'Fuck, that's an advanced stage. When you think your relationship is different
from any other in this world. Don't do anything stupid ok?'
'Stupid?'
Omi leaned forward to whisper.
'You know stupid. Ish will kill you, or her dad will. Or any man who is related
to her will. Remember that guy in the car? Trust me, you don't want to be that
boy, or that car.'
'Well, it's nothing really. Just good friends,' I said and looked towards the toilet.
'Just good friends should be a banned phrase. There is nothing more
misleading. You are her teacher damn it. And how old is she? Seventeen?'
'Turns eighteen in a few months.'
'Oh great,' Omi said.
Ish came out of the toilet. He cracked a joke with the Aussie guys playing pool.
I turned to Omi.
'I don't want to talk about it. Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid. She
sucks at maths. I don't know why I agreed to teach her in the first place.'
'Then stop teaching her no?' Omi said.
'Can we get lunch, I really want to get lunch,' I said and flipped the menu.
'I am just saying...'
'Ish,' I screamed across the bar, 'What do you want? Garlic bread is the
cheapest item on the menu.'
'Whatever, I trust you,' he screamed back as he continued to play pool with the
Aussie guys.
His last phrase bobbed up and down in my head like the surfboards on Bondi
beach.
These houses are huge,' I said as we drove past a rich neighbourhood called
Double Bay.
Fred had picked us up for breakfast on Sunday, our last day. Ish, Omi and Ali
sat at the back in Fred's Saab convertible while I rode in the front. Cool air blew
through our hair as we drove past Sydney's early morning streets.
'But most people have modest places,' Fred said. 'In Australia, we don't brag
about how much money we make or what car you drive. Heck, people don't even
ask what job you do. Do you know what people ask the most?'
'What?' Ish said.
'What do you play, that's what they ask,' Fred said.
'I love Australia. I wish India approached sports with the same spirit.' Ish
leaned forward.
'Here sports is a national obsession,' Fred said. 'What's the obsession in your
country then?'
'There's a lot of people. And there's a lot of obsessions. That's the problem,' Ish
said.
'But religion and politics are pretty big. And them together, even bigger,' I
added.
I stay out of that stuff. Aussie politics are a joke anyway,' Fred said, killing the
engine.