Unmarriageable(32)

Nona hugged the Binats and Sherry, then put her arms around Jena and Alys, and they all headed into the living room. The house smelt of vanilla and chocolate. The maid, Razia, brought in tea and the mini-cupcakes Indus had made especially for them.

‘Your daughter is going to outdo you one day, Nona,’ Mr Binat said, wagging his finger before following Nisar into the garden to take a look at a guava tree.

‘She must!’ Nona proclaimed. ‘That’s what children are for, aren’t they? To become better versions of their parents. Girls, what news?’

‘Hai, Nona jee!’ Mrs Binat said, shaking with excitement. ‘We have struck gold. Gold! Such a good boy! And sisters are also modrun, but in a good way.’

‘Not mod-run, Mummy,’ Lady said. ‘Mod-ern.’

‘Modrun. Modrun. That’s what I’m saying,’ Mrs Binat said. She proceeded to inform Nona that she was sure Bungles had chosen the upcoming polo match as the proposal venue so that he could ride up to Jena on a horse, just like a prince in olden-day films.

‘Hai, Mummy,’ Lady said, as she took the hairbrush Indus brought her and began to French-braid her young cousin’s hair. ‘I also want someone to propose to me astride a horse.’

‘Me too,’ Qitty said as Khyber dropped crayons into her lap.

‘Not me,’ Mari said as she, Buraaq, and Miraage opened up the Snakes and Ladders board game. ‘Imagine the man is proposing while the horse is pooping away.’

The kids started to giggle at the thought of a poopy horse.

‘Jena,’ Nona asked gently, ‘are you expecting a proposal?’

Jena glanced at her mother. ‘I know he likes me.’

‘Likes you!’ Mrs Binat said. ‘Any sane person can see he is badly in love with you.’

‘And his family?’ Nona said. ‘Are they also badly in love or might they have some other girl in mind?’

‘If they have some other girl in mind,’ Mrs Binat said indignantly, ‘then Bungles will be no better than that hoity-toity Darsee, who insulted Alys’s looks.’

‘And intelligence,’ Sherry said, adding five spoons of sugar to her milky tea.

‘But,’ Mrs Binat said, ‘Bungles is not like Darsee. Girls, tell Nona how Bungles is one in a million.’

The girls proceeded to tell her.

‘Chalo, okay, Jena, good for you,’ Nona said after she heard them out. ‘If I could bake a magic cake that would make him propose this very minute, I would.’

Three years ago Nona had baked an Arabian Nights cake for her daughter’s birthday at school. The children had fallen silent at the sight of the fondant bed with yellow marzipan pillows, the strawberry pantaloons-clad storyteller, Scheherazade, and her blueberry pantaloons-clad sister, Dunyazade, on the bed, surrounded by crystal-sugar characters from the stories: Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba, and Prince Shahryar turned chocolate giant with liquorice whiskers. The teachers cut the cake carefully, a little apprehensive that, like many things in life, it would look beautiful from the outside but would turn out to be tasteless from the inside. It was delicious. Word of mouth spread so fast that Nona was soon inundated with orders.

‘You need to charge,’ Falak and Pinkie urged Nona. Soon, white boxes with lace calligraphy saying NONA’S NICES were being sold to weddings, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, Quran starts and finishes, Eids, Iftars, Christmases, Holis, lawn launches, fundraisers, et cetera. Nona and Nisar were, Falak and Pinkie often marvelled with dazed pride, minting money.

‘I’m doing more charity cakes,’ Nona said. ‘Birthday cakes for orphans at the Edhi Foundation, at Dar-ul-Sukun for the disabled, and I’ve added Smileagain Foundation for acid-attack survivors.’

‘Aunty Nona,’ Mari said as she rolled the dice, ‘you are surely going to heaven.’

‘Truly,’ Sherry agreed. ‘You are.’

‘You live the life I’d like to lead,’ Jena said softly. ‘To be able to contribute happiness to the less fortunate.’

‘Jena,’ Mrs Binat said, ‘concentrate on grabbing Bungles, and, once you’re married, you can do whatever you want.’

‘That’s a lie.’ Alys gave a derisive laugh. ‘The dangling carrot to lure us into marriage.’

‘Lost cause,’ Mrs Binat muttered, gazing sorrowfully at Alys. ‘You will die of loneliness if you don’t get married.’

‘I’ll never be lonely’ – Alys gave a satisfied sigh – ‘because I’ll always have books.’

Nona smiled.

‘Nona jee, don’t encourage this pagal larki, mad girl,’ Mrs Binat said, and she turned to Jena. ‘Jena, beta, I’m sure Bungles will allow you to—’

‘Allow!’ Alys shrieked. ‘Vomit, puke, ulti.’

‘Yes, allow,’ Mrs Binat said firmly. ‘And don’t you dare ever encourage your sisters to disobey their husbands. You want them divorced and also relying on books for companionship and God knows what else! Jena, as I was saying, Bungles will allow you to aid every charity under the sun, because that’s what begums do in order to keep themselves busy and give purpose to their lives. Do not scoff, Alys! Their need to keep busy is what helps those in need. I too was going to be a busy begum, devoting my life to good causes; instead, here I am, a nobody.’