One Indian Girl by Chetan Bhagat

‘Baby, I am waiting,’ Debu had sent me on WhatsApp.
‘I know,’ I replied.
‘It’s not that difficult. Just tell them you have another guy.’
‘Whom do I tell?’
‘Anyone. Your mother. Your sister.’
‘Is this a good idea, Debu? I am really confused.’
‘It’s love, baby. It’s meant to be confusing. Even I was about you. But now I am sure. I want
you to be Mrs Radhika Sen.’
The name Mrs Radhika Sen made me squirm a little.
‘Madam, don’t move so much,’ the mehndi guy said as I furiously typed with my right hand.
‘Not sure if I will change my surname.’
‘Don’t,’ he said.
I didn’t respond. He typed after a minute.
‘Is that a yes, though?’
‘I don’t know, Debu. I am at my mehndi. Hard to use the phone too.’
‘Baby, please, just say yes.’
I put the phone aside.
‘I have been doing this for twenty years. You have the most beautiful hands of them all,’ Puran
said.
‘You say this to every bride?’ I said.
He looked at me and smiled, showing his paan-stained teeth.
‘Actually, yes.’
I smiled back, shaking my head. My phone buzzed again.
‘Your left hand is almost done. Will need the other one soon,’ Puran said.
I nodded and checked my phone. The message had not come from Debu. It came from an
unknown international number. It began with ‘+852’, the code for Hong Kong.
‘Hi. It’s Neel,’ the message said.
‘Madam, can I have your other hand? And don’t move your left hand now. It has fresh mehndi,’
Puran said.
‘Give me one minute,’ I said to the mehndiwallah.
‘Hi, Neel,’ I replied.
‘I heard you are getting married. In Goa.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Cool. Office people told me.’
‘Yes. What’s up?’
‘I am in Sri Lanka. Due diligence on a deal.’
‘Okay.’
‘Can I call you?’
‘Radhika, focus on your mehndi or I will kidnap your phone again,’ Aditi didi said.
‘Ten seconds,’ I implored Aditi didi.
‘Too caught up right now,’ I typed back.
I pressed send. I put the phone aside on the cushion next to me. Puran held my right hand and
started to apply mehndi. He had spent two hours to make an intricate floral pattern on my left hand.
He needed the same time on my right.
My phone screen lit up on the beautiful cushion. I had another message.