‘D
3
idi, let’s go, the bus is waiting,’ I said. Aditi didi had spent the last two hours changing in and
out of a dozen dresses. Finally, she wore the red one she’d always wanted to wear.
‘Is it showing too much cleavage?’ she said.
Isn’t that what you want? I am the bride, goddammit. It is my bachelorette party. Can’t you
make me the priority at least for this week?
The room phone rang. I picked it up.
‘Hey,’ Brijesh said. I had started to recognize his voice. That’s a good sign, isn’t it?
‘Hi, Brijesh. All set?’
‘Yeah, my gang is on the bus. I am calling from the reception.’
‘Oh, you boys go ahead. The driver knows Club Cubana, right?’ I said.
‘Yeah, he does, it is in Arpora. Your bus for LPK is here too. Coming?’
‘Soon.’
‘I wish we were going to the same place,’ Brijesh said.
I laughed. ‘That’s sweet, Brijesh, but that’s the point of a bachelor party. Your last night out
without the annoying spouse. Boys and girls go separately tonight.’
‘You are not annoying,’ he said.
‘Clearly you don’t know me yet.’
‘I wanted to see you before we left. My gang wanted to see all the dressed-up Mehta girls.’
‘Your gang is not laying an eye on my innocent cousins.’
I ended the call and turned to Aditi didi, who continued to adjust her dress in front of the
mirror. ‘Didi, you do realize it is my bachelorette?’
‘There it is,’ said Jyoti, my second cousin, pointing at a huge flaming-yellow lit-up sign for Love
Passion Karma or LPK. The club, half an hour from the hotel, was located at the waterfront of Nerul
River and decorated in an over-the-top Paleolithic era theme, with stone caves and giant stone statues
of the early man on the lawn. We were a group of fifteen girls. Suraj had also arranged two bouncers
for us. We had a table in a semi-private area, with balloons and champagne bottles.
Nice job, Suraj, I thought.
‘Some of the girls seem too young, madam,’ the club owner told Aditi didi.