31
‘Aunty, may I come in?’ I said.
Ananya’s mother looked at me through the mesh door with sleepy eyes. She
wore a nightie; I had disturbed her afternoon nap.
I had told my agents I would be out for a late lunch. Before coming to their
house, I stopped at Grand Sweets and packed two kilos of Mysore pak.
Aunty opened the door. I came inside. She went inside to change her clothes. I
flipped through The Hindu util she returned.
‘Uncle’s back?’ I asked.
‘He came last night.’ She yawned. ‘But he is in office now.’
‘Sorry to wake you up,’ I said and passed her the box of sweets.
‘What’s this?’
‘I wanted to apologise for the dinner that night.’
Aunty kept quiet and looked at the coffee table.
‘I am sorry about the Ratna Stores incident. I assure you, nothing cheap
happened,’ I said.
‘Chitra is a loudmouth,’ she responded. ‘She would have told the whole of
Mylapore by now.’
‘I can understand. We have people like that in Punjabis as well. People who
love to interfere in other people’s lives.’
Aunty ignored me. She went inside to keep the sweets in the fridge. She came
back with a glass of water and their family dish of hard, brittle spirals that didn’t
taste of anything.
I took one. My tooth hurt as I tried to bite it. I took the spiral out of my mouth
and faked I had taken a bite by pretending to chew. We had an awkward minute of
silence.
‘Aunty, I wnted to show you this,’ I said and opened my bag. I took out the
Carnatic music CDs and gave them to her.