professional for a first timer! Maybe I do have my mother’s natural flair for cooking. In a strange way, I feel connected to my mother, and it has been ages since I have thought of her.
I feel so happy that I immediately call up Samir to tell him of my culinary achievement. He listens and then says that it is a good thing, but he is in an important meeting and will get back to me later. I apologize and tell him that there is a lot of food and I would like to call my friends over to celebrate. He distractedly agrees.
I have been in touch with Chetana and Akash ever since I got back from Seychelles. I now feel a kind of special bond with them because they actually made so much effort to be with me throughout my wedding, playing the part of my family.
I call them and insist that they come to my home straight from work and that I will not take a ‘no’ for an answer.
‘But, Nisha, it will take us at least one and a half hours to get to your place from Andheri,’ says Chetana.
‘So when did distance become an issue to visit an old friend? Get Akash and just come!’ I order.
‘He has his tennis practice and you know how important that is for him.’
‘Tell him I said I will get very upset if he doesn’t come and that he can give up his tennis for just one day.’
Finally they arrive. I squeal in joy as I open the door and hug them. It is the first time I am meeting them after my marriage. They are completely impressed with my home, just as I was when I had stepped into this house with Samir, for the first time all those months ago. It is now my home too. They can’t stop raving about the house, the skylight, the view of the ocean, the airy balconies, the well done-up interiors, and the location.
‘Nisha, you are so darn lucky to be living here!’ exclaims Akash. Chetana too is undisguised in her admiration and oohs and aaahs at appropriate places, as I give them a walking tour of my home.
Samir watches us with an amused look on his face. He has come a little earlier than usual.
I have set the table well and it looks very attractive with placemats and the tablecloth and cutlery neatly arranged. (Table setting is a part of the course as well, and I am a proud student today.) Chetana and Akash just cannot believe that I have done all the cooking. Akash asks me to confess whether I got it from a restaurant. I tell them about my cooking course and how much I am enjoying it.
They talk about Parinita, how she has become even stricter than before. Akash says he is preparing hard for the CAT exam en route to an MBA. He says his goal is to get into one of the IIMs, the most coveted management institutes in the country, and that that the job at Point to Point is only temporary. Chetana talks about the latest parade of men in her arranged-marriage chapter. She says that she has met about four IIT graduates so far, and each one turned out to be crazier than the last. She says most of them are selfish pricks and have no idea of how to talk to a woman. She talks about how most are so scared that they are not ‘cool enough’ and she talks about how unfit they all are, and how they have no sense of what to wear, and how they have this superior attitude and think they are smarter than most people around.
Akash cleverly refuses to comment but he winks at me and says ‘Yeah, non-IIT guys are cooler any day’ and then he asks Samir about his education and says sheepishly, ‘I hope you are not from IIT.’
Samir politely says that he has gone to Wharton, before which he went to Hughes Hall, Cambridge. Samir’s educational qualifications are as blue-blooded asthey can get. Akash does not know what to say, but he is clearly in awe of Samir now.
‘It must be really expensive to study in those places, right?’ asks Chetana.
I feel a little embarrassed. Samir comes from money. For their family, it wouldn’t really be as ‘expensive’ as Chetana puts it. I wonder what made Chetana make a comment like that. It’s not as
I feel so happy that I immediately call up Samir to tell him of my culinary achievement. He listens and then says that it is a good thing, but he is in an important meeting and will get back to me later. I apologize and tell him that there is a lot of food and I would like to call my friends over to celebrate. He distractedly agrees.
I have been in touch with Chetana and Akash ever since I got back from Seychelles. I now feel a kind of special bond with them because they actually made so much effort to be with me throughout my wedding, playing the part of my family.
I call them and insist that they come to my home straight from work and that I will not take a ‘no’ for an answer.
‘But, Nisha, it will take us at least one and a half hours to get to your place from Andheri,’ says Chetana.
‘So when did distance become an issue to visit an old friend? Get Akash and just come!’ I order.
‘He has his tennis practice and you know how important that is for him.’
‘Tell him I said I will get very upset if he doesn’t come and that he can give up his tennis for just one day.’
Finally they arrive. I squeal in joy as I open the door and hug them. It is the first time I am meeting them after my marriage. They are completely impressed with my home, just as I was when I had stepped into this house with Samir, for the first time all those months ago. It is now my home too. They can’t stop raving about the house, the skylight, the view of the ocean, the airy balconies, the well done-up interiors, and the location.
‘Nisha, you are so darn lucky to be living here!’ exclaims Akash. Chetana too is undisguised in her admiration and oohs and aaahs at appropriate places, as I give them a walking tour of my home.
Samir watches us with an amused look on his face. He has come a little earlier than usual.
I have set the table well and it looks very attractive with placemats and the tablecloth and cutlery neatly arranged. (Table setting is a part of the course as well, and I am a proud student today.) Chetana and Akash just cannot believe that I have done all the cooking. Akash asks me to confess whether I got it from a restaurant. I tell them about my cooking course and how much I am enjoying it.
They talk about Parinita, how she has become even stricter than before. Akash says he is preparing hard for the CAT exam en route to an MBA. He says his goal is to get into one of the IIMs, the most coveted management institutes in the country, and that that the job at Point to Point is only temporary. Chetana talks about the latest parade of men in her arranged-marriage chapter. She says that she has met about four IIT graduates so far, and each one turned out to be crazier than the last. She says most of them are selfish pricks and have no idea of how to talk to a woman. She talks about how most are so scared that they are not ‘cool enough’ and she talks about how unfit they all are, and how they have no sense of what to wear, and how they have this superior attitude and think they are smarter than most people around.
Akash cleverly refuses to comment but he winks at me and says ‘Yeah, non-IIT guys are cooler any day’ and then he asks Samir about his education and says sheepishly, ‘I hope you are not from IIT.’
Samir politely says that he has gone to Wharton, before which he went to Hughes Hall, Cambridge. Samir’s educational qualifications are as blue-blooded asthey can get. Akash does not know what to say, but he is clearly in awe of Samir now.
‘It must be really expensive to study in those places, right?’ asks Chetana.
I feel a little embarrassed. Samir comes from money. For their family, it wouldn’t really be as ‘expensive’ as Chetana puts it. I wonder what made Chetana make a comment like that. It’s not as
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