I felt idiotic, bringing all that up now. I desperately wanted to change the subject. I looked at Raghu, pleading with my eyes that I didn’t want to discuss it further.

He stared back at me, his gaze warm.

‘We really should try and wake him up,’ I said in a softer voice.

‘My mom just throws water on me when I don’t wake up,’ he remarked.

We looked at each other and smiled.

‘Papa, wake up,’ I said, shaking his arm. He harrumphed in his sleep. ‘Ma is going to be so embarrassed if she sees you sleeping here like this,’ I said in a loud whisper.

Ma had looked over a couple of times and frowned when she saw Papa sleeping.

He mumbled something.

‘What?’

‘Wake me up when everyone is gone,’ he said.

‘No. That’s not how you behave with people who have come to your party,’ I protested.

I looked at Raghu for help and he nudged Papa.

‘Uncle, wake up. Aunty isn’t looking too well,’ he said.

At this, Papa sat up as though he really had been doused in cold water. I glared at Raghu, but he shrugged. It had worked.

‘Where? What happened?’ he asked.

‘She’s all right,’ I reassured him but the scare had been enough to wake him up.

I looked over at her then. She was sitting alone and she looked anxious and winced suddenly. I got up and went to her.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

Beads of sweat had popped up on her forehead but she smiled. ‘Nothing. Just feeling a little warm.’

‘Are you sure?’ I persisted.

‘Yes. It’s not like I did anything. You guys did all the work,’ she said. ‘Has your father been sleeping?’

I looked back at Papa guiltily. Raghu was trying to make him eat something. ‘Well, he sort of got bored . . .’ I started.

‘Let me guess. Then he had one drink too many and he dozed off,’ Ma said wryly.

‘Yeah. Something like that. Are you really okay?’

‘Yes, yes. I’m all right. Once I eat some dessert, I’ll be fine,’ she added.

I rolled my eyes. ‘Were you like this during the time you were pregnant with me too?’

Ma grinned. ‘I don’t remember those days very clearly. But this love for desserts . . . no. I would have remembered that.’

We talked some more and then I got up to get dessert for her. People started leaving soon after.

‘Isn’t it still quite early?’ I asked her as she watched Ashwin leave.

‘Well . . . partying in your forties is a lot different from partying in your twenties,’ Ma quipped.

‘And you would know that because . . .’ I asked, grinning.

Ma, a party girl? That was Aunty V, who still looked like she could go on for another three or four hours, talking and laughing with people.