Shwetha stood out in her all-red outfit. She had been going to the gym and had developed some really good calf and arm muscles. Many, including Anu, thought she looked like Bipasha Basu but somehow Shwetha didn’t like it. Can I look like someone younger than me? Not a yesteryear star, please—was her gripe. That made sense.

‘Look at you, Shweth! You look fabulous. I want you to punch Meena the Meanie with your newly toned arms.’ Over the daily conversations, Shwetha was up-to-date with Anu’s woes.

‘Let us find her.’ Shwetha did some ridiculous looking kicks and punches in her tight dress. Anu smiled. She missed Shwetha and the fact that she could not meet her at an hour’s notice anymore.

Anu drove to the school Sumitra had suggested, with Shwetha taking over the navigation. Despite the Google Maps, Anu got lost wherever she went the first time and the second. But by the third time, she always nailed the place. Shwetha had an equally bad sense of direction.

‘Head left in twenty metres onto first crossroad.’ That was the Google lady.

‘Is it this left?’ Anu asked panicking. What were twenty metres anyway?

‘Maybe not … oh, wait. That was it. The map has now gone into a tizzy and says it is redirecting us.’

Anu put the car into reverse and started moving back with every vehicle behind her blaring their horns. It was a one-way street. As long as you manoeuvred very slowly, you could move any way in Bangalore.

A police officer knocked on her window just when she turned left and asked her to pull over. ‘Sir, please sir. Job interview. Already late, sir.’ Anu pleaded very helplessly.

‘You girls have no traffic sense. Go. Leaving you only because you said interview.’

Anu grinned at Shwetha. ‘He called me a girl.’

Shwetha sighed. ‘He has eye-sight issues.’

‘Now, Miss Direction. Tell me where to go now.’ Anu grinned at Shwetha. ‘Accept it. It was a good pun.’

After getting lost another five or six times, they landed before a building that looked like an old house. The address matched but that place looked nothing like a school.

‘Are you sure this is not a job interview for a housekeeper?’ asked Shwetha.

‘We will decide once we see the owner. If it is Brad Pitt, I will do the housekeeping.’ Anu walked inside but a guard stopped her and made her sign the guest register.