‘Never,’ Priya smiled back. ‘I’ve been helping Ayah in the kitchen, she’s teaching me. We do our homework every day. Appa makes sure. Dhara’s very clever. She and I are going to be twin sisters. She’s going to tell everyone her birthday is in June even though it’s in December. She’s very sad about Mohan mama, so Appa and I try to take extra care of her; Ayah too. And I’m reading the comic books Sahadeva mama bought me, you know, the ones about the Mahabharata.’

‘That’s wonderful, mahal. Which part are you up to?’ Nala sank deeper into the bed. Priya put the palms of her hands to her mother’s stomach. It felt like a hot stone. She felt a sudden kick and jerked her hands back. Nala laughed.

‘Don’t be scared, that’s the baby moving. Tell me, what’s happening in your Mahabharata?’

Priya settled back in the bed. ‘The princess Draupadi has just married the warrior Arjuna. She’s beautiful and dark-skinned, just like Dhara. Arjuna had to fight for her in an archery competition. He beat all the other princes because he’s the best. Then he took her home to his mother.’

‘And what did his mother say, mahal?’ Nala asked.

‘It was very funny, Amma—she said, “Share it equally with your brothers.” So Arjuna had to share his wife with his brothers, and poor Draupadi married all five Pandava princes! Imagine that,’ she said, laughing.

‘Imagine that,’ Nala echoed. ‘I don’t think I could cope with more than one husband, especially if they were all like your father.’

‘Amma, you’re so funny.’ Priya wriggled down in the bed and gently kissed her mother’s belly. It moved again underneath her touch.

‘Do you know what that story is trying to teach you, Priya?’ Nala asked.

Priya’s ear was resting on her mother, listening hard for a message from her new sibling. She didn’t hear Rajan walk in until he answered for her.

‘That you should always do what your mother tells you, even if it’s ridiculous and morally suspect.’

Priya didn’t understand her father, but she could tell when he was making a joke and she laughed anyway. Nala laughed too, a faint blush of colour returning to her face.

‘Don’t listen to him, mahal. The moral of Draupadi’s marriage is that you should share everything you have with your siblings—your burdens as well as your blessings. And let me tell you, marriage is both.’

Priya looked at her parents, who were laughing at each other. She was confused but happy. She laughed with them.

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