‘The walking one. The one that can play cricket and make a sandwich,’ Vicky kept adding to the list, making Anu laugh till her eyes water. ‘That is what Mumma does for you, Vicky. Why do you need a robot for that?’

‘Hmm … robot doing all that is nice. You can also play with the robot, Mumma. We will call him Lucky.’

Days moved quickly with Vicky keeping Anu on her toes. She had now force stopped herself from overthinking about Sanju. She had also realized that Sanju hadn’t told his parents anything about them. So she decided to spin her own story. She told both sets of parents that they had decided to move back to the old apartment and Anu was shuttling between here and Verdant Green. Anu’s mother prodded once in a while about why Sanju wasn’t visiting them at all but she bought it when Anu said he was travelling. Her father only asked her if she needed anything (meaning money), but she had enough left from what he had already given her.

That Sunday evening, Anu walked inside the gate to her in-law’s house. They had Vicky for a day and she was there to pick him up. Before knocking on the door, Anu stood still to admire the tidy garden her mother-in-law maintained. Everything about that woman was calm and organized. She suddenly felt sadness envelop her. What was this place without Sanju? Only he made that house hers.

‘Hello, Anu,’ Padma aunty’s voice jolted her out of the reverie.

‘Hello, aunty. How are you?’ Anu avoided looking into the eyes of that sharp woman.

‘Come with me. I am going to the temple. Vicky is playing with his grandmother so he won’t miss you for now.’ She dictated her terms like a true Padzilla and closed the door shut behind her.

A walk with Padzilla? Wasn’t her life already bad enough for God to make it worse? Anu gave a mental eye roll but followed the woman who was already at the gate. Instead of the temple, they entered a park and found a bench. Anu knew they were going to have a ‘talk’. How did she hate these talks!

‘What is going on with you and Sanju?’ Padzilla never minced words.

‘Hmm … Well, nothing—’ Anu looked at her own hands and studied them intently.

‘You are living here and Sanju in that Verdant place. Why?’ Padzilla looked at Anu through her glasses. Her hawkish face looked sterner than ever.

‘Didn’t you ask Sanju?’ Anu braved asking.

‘I did, of course.’ Padma aunty was now visibly irritated. ‘He said nothing much. But his story didn’t exactly match yours. So tell me.’

Anu thought of just getting up and going off but decided against it. ‘Are you asking because you are curious or because you are concerned?’ She didn’t know where that question had come from! Padzilla might kill her now for that insolence.