Mixed Masala

Chapter 12

"Happy Deepavali!" Jayashree said hugging her parents who promptly placed some vibuthi on her forehead and kissed her cheek. It was Ravi's turn next, followed closely by Meera. They were assembled in Lakshmi's prayer room in the Devraj home in Ipoh.

Normally, grooms spent their first Deepavali after the wedding with the bride's family and indeed that was what Ravi had done the year before. This year, the couple had intended to spend Deepavali with Ravi's parents but as was their nature, Jayashree's in-laws had suddenly decided to make a trip to Australia ... just weeks after returning from their pilgrimage to India.

"Why can't they just stay put in one place for a while?" Ravi had complained to his wife. "It's not like they're all that young anymore ... gallivanting around the world like that!"

Jayashree had tried to reason with him. "They probably just miss Sathish and Prem. They haven't seen your brothers since they came down for our wedding last year. Besides, your parents know we'll never be on our own, not with my family around."

Ravi had remained moody for a while but had suddenly cheered up at the idea of tasting his mother-in-law's delicious mutton varuval again.

Ravi, Jayashree and Meera had arrived in Ipoh two days before Deepavali and had enjoyed helping Lakshmi and Nura finish making (and continuously taste-testing) the many different varieties of Indian sweets Meera's mother was famous for. Very early Deepavali morning, they had all had their ritualistic oil baths and then congregated in the prayer room for a short prayer session conducted by Lakshmi herself. The telephone rang just as the Devrajs sat down to have their breakfast, a virtual gastronomic feast of chicken peratel, dhalcha, thosai and at least three different types of chutney and of course, Ravi's favourite mutton varuval.

"I hope you all suffer serious heartburn for eating without me!" Raj's half sleepy voice came over the phone.

"Happy Deepavali, son," Vishwanath said laughing just as his wife grabbed the receiver from his hand and started gushing.

"We miss you so much, Raj. Are you okay? Are you eating well? You sound weak ..."

"Ma!" Raj cut her off. "It's half past three in the morning over here. I'm just sleepy. And I am very okay. The food's still crappy but then there's always McDonald's."

Lakshmi smiled to herself. "Well, I still wish you were here ..."

Jayashree and Meera had their chance to speak to their brother after Lakshmi hesitantly relinquished the receiver a good ten minutes later and then finally Ravi got on the line with his brother-in-law.

"Up to no good as usual?" Ravi asked laughing.

"You know me. I wish I was there with you guys, but there are a bunch of Malaysian Indians here who are actually planning to cook up a feast this evening. God help me, I'll probably get some sort of food poisoning ... but what the heck! I'll just line my stomach with plenty pf booze first."

Ravi grinned. "Not more than a crate of beer at a time, my boy," he said, then bit his lip as he saw his mother-in-law frowning at him. "Yes, you can never have too much root beer ..."

*****

Later that afternoon, Ravi and the Devrajs headed out to visit friends and relatives as was their routine every Deepavali. They visited nine houses in all and at the end of it all, they were completely exhausted and very, very full from having had to "eat just a little bit" nine times over. And yet they were back at the dining table again that very same evening to enjoy even more of Lakshmi's cooking. Both she and Vishwanath had invited several close friends over and by the time the last guest left, it was close to eleven o'clock at night.