‘Er, hi Ma,’ said Jai, mortified by this public display of affection and desperately trying to extricate himself from the maternal smother. His mother, meanwhile, seemed wholly oblivious to his plight.

Luckily for him, Arathi spotted Toshi walk up just then. She let go of Jai and bent down to touch her mother-in-law’s feet. ‘How are you, Ma? Was the flight okay?’

‘The flight was very comfortable, beta—’ Toshi was interrupted by a loud sneeze from Jai.

‘Are you cold, Jai? Why didn’t you pack a jacket? The weather here can be very temperamental,’ scolded Arathi. She whipped her stole off and wrapped it around him, ignoring his protests.

Swathed in a floral lilac stole, Jai glanced up and caught sight of someone standing inside the café, watching him through the bay window. He had seen her before somewhere.

‘It couldn’t be—oh no, it is—that Pesky Girl from the train. Great. Just what I needed,’ he thought in dismay, quickly disentangling himself from the stole.

‘I really don’t need this, Ma. I’m quite hot, actually.’

His mother had moved on to other interrogations, still ruffling his hair and being overly exuberant in general.

‘Was it difficult lugging the suitcases on to the train? Did you find the house easily? Did you get a SIM card at the airport? You’ve lost so much weight, Jai!’

‘No. Yes. Hmm, yes . . . er . . . ’ he said, unable to keep pace with the battery of questions.

‘I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you both,’ said Arathi, looking like she might relapse into another bout of public humiliation for him, in full view of the Pesky Girl.

‘Same,’ said Jai, almost running into the café, so that his mother couldn’t latch on to him again, especially while Pesky Girl was probably still watching.

The bad news was that there was a long queue to get a table. And standing in front of them in the queue was Miss Pesky Girl.

‘Should we just go somewhere else?’ asked Toshi.

The thought of getting away from the Pesky Girl was tempting, but the epicure in Jai trumped that notion.

‘The line is moving really quickly, Badi Ma,’ Jai replied. ‘And once you try their haleem rolls, believe me, the wait will be worth it.’

Toshi and Arathi shook their heads in resignation.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and finally, it was Habib and Inaya who were at the top of the queue. The waitress came over to Habib.

‘How many of you?’ she asked.

‘Two, please,’ Habib replied.

‘Okay, you’ll have to wait I’m afraid; we’ve only got a table for five.’

‘My knees won’t hold up any longer with all this standing,’ said Toshi, leaning on Arathi for support.

Arathi thought for a moment and gently tapped Habib on the shoulder.

‘I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help overhearing the waitress, sir. Would you mind if we shared your table? We’re three of us.’

‘Not at all,’ said Habib, rather relieved that they could get to eat sooner.