44
‘Good morning , uncle,’ Ananya said as she came into the living room in her
night-suit. It was seven-thirty in the morning. My father, bound to his army habit,
had showered and changed. He looked up from his newspaper. He didn’t
respond.
‘I’m Ananya, Krish’s friend.’
‘Good,’ my father said and went back to his newspaper. He kept calm. I knew
he’d blow his lid when Ananya left. I came to the living room and ignored him.
‘Ananya, get ready. We should leave before the peak-hour traffic.’
‘Where are you going?’ my father said.
I didn’t answer. My father stood up and went to the kitchen.
‘Is this the way to behave?’ I heard him scream at my mother.
‘What happened?’ my mother said as I kept one ear to the kitchen.
‘I asked him where is he going, he didn’t answer. And who is that girl?’
‘He is going to drop Ananya to her guest-house and go to office. Why?’ my
mother said.
‘Why can’t he say it? And why didn’t you tell me we will have a visitor in the
house.’
‘I didn’t know,’ my mother said.
‘You are lying again,’ my father screamed.
Ananya looked terrified.
‘Welcome to my world,’ I said, ‘now let’s get the hell out of here.’
I came home from work and found deadly silence in the house. Obviously, my
father was home. He sat at the dining table with my mother.