One Indian Girl(83)

She came up to me and gave me a hug.

‘Sorry, my beta,’ she said and kissed my forehead. ‘But what a great boy. And Naraina? See how Sai Baba’s blessed us?’





36

One month later





St Regis Hotel’s café, New York

‘Radhika, right?’

I heard his voice as I entered. I turned to look at him. He wore beige chinos and a black turtleneck, perhaps his homage to Steve Jobs.

‘Brijesh?’ I said. We shook hands.

‘Yeah. Good to see you in person,’ he said, guiding me to a table.

The old-world luxury café had high ceilings and colonial-era furniture. A saxophone player and a pianist played in one corner.

We ordered tea for two.

A waiter brought us tea on a tiered silver tray of goodies—scones, jam, clotted cream, cakes, mini cucumber sandwiches and chocolates.

‘Afternoon tea was a great idea. Everything looks lovely,’ Brijesh said. He took a few sandwiches and placed them on his plate.

‘Glad you like it,’ I said.

I wore office attire, a grey suit, partly because I had gone to the 85 Broad Street office earlier to meet Jonathan and Craig. Mostly, I wore it because my mother had told me not to. She had instructed me to wear a magenta salwar-kameez and dangling gold earrings. I told her I wouldn’t go to New York looking like I am a part of a Baisakhi celebrations’ troupe. In fact, I wanted to be as drab and real as possible. Brijesh could see me as I was and reject me if he wanted to.

‘When is your flight back?’ Brijesh said.

‘9.30,’ I said. ‘I have to leave for the airport at 7.30.’

We had four-and-a-half hours to decide if we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives.

‘So who talks first?’ he said.

‘Usually I do,’ I said and smiled.

‘Oh. I would actually prefer that. Tell me about yourself.’

I told him the story of my life from my childhood until now. I covered everything, apart from Debu and Neel.

‘So I have been in London for six months. Parents now would like it if I could settle down. Gosh, doesn’t that sound so lame?’ I said, ending my story.

‘What? The term “settle down”?’ he said.

‘Yeah. Only in India do we use that phrase. Settle down, like in sedimentation everything settles down. Don’t move anymore. No risk, no excitement.’

He laughed.

‘Our parents valued security over everything else. In their time jobs were few, so you better grab one and settle down. Else you would be on the road,’ Brijesh said.

‘So true,’ I said.

‘Even I have settled down in a job,’ Brijesh said.

‘Really? You are with Facebook. Isn’t it one of the most fun companies to work for?’

‘See, that’s the thing. Everyone thinks I am in this amazing company. How could I even think of leaving it?’

‘Do you like your job?’

‘Work is challenging. Money is good.’

‘So then?’

‘Sometimes I wonder. . .there is so much happening in the tech world. Can’t I start something of my own?’

‘Of course you can.’

He looked happy at my encouragement. He told me some more about his life. He grew up in Naraina for the first couple of years, after which his parents moved to Mumbai. His father worked in Indian Oil. Brijesh wanted to get into IIT, but couldn’t make it despite two tries. He said it was because he was distracted. He joined NIT, topped the class and went to MIT for higher studies.

‘And then a typical IT job. That’s me,’ Brijesh said.

I smiled. We finished our tea. The waiter arrived with the bill.

It was 5.30; we had two more hours.

‘Let’s take a walk in Central Park,’ I suggested.

We entered Central Park on 59th Street, with the Apple store on my right. The green trees and grass around made us forget we were in one of the busiest cities of the world. I thought of Debu. His office was less than a mile away.

‘You seem lost. Work?’ he said.

‘No, it’s just. . .New York brings back memories.’

We walked in the direction of the Central Park Zoo.

‘Good memories or bad memories?’ Brijesh said.

‘Mixed,’ I said. ‘Mostly good, though.’

We reached the zoo and bought two tickets. We saw the highlight, a pair of baby grizzly bears, born just six weeks ago.

‘They are so cute,’ I said, as the two cubs, no bigger than rabbits, slept on their mother’s back.

‘You like kids?’ Brijesh said. My heart beat fast. The kids-and-mother question had made me lose men in the past. Did he mean, do I like kids in general? Or did he mean, would I like kids with him? My mind went into overdrive, imagining little infants with nerdy glasses, working on Facebook servers.

‘Huh, kids?’ I came back to reality. ‘Yeah, I do like children. Never thought I would but at some point I do want to have messy, naughty kids.’

‘Me too,’ he said.

We came out of the zoo and walked further north.

We reached the famous Bethesda fountain, located at the edge of The Lake. We sat on the steps and watched ducks with their ducklings swim in little groups. The sun had dimmed, and the water reflected the evening sky.