“At the orphanage. He does some work for them, and they give him a place to stay. The trustee said they will miss his singing when he leaves. He has a mountainous voice, deep and rich.”

“If they decided to get married, where would they stay?”

“That’s something we’d have to help them out with.”

That evening I wanted to tell Nimita about Girish Mehta, but I never got a chance to be alone with her. Mummy must have told her after I went to bed that night, because in the morning she and Mohini went up to the terrace to dry saris. I followed them up and found them engrossed in talk. How I wished they’d make room for me to huddle up next to them so that our faces would touch and our breaths and whispers would mingle!

I sighed, turned, and came down the steps.

two

WHEN GIRISH MEHTA came to see Nimita, Mohini and I caught a glimpse of him as he entered the courtyard of our apartment building. Unlike the other suitors, he couldn’t come with his mother and father, and he didn’t bring an uncle, a friend, or even the director of the orphanage. He was a brave man.

I had always imagined that a groom would ride in on a white horse, wearing a long, silk sherwani, Jodhpuri pants, and a red turban. Girish would have looked good in those clothes riding a horse, I thought, but I doubted he knew how to ride.

Mummy, Pappa, Foi, and Fua, my uncle, were in the living room. After the last fiasco, Mummy asked us to stay in the bedroom. We sat on Chiraj’s bed and played cards. Our L-shaped apartment made it possible for us to see what was going on in the living room from the bedroom window. It had always been our secret lookout.

We watched as Nimita brought tea and spicy, thin noodles on a tray from the kitchen. After Nimita served the tea I couldn’t see her from the window, but I knew she was sitting right across from Girish.

“He’s handsome,” I said.

“Yeah, and that’s not good,” Mohini said, shaking her head.

“You think he’ll refuse?”

“Probably.”

But the next evening, Girish took Nimita out for two hours, and when they came back, he talked to Pappa and Mummy for a long time. Then we all met him. I noticed he had a pointy chin and large open eyes that made him look as though he were searching for something.

Before Girish left, Mummy brought out some brown sugar, and we all ate a bit of it. It meant that everything was decided. Pappa and Mummy were going to announce the engagement the next day, and have a small ceremony. To show Girish respect, Mummy began to call him Girishji, and so did we.