51
‘I am telling you now only. I don’t like her mother – arrogant woman,’ my mom
said as we waited at the taxi stand. My mother and I landed at the Dabolim Airport
in Goa two hours before Ananya and her parents did. I had tried to time the flights
as close as possible.
‘It’s not arrogance. They are quiet people,’ I said.
‘Don’t be under their spell,’ my mother said.
‘I’m not. OK, here they come, remember to smile,’ I said.
Ananya’s parents came face to face with my mother for the second time.
‘Hello Kavita-ji,’ Ananya’s father said. They exchanged greetings, not warm
and cuddly like Delhi airports, but not completely ice-cold either.
I had hired a Qualis. I helped the driver load Ananya’s bags into the car. My
mother gave me a puzzled look.
‘What?’ I said.
She shook her head.
I sat in front. Ananya’s family took the middle seat.
‘Oh, I’ll sit at the back,’ my mother said.
‘OK,’ Ananya’s mother said.
I realised the faux pas. ‘No, mom, I will take the backseat,’ I said. My mother
declined as she had already taken her place.
‘Park Hyatt,’ I said. The driver turned the car towards South Goa. My mother
took out a plastic packet from her bag.
‘Here, for you,’ my mother said and passes a sari to Ananya’s mother.
Ananya’s mother turned around and took the packet. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
‘It’s tussar silk,’ my mother said, ‘I bought it from the Assam emporium.’