I AM SO SORRY. BUT YOU WERE EXPECTING THIS, WEREN’T YOU?
I DON’T MEAN TO PATRONIZE (AND YOU SOUND SLIGHTLY MELODRAMATIC!), BUT I’M SURE YOUR PARENTS CARE MORE ABOUT YOU THAN WHAT THE NEIGHBORS THINK. REGARDING YOUR FATHER, GIVE HIM A BREAK. HE WANTS TO SEE HIS DAUGHTER MARRIED AND HE WANTS HER TO GIVE HIM SOME GRANDKIDS. HE DOESN’T KNOW YOU’RE ENGAGED TO A HANDSOME AMERICAN, SO HE’S TRYING TO DO HIS BEST.
I KNOW IT’S HARD TO TELL YOUR FAMILY SOMETHING YOU KNOW FOR SURE THEY DON’T WANT TO HEAR AND IF IT’S TOO MUCH PRESSURE, DON’T. JUST DON’T MARRY SOME INDIAN GUY WHILE I WAIT HERE TWIDDLING MY THUMBS. PLEASE? WE HAVE A JOINT MORTGAGE! IN SILICON VALLEY THAT’S AS SOLID AS A MARRIAGE!!!
IT’S OKAY IF YOU DON’T WANT TO TELL THEM ABOUT US. JUST RELAX. I DON’T WANT YOU TO HAVE AN EMBOLISM BECAUSE OF ALL THIS STRESS. DO WHAT YOU’RE COMFORTABLE WITH.
TAKE CARE, SWEETHEART, AND CALL ME.
NICK
Confessions and Lies
Anand was one my favorite relatives. He was five years older than I and we’d spent many summers together in Thatha’s brother’s house in our village near Kavali.
The last summer we spent there had been quite an adventure. Thatha’s brother, who we called Kathalu-Thatha, had been trying to track down the thief who was stealing from his mango orchard and we were convinced that we could be just as good as writer Enid Blyton’s Famous Five heroes. Anand was thirteen, Sowmya eleven, and I was all of eight years old; we thought we made a dashing Thrilling Three.
Thatha’s brother told the best stories and that was why we called him Stories-Grandpa, Kathalu-Thatha. We would all gather around a fire and Kathalu-Thatha would tell us about the ghost who lived in the old well in the middle of his sugarcane field, the old-old man who still lived in the shack by the stream at the end of the village and the tigers that would come out only in the night to take away little naughty children. Some stories scared us, others made us laugh, but all of them brought us closer to Kathalu-Thatha. My memories of sitting by the fire, sipping hot sweet milk from silver tumblers while Kathalu-Thatha wove tall tales that were rich, still had the ability to brighten my day.
Anand gave me a hug as soon as he saw me. “You took too long, Priya,” he said. “And now you are all grown up.”
“All grown up and single,” Ma muttered from behind us. “And making nakhras, throwing tantrums like a spoiled brat.”
I sighed.
“Let it be, Akka,” Sowmya said, wrapping the edge of her sari around her waist. “Why don’t both of you go and bring the mangoes downstairs while I get Anand’s tea ready?”
It was a good escape route—neither Anand nor I needed to be told twice.
“I hear a boy is coming to see you tomorrow,” Anand said, as we went up the stairs. “Two boys in one day. . . . My mother must be in heaven.”
“Yup,” I said sarcastically, “one for me and one for Sowmya. Just a regular meat market.”
“Oh, it won’t be so bad,” Anand said, and patted my shoulder.
“And so says the man who fell in love, eloped, and married,” I pointed out. “And there is big news as well.”
Anand smiled from ear to ear. “I can’t believe it. Can you believe it? I am going to be a father?”
I shook my head and laughed. No, I couldn’t believe the Anand who had spent an entire night atop a mango tree waiting for Kathalu-Thatha’s mango orchard thief to make an appearance was now old enough to be a father.
“I was thinking about our last summer at Kathalu-Thatha’s house,” I said, as we started folding the muslin cloth on which the now dried and wrinkled mangoes lay.
“Oh yes,” Anand said, rubbing a scar over his left eye. “ Amma refused to ever let me go there again.”
It had been late in the night. Sowmya and I kept guard at the end of the orchard, looking for the thief. We’d sneaked out of the house, adamant at finding the thief to impress Kathalu-Thatha. Sowmya had been reluctant, but Anand and I had been persistent. Unable to bow out in the face of our enthusiasm, Sowmya came along, her forehead wrinkled in a worried frown.
Anand was on sentry duty atop a mango tree along with a steel flashlight. “I will have a better view,” he said.