Unmarriageable(73)

‘Sorry to have kept everyone waiting,’ Annie said, breathing heavily.

‘My love, never any need for sorry from you,’ Beena dey Bagh said, as she signalled to the maid to set dinner. ‘How was this new mani-pedi team?’

‘Fine, Ammi.’ Annie smiled at everyone. ‘Sherry, you must be so excited your family is finally here. So pleased to meet you all. And your best friend, it is Alys, right? Good to meet you. Sherry mentions you at least a hundred times each visit.’

‘All good mentions, I hope,’ Alys said, smiling.

‘So far,’ Annie said, laughing. Alys laughed too.

Kaleen joined in the laughter, though he was miffed that Sherry would mention Alys at all. The maid announced that dinner was served, and they all rose and proceeded to the fourteen-seater dining table, where servers waited with three main dishes – paya, nihari, and haleem – and the many accompaniments that went with each of the delicacies – fresh coriander, chillies, lemons, julienned ginger, and crisp fried onions.

Beena dey Bagh asked Mr and Mrs Looclus to please begin. Paya was Haji Looclus’s favourite dish, and he ladled the gummy hoof soup into the fine china bowl and sprinkled ginger and coriander on it. Bobia Looclus helped herself to choice chunks of meat from the nihari. Once they were done, the servers moved on to Beena dey Bagh and then around the table. Alys poured a little haleem into a bowl and squeezed lemon over the meat-and-lentil stew and topped it off with sliced green chillies. She dipped her buttered tandoori bread into it. Delicious.

Alys complimented the food, and Annie said that their cook should be declared a national asset.

‘I do so miss being able to eat anything I want,’ Annie said as Nurse Jenkinudin placed a bowl of steaming chicken broth before her and cracked a fresh egg into it. ‘Did you know that in order to enjoy food one must smell it? So at least through smell, I get to eat. I had a friend back at university who developed anosmia – couldn’t smell a thing – and lost all interest in eating. Once I fell ill, we’d compare notes about which was worse: no smell or not being able to keep anything down.’

‘Annie, you’ll be eating everything you want in no time,’ Beena dey Bagh said. ‘Right, Kaleen?’

‘Why not?’ Kaleen said. ‘If God wills it.’

‘Life,’ Sherry said, ‘can change from good to bad so fast, and it follows that just as fast it can change from bad to good.’

‘You’re so wise, Sherry. An angel to Dr Kaleen’s saint.’ Annie turned to Mr and Mrs Looclus. ‘Your daughter is an angel. Ever since she’s arrived, she regularly reads the Quran to me, with excellent Arabic pronunciation. Neither of us understands the language, but just the rhythm is such a balm to my soul.’

‘It is very good,’ Beena dey Bagh said to Mr and Mrs Looclus, ‘that you people teach your children to recite the Quran by rote in Arabic regardless of whether they understand it or not. Of course, the best thing would be to learn Arabic, and if I ever had the time and inclination, I would be as fluent as any native speaker, possibly even better. Sherry has such a soothing voice and it brings such peace to Annie. In fact, Sherry, I’d like you to record the Quran for Annie so she has access to your voice at her convenience.’

‘Sherry does have a soothing voice,’ Alys said. ‘Sherry, you should sell the recordings.’

‘Astagfiruallah, God forbid,’ Kaleen said. ‘Selling the word of God!’

‘Aren’t Qurans sold?’ Alys said.

Kaleen bristled. ‘There’s no need for Sherry to earn a single penny. She’s merely doing me a favour by helping me heal Annie through oral-to-aural therapy.’

‘I think every woman should have her own income,’ Alys said to Kaleen, ‘even married women.’

‘I agree,’ Annie said.

‘Every woman should have the ability,’ Kaleen said, smiling at Annie and Sherry, ‘to earn her own income, but what will we husbands do if you women start to earn comparable incomes and have the babies? The lucky woman is one whose husband can provide well for her in his lifetime as well as after his death.’

‘We agree,’ Bobia and Haji Looclus said. ‘Sherry agrees too.’

Sherry nodded politely.

‘Alys,’ Annie said, ‘Sherry told me that you’d be the perfect person to ask: can you recommend any stories with characters who are chronically ill and yet rise above it? But no becharis, no pitiable creatures.’

‘Have you read the short story “Good Country People” by Flannery O’ Connor? The main character, Hulga, is a non-bechari. Also there’s Anne de Bourgh in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.’

‘I’ve read P and P,’ Annie said. ‘It was helpful in an unexpected way. Anne doesn’t say a single word the entire novel, she just sits there, sickly and voiceless, and I decided that, no matter how ill I got, I’d never turn or be turned into Anne de Bourgh.’



On the ride back, Kaleen wanted everyone to tell him their exact impressions of Versailles of Pakistan as well as of Beena dey Bagh and Annie. Was Versailles not sophisticated? Was Annie not marvellous? Was Beena dey Bagh not majestic?

Bobia and Haji Looclus praised the estate and the pious Hajjan mother and her daughter to Kaleen’s satisfaction, as did Sherry’s siblings, their tongues loosening as soon as they left Versailles.