"It’s done, Ma."

It was the question every Indian woman of Kavya’s generation faces: You have freedom. Why aren't you happy?

The Indian woman’s life is not a single story. It is a rangoli —complex, colorful, made of countless broken and whole pieces. It is the weight of gold bangles and the lightness of a laptop bag. It is the smell of cumin seeds spluttering in oil, mixed with the sterile hum of an air conditioner. It is the prayer on her lips for a happy marriage, and the secret, fierce prayer in her heart for a life of her own. And slowly, painfully, beautifully, she is writing that life, one awkward negotiation at a time.