On Saturday morning, my mobile notified me with a shrink ‘ting’ message tone. Maybe some clothing brand messaged me to notified for a massive sale – I thought. No! it was not a clothing brand message. It was a message from Priyanka, my medical school batchmate who lives in the same city of Australia. The message read- Hey, what are your plans for the evening? I was not expecting evening plan messages while I was organising myself to read some research paper. My psychiatrist husband was anxiously talking to another staff member over his phone to manage a complex scenario at the workplace. I knew he needs to go to his workplace immediately, which means I have to be with two children. Hence, evening plans can’t be possible for me, I realised.
I paused for a moment before replying to the message I received. I abruptly answered, No, as kids are with me today. Soon after, a trail of negotiating notes floats in, and we finally agreed to meet with children.

As I was about to leave the house, my husband offered to look after the children until I returned. So, I went alone intending to have a decent dinner and came back after two hours. But college friend meeting always ends with a bit of twist and mine is no different. Our initial formalities gradually took the backseats, and we laughed like crazy while pouring our heart out. Plan extended, and I informed home, not coming tonight. Soon after, she took me to the dance floor. I need to admit I initially hesitated to dance as I struggled to bring back my twenty years ago authentic self. I am glad that I took this much needed ‘us the friends ‘ time from perfect routine life. Evening plans for a woman is like fitting a diamond on a ring that finally needs precision and calibration to create that expensive yet precious timeless piece.