Half Girlfriend

‘Sometimes.’
My mother didn’t respond. I felt guilty. I needed to give a longer
answer.
‘Well, she was in the team too. Girls’ team,’ I said.
'You never mentioned her. You used to talk about basketball so
much,’ my mother said.
‘I didn’t?’ I said, pretending to be surprised.
‘No,’ my mother said.
‘We only played in the first year,’ I said.
‘Why?’ my mother said.
I paused to think.‘Our groups changed,’ I said.
Riya and I looked at each other. Savitri tai brought nimbu paani for
all of us.
My mother turned to Riya.
‘So how long were you married for?’
My mouth fell open. How did my mother know? Riya sensed my
shock.
‘We were chatting earlier,’ she said.
About your divorce? I thought. She never spoke about it with me.
‘A year and a half,’ Riya said.
‘Kids?’ my mother said.
What the hell? What is Ma talking about?
Riya shook her head.
‘Why did you get married so early?’ my mother said. She
obviously had no filter in her head on what to ask or not. Of course, it
was a question I wanted to ask Riya too.
To my surprise, Riya didn’t filter her responses either.
‘I was stupid. They were family friends. Everyone thought it was a
good idea. But mostly, I did it because I was stupid.’
‘Where are your parents?’
‘Delhi.’
‘You’re a Punjabi?’ my mother said, like all grown-up Indians do.
They just have to know your community.