“‘Oh, Ajay is such a marvelous cook!’ You don’t even see how lucky you are. How free. If you hadn’t had me paving the way, your life would be so much different. I had to fight for things you take for granted. And then of course you’re the boy and can get away with more.”

If anything, Ajay should have been the one filled with resentment for how his parents and especially his grandparents insisted on holding Aprita up as an example. He said, “I don’t think I have it easy. If I come home with a ninety-five percent, it’s not ‘You did a good job,’ but ‘Why did you miss five points?’ They’re always talking about how much better your grades were and how you were valedictorian and a finalist in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge in eighth grade.”

She made a scoffing noise. “And do you think that was easy? They’ve been guiding me down this path since I was a baby. Their plan was always for me to be a doctor. You know they even put Mom’s old stethoscope in my crib.”

“Do you not want to be one?” Ajay asked, suddenly concerned. He put his hand on her wrist.

“Luckily, I do. I just wish I could have made my own choices. You’re a boy, but they let you cook and think it’s adorable, even though our grandmothers were expected to be responsible for everything in the kitchen.” She sighed. “When I was in high school, all I was allowed were my studies and my chores.” She pronounced it ishtudies, the way their grandparents would. “Everything else was irrelevant. I wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but of course they insisted on it being the violin. You have so much more freedom than I ever did.”

“I didn’t get to pick my birth order,” he said mildly.

“And now Grandmother wants to arrange a marriage for me.”

“You know Mama and Papa will never make you do that.”

“You’re right. They just expect me to marry an Indian-American man.”

Ajay decided to risk it. “How do you think they would feel if I had a girlfriend? Not that I’m saying I do. It’s just a hypothetical.”

By the look Aprita gave him, he knew she wasn’t fooled by his “hypothetical” question. She did a passable imitation of their grandfather. “Don’t waste your time on such useless matters. Your job is to study and become successful in your career. We didn’t come to this country so that you can worry about friends and love and whatnot.” Then she added in her own voice, “Dating is an American thing.”

“But we are Americans, like Papa said. We’ve never even been to India. We don’t even know much Hindi. And like he said, America’s a melting pot.”