“Thank you, boudi, but I’ve gotten used to it. Besides, my timings are all mixed up now. Really, it’s no trouble at all.”

“Actually, it was your Dhanna-dada’s idea, to ask you. I’m just passing it along.”

*

The one who was the happiest was Jyathaima. Placing a hand on Harbart’s head, she said, “How you’ve brought me joy, Haru. Such torment, such torture, don’t think I didn’t see a thing. I don’t say a word, but I see everything, know everything. This is a sacred task you’re performing, son, and it’s all the goddess’s doing.”

“Jyathaima!”

“Yes?”

“Tell me that story, no?”

“Which one?”

“The one about your wedding …”

“The sweet! Hee-hee-hee-hee! That was the night before our first night together. The new son-in-law was pecking at his food. If he picked up the luchi on one side, then the potato slid off the other. Almost asleep he was.”

“But why?”

“Because the friends who’d accompanied him, they’d secretly brought along some booze. He’d drink every day, he would. So many kinds of bottles … Anyway, then … ”

“Then? Jyathaima—wake up! What then?”

“Then, by then all the women were giggling. Why? They’d given the new son-in-law a sweet, a sweet as big as an elephant’s head!”

“Then?”

“By then your Uncle was full to the brim. But yes, as strong as Balaram. So he bit into it. But as soon as he bit—as soon as he … oh dear, what a terrible to-do … hee-hee-hee-hee …”

“But why, Jyathaima?”

“Because inside the sweet was a shoe! A whole shoe! One of a pair! He put the shoe down on the plate. Began to look around him with those big eyes. And the women, all the women shouting: ‘The groom’s eating a shoe! Oh dear, what do we do?’ Oh, it was such a fabulous joke!”

Did Girishkumar suddenly recall the memory of that night? Is that why he screamed, “Peeyu kahaan! Peeyu kahaan!”

“Oof, that peeyu kahaan, peeyu kahaan! When Dhanna–Krishna were little boys, when they’d been bad boys, he’d swear at them. ‘Sons of bitches!’ And they’d mutter under their breaths, ‘Your loins’ riches.’ All a memory now. Such authority, such personality. All sucked up by that peeyu kahaan, peeyu kahaan … Oh Haru, I’ve remembered a song. Shall I sing it for you?”

“Oh, yes please. You sing so well.”

“Listen, then. But can I catch the tune again?”

“Yes. Yes, of course you can.”

By the light of the moon, Jyathaima began to sing:

Sister

How to the Yamuna do I dare?

On the way to the water

lo, the beauty I beheld

Such beauty is surely beyond compare.

Like a dark cloud full of rain,

is he, an enchanting sight

Listen, listen, oh sister of my heart.

My heart no more my own remains

the heart I lost, ’twas he who gained

To whom dare I this shame-truth impart?

A meek and modest maid am I

but his splendor when I spy