Hard Choices ─ Three Short Stories

My Story:
 Gauri, the daughter of immigrants from the Southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India, is raised in the United States. Her marriage to an engineer from India falls apart as she struggles to balance the lifestyle of East and West. Frequent arguments and misunderstandings regarding traditional values, take its toll resulting in the collapse of their union.

Maya and her Grandmother:
Maya’s relationship with a man much older than her, sends her disapproving parents on a pilgrimage to India. His behavior makes her rethink their relationship, but she seeks his company following the accidental demise of her parents and aunt. She goes to India for their last rites and feeling alone and adrift, she convinces her grandmother to come to the US to stay with her. Maya’s conversation with her grandmother about her troubled relationship with her boyfriend, Nick, reveals a side of her grandmother’s life similar to her own. It gives her the strength and confidence to make a firm decision and move on.

The Will:
The life of Rishi, a young doctor from NC, USA, is dramatically altered when he is requested to go to Mumbai, India, to claim a large amount of money. This bequest to him by the elderly Indian visitor who befriended him on the trail where he frequently jogs, leaves him confused and perplexed. He struggles between acceptance and rejection of the inheritance, but an unexpected chain of events during his Mumbai visit and thereafter in the US, help him in his decision.