The weekend was blissful. Call it the calm after the dinner storm, but I had the most relaxing time of my life. After last night's rage-fuelled sleeplessness, I had attained zen at around 3 am and decided that for the next two days, my mind will stay off my work and my stupid boss. I will be devoting it to familial harmony and self-improvement.
Keeping that in mind, I was calmly helping out Ma make dinner for our extended family on Saturday, while she was telling me an amusing story about one of our relatives.
"I am not joking okay" she declared as I laughed. "Bhargav's face was just priceless. There she comes, to the Sangeet party, dressed like a princess, with a white guy in her arm. Walks up to her Dad, smiling like she won Ms. Universe, and said 'Dad. This is whom I want to marry. He's Chris'. Bhargav, I tell you, couldn't have seen this coming from thousand kilometres."
"I met Chris during Chacha's birthday dinner" I commented idly, as I chopped vegetables. "He seems cool."
"Cool?" Ma scoffed, deftly rolling rotis. "Cool is what you'd describe AC temperature or a glass of lassi. He is someone who is now set to marry Rita. Cool isn't the word to describe him."
"Well, how would you describe him then?" I asked, grinning at her remark.
She looked up and pointed her rolling pin at me. "A shock. A shock from the West."
"How is it shocking; she has been there for ages, and she's been dating Chris since college", I said unthinkingly.
Her gasp made me realize my mistake. "How did you know this?"
I grimaced. "She told me." I said, now that the cat was out of the bag.
Mom's eyes grew huge at the sight of brand new information. "When?"
Oh no.
"When?" she asked again, sounding not dissimilar to police officers during a tough interrogation.
"Like six months ago?" I ventured, trying to diffuse the situation with a smaller lie. We knew each other for the last 7 years, but of course, she wouldn't hear me say that.
"And why on Earth didn't you feel like telling me about it? I would've alerted Bhargav, na!" she said, sounding scandalized.
And that's exactly why. Us cousins have a separate group that is connected by trust. Everything we do, no matter how scandalous it is, is shared and kept within the six of us.
We had even gone to Chris's house in New York for Thanksgiving, but of course, when asked if we knew him, the five of us collectively shook our heads.
The last thing our overdramatic parents needed was the (correct) assumption that we kept things from them.
"Arey how would I know that she's going to marry him; she told me they are friends" I said, going for the obvious lie.
She bought it with a bad grace. "That is also true", she allowed. "All you kids are devious."
"Yup. That's the truth. No, leave, I will make the sabzi", I added as she held out her hand for the plate of cut vegetables. It was time to do something nice so that she forgot about this snafu.
It worked; Ma immediately looked pleased that I was being a dutiful daughter. "Good girl", she congratulated and stood opposite to me, watching as I began to prep.
There was comfortable silence as I waited for the oil to heat up.
"You know, Geeta told me something interesting in today's session," she said thoughtfully.
YOU ARE READING
Not Likely
RomanceHe was seated at the head of the table, his laptop open in front of him, no doubt already prepared to ask us a bunch of invasive questions. But he wasn't looking at the screen. He was looking at me. Stopping in my tracks, I looked back, wondering...
