‘Relax, I do this in Patna, too,’ she said.
‘My mother should see this,’
‘Why?’ she said.
‘Nothing,’ I said.
- ‘Is she here?’ my mother said.
‘Yes,’ I said.
I met my mother in the courtyard as she came back from school. I
took her bag filled with notebooks.We walked into the house.
‘Where is she?’
‘In the guestroom.’
‘Girls are also strange these days. Go live in whichever boy’s
house.’
‘What are you saying, Ma? She is a friend from college. I invited
her over.’
‘Do her parents know?’
‘I don’t know.’
My mother shook her head.
‘Be nice, Ma,’ I said.
‘You like her?’
‘What kind of a question is that? You get people you dislike
home?’
‘Answer straight.’
‘I need to bathe.’
The water in the bathroom tap was a mere trickle. It took me forty-
five minutes to fill a bucket and bathe. I changed into shorts and a T-
shirt and came down to the living room. Riya and my mother were
already there.
‘You met already?’ I said.
‘Hi,’ Riya said. ‘I was just chatting with aunty.’
‘You played basketball with her?’ my mother said, sounding
betrayed.