Chapter 10: Night Nine, At the Door
The doorbell rang.
It was Mrs Kamat, ready for the garba, come to pick up Mummy like every year. Ananya opened the door…
It was Mrs Kamat, ready for the garba, come to pick up Mummy like every year. Ananya opened the door. Mrs Kamat walked in and saw the three of us standing in the living room: Mummy, Ananya, and me.
She smiled at me politely, the way you smile at someone’s guest.
“Oh, you have a guest,” she said to Mummy. “Ananya’s friend?”
Nobody answered.
She looked at me again. At the purple suit, the red bangles, the purple nails, the dupatta, the jhumkas swinging in my ears. Then, slowly, at my face. I watched her smile go away.
“Rohan?” she said. Then, quieter: “What is all this?”
Everything was quiet. I felt the old fear come up in my chest. I looked at Mummy.
Mummy didn’t say anything at first. She came and stood next to me. She reached up and fixed my dupatta at the shoulder, slowly, in front of her friend. The way she had done on Night Four. But this time, she did it on purpose.
Then she looked at Mrs Kamat and smiled.
“This is Rohan,” she said. “My child. He likes it this way. And to be honest, I like it too.” She held Mrs Kamat’s eyes. “I can understand what you are thinking. But I don’t have any problem with it.” A small pause. “I hope you don’t either.”
Mrs Kamat looked at her for a long moment. They had known each other for twenty years. They had shared tiffins, and festivals, and bad days. Slowly, she nodded.
Mummy put her hand on my shoulder.
“Then tell me,” she said, and now she was smiling. “Doesn’t my child look beautiful?”
Mrs Kamat looked at me properly this time. Not at the clothes. At me.
“The colour suits,” she said finally. And then, very softly, she smiled too.
“Come,” Mummy said, and picked up her purse. “We’ll be late for the garba.”
Ananya took my hand. Mummy took my other hand, the one with the red bangles and the purple nails.
And for the first time, I didn’t watch from the balcony. I walked out of the gate with them, into the music.
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