‘Here,’ she said and handed it to me.
I had only 5 per cent battery left. I checked my messages. Brijesh had sent me some about
leaving Club Cubana and coming to LPK. Debu had sent messages about taking off, and then one
about him having landed in Goa.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ I messaged Debu.
He didn’t see his phone. He seemed to be in bliss, lost in the bhajans. Fuck, what is wrong
with him? It took me a minute to get his attention. I gestured to him to look at his phone.
He saw the message. He replied with a few wink smileys from across the room.
‘Really, what are you doing?’ I typed back.
‘Nice surprise, no?’ he messaged.
‘Cut the nonsense, Debu. My entire family is here.’
‘Yeah, I saw. His too. I saw the groom. Golden silk kurta, lots of red threads around his wrist,
right?’
‘What do you want, Debu?’ I sent a message.
‘To talk face-to-face.’
‘I can’t.’
‘I have come all the way. Please.’
‘My phone is dying.’
‘Meet me.’
‘How?’ I said.
‘You say. Anytime. Anywhere.’
I thought hard.
‘After the bhajans. At the hotel gym.’
Nobody would go to the gym after bhajans. He replied with a thumbs up.
Debu sat on the bench press. He held a dumbbell in one hand and did bicep curls. I stood in front of
him.
‘Are you crazy?’ I said. I looked around to see if anyone I knew had come to the gym. Apart
from one old white man on the treadmill and a gym trainer, there was no one.
‘Thank you for coming,’ he said. ‘By the way, you look gorgeous in this orange sari. Wow. Just
wow!’
‘Whatever. And can you keep that dumbbell down?’
‘Just trying to make it look natural,’ he said.
‘You are in a kurta. I am in a saree. We don’t look natural here. Debu, what is wrong with you?
You literally took a flight and came down?’
‘Yeah. I am quite jetlagged actually. I feel like having breakfast. Want to grab some?’
‘Will you stop it? You have no idea how I have come here. Everyone will be looking for me at
dinner.’
‘We can go there. I can eat.’
‘Debu, this is not a joke. My family is here. Their reputation is important. How could you just
walk into the bhajans’ place?’