Good for you

It was a normal day in the office. I had brought chocolates to be distributed among my colleagues. I had given the box to one of my colleagues and ask her to pass it around so that everybody gets their chocolates. The last one to receive the chocolate was a friend Priya. She took the last chocolate and came to my desk to return the empty box.

"Thanks for the chocolates, they were delicious" Priya said while returning the box.

" Thank you, they were homemade. I wanted everyone to have the taste of them," I replied thinking that it was a genuine compliment.

" So lucky. Your mother prepares really great delicacies," Priya assumed so confidently.

"Not my mother, I made the chocolates," I corrected her.

"Anyway, you still are lucky that you stay with your parents and your mother makes you meals. Otherwise we stay away from families and struggle a lot" Priya completely ignored what I had said earlier.

I knew that Priya was married and her son was autistic. Her parents as well as in laws used to stay in the remote village. I knew very well that it was a struggle for her to raise her son and providing him a good environment for growth. Priya made it sound like my life was easy but I did not want to retaliate considering the struggles that she had been facing. I decided to cut her some slack and just smiled at her.

"Your life must be so luxurious. You go home and lounge. Your mother must be prepared in fresh food for you and serve it to you," Priya continued.

I decided to step in and correct her yet again, "I do not stay in the hotel my friend. It does not happen this way in my home. My mother is my parent and not a servant to serve me anything".

" So then tell me what do you do after you go home? Do you go home and take rest?" Priya asked.

" I go home and help my mother for the dinner preparation. It is not something that she expects from me but I voluntarily help her," I replied. I was angry by this time but tried to keep my tone polite.

" It is really amazing with single girls like you. You live such a comfortable life. You have no worries towards your family or no worries towards kids. Otherwise look at us. Our lives are so difficult that the dream us completely of the energy. Whatever we do is never enough," Priya spoke while completely ignoring everything I had been saying.

" What do you mean by not worrying towards family? Oh I get it. According to you family is only after the marriage. Parents and siblings are not family right? Also why should a girl worry about the parents and the siblings?" I was angry but decided to use sarcasm instead.

" You will never understand how difficult it is to take care of children. It is so easy and comfortable being single," she said.

Now it was the time for the final showdown. I had to respond to her in a way that she would understand, " we make certain decisions in our lives. We have to live the consequences of them. It has nothing to do with my life. You made the choices for yourself so embrace the consequences of it and deal with them. Do not attack anybody for the struggles of your life because you yourself are responsible for them. It was your choice to get married and have a child, now deal with the consequences instead of making someone uncomfortable about their life choices," I was still polite but direct. My response definitely made Priya angry. Because when it comes to accountability nobody wants to take it. Priya angry left my desk.