‘Let’s go, let’s go,’ Kamla mami hauled up all the ladies. The ladies deposited
their gold sequined bags with Swaran aunty. Her immobility made her an ideal
cloakroom.
‘So, what is the surprise gift?’ my mother egged on Kamla aunty.
‘You will see it soon-ji. But the expense has broken our back. Minti’s daddy
had to take a loan.’
‘It’s OK, you have only one daughter,’ Shipra masi said as all of them walked
out.
Ananya let out a huge sigh after the Punjabi aunty gang left.
‘You OK?’ I said. ‘No, let me guess. You are not OK.’
‘I need a drink, let’s go to the bar,’ Ananya said.
‘But stay a few steps away. I’ll order the drink,’ I said.
We reached the bar. Tinki and Nikki came running to me, their lehngas lifted up
to their ankles with their hands.
‘Krish bhaiya, get a full glass of neat vodka. My friends from college have
come.’
‘Why can’t the girls take drinks themselves?’ Ananya asked.
Tinki and Nikki turned to Ananya, puzzled. At nineteen and seventeen, they
looked overdressed in their designer clothes.
‘Tinki, Nikki, this is Ananya,’ I said.
‘Oh, you are the one,’ Tinki exclaimed.
‘The one who?’ I said.
‘She is your girlfriend, no, Krish bhaiya?’ Nikki said.
I didn’t respond.
‘You are blushing,’ Tinki said, and turned to Ananya. ‘I love your earrings.
Where did you get them from?’
‘Coimbatore,’ Ananya said.
‘Where is that?’ Tinki said.
nora
(Nora)
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