancy restaurants, not because he had cash to spare. He felt that by going there I can see the other end of life, the end where money grew on trees. Dad used to say, “Cultivate your own money-tree; nurture it with love, dedication and hard work. Live in its shade and be generous to invite those suffering from heat and rain. Remember; grow your own money tree.”

All my life, I worked for that tree so that my family would be safe. Sad! The tree couldn’t save my husband from that horrid accident. But it ensured that Aneesha and I were in its shade, safe from the heat and rain. Time healed the wounds. Now she grew a pair of wings and flew to test the air. I used to fret, what if the air is too hot or too cold? What if the bigger birds beat her up? Then I learnt that she had started work on her tree. That is when my desire to implement plan B grew to the size of a super nova.

I always wanted to travel all the places I used to dream of as a little girl. That was my plan B. Now that I have money and time, I wanted to follow my plan B. I would use no map, make no plans, just absorb all I can see, breathe in everything and live every moment. With a smile on my face I felt the building, called for a taxi and left to the airport.