‘Of course we should be invited,’ she scoffed, opening the main door. ‘We knew them in Colombo. Dr Mahen was your Appa’s anaesthetist at Colombo General for many years. We were so sad when they moved to Canada. I will speak to Meena Mahen about this. What time is it in Canada? Will she be awake yet?’

She heard her daughter sigh as they walked up the four flights of stairs to her apartment.

‘Aunty Meena will be coming to Sydney early for the wedding, Amma, and you can speak to her when she arrives, but please don’t ask her for an invitation. And please, please don’t call her in Canada.’

‘But I’m sure there’s been a mistake, mahal. We’ve been friends for such a long time. No one knew Mahen when he was just a junior, but your Appa supported him. It would be a shame for us not to be there at his granddaughter’s wedding. I’m sure he’d want us to give the young couple our blessings.’

‘Amma, people can’t afford to invite the entire community here. They have to be selective.’ They had now arrived at the door to her apartment.

‘Selective?’ Nala repeated. ‘Selective?’ She tried to control her pitch but it was rising. ‘Mahen’s father and my father were from the same village. They are known people to us. We moved in the same circles in Colombo and your Appa helped him, his career, and his family. Mahen and Meena attended your wedding and Nandan’s. In fact, they attended both of Nandan’s weddings. If Mahen’s daughter is selecting anyone for her daughter’s wedding, then she should be selecting us.’

Priya shook her head. ‘Weddings are different in Australia, Amma. The last wedding we went to was intimate. There were only two hundred people. This isn’t Colombo. You won’t be invited to everything. You need to accept that,’ she said, not unkindly.

‘Are you invited?’ Nala had to ask.

‘Yes, we are,’ she replied, reluctantly but honestly.

‘Get me Meena’s number. What’s the time in Toronto?’

A month later, Nala attended Meena Mahen’s granddaughter’s wedding. The Strathfield Bowling Club was once again transformed into a wedding hall: saris were admired, marriages were brokered, and few people paid attention to the bride and groom. Nala and Rajan were seated at Table 25, somewhere in the middle of the wedding hall; disappointingly far from the front but reassuringly far from the back.

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