The moment Anu entered her parents’ house, her mood started to liven up magically. Her mother and grandmother were in the kitchen. Father was as usual on his chair going over some papers but the moment he saw Vicky, the papers went flying. Anu said a quick hello to her father and moved towards the kitchen. She was very afraid of the money thing coming up. But she had convinced herself that the bankers did not write nasty letters on weekends.

Anu stood at the kitchen door still unseen by her mother and grandmother.

‘You are charring the parathas, can you lower the flame?’ That was Anu’s mother.

But her grandmother was not a fan of being instructed. ‘I am not charring them. You are rolling them too thinly.’

‘You get off and make the chutney. I will finish these. Anu hates charred parathas.’ That was her mother being thoroughly impatient and making no efforts to hide it.

‘Who likes charred parathas? You make no sense when you are angry.’ Her grandmother huffed and Anu decided it was the right time to enter the battlefield to propose a truce.

‘Anu!’ Her mother exclaimed. ‘You are early. The sun will set in the east today!’

‘Anu, you look so pretty. Is that a new haircut?’ That was her grandmother.

‘Mummy, why do you never greet me nicely like Ajji does?’ Anu sighed. Usually, she would be cross with her mother for such remarks (though they were truthful), but not that evening. She was just happy to be home.

‘I don’t garnish my words like your grandma but see, I made your favourite Aalu Parathas.’ Anu’s mother was like a child. She never filtered her thoughts.

Anu watched her grandmother plop large dollops of butter on the Parathas before serving them. Dollops big enough to make stomachs swell and arms jiggle and Anu ate every bit of it; then licked her fingers for good measure. As she washed it all down with a large cup of strong filter coffee, she wondered why she gave up on this life of luxury by getting married. Well, six years too late for that pondering!

She waddled slowly to the garden where her father was playing cricket with Vicky. Her mother was scurrying around stuffing Vicky with bites of Parathas whenever he took his microsecond-long breaks from running. Anu looked at the time. It was only six in the evening! What was she going to do for the rest of the night?

She missed Sameer, who had left for Dubai two days earlier. Shwetha was busy shopping for her wedding. And none of Anu’s other friends lived in that neighbourhood anymore. Only their parents did. Anu picked up the Kindle and went upstairs to her room. She pondered whether she should just roam the streets, buy something cheap and kill two hours. Or, change into nightwear, drink more coffee, and go over what Pete had on Kindle. She settled for the latter.