Bipin Uncle recently joined the admissions committee at Emory med school. The dude is everywhere, on the board of the hospital, involved with the national Gujarati newspaper, and now, with Emory med school. He’s also scary as shit. Anuj always liked his wife, Kavita Auntie, but Bipin Uncle was the one parents brought up as the quintessential disciplinarian desi parent. Oh, you think we’re strict? Bipin Bhai sent his kids to boarding school in India when they behaved like this!

“Dad, I don’t need to talk to him. I’m in the architecture program.” Anuj points to his sweatshirt, which just reads cornell in block letters. If only it read cornell architecture. Then this would be the perfect moment for a Friday-night family sitcom.

“I’m just suggesting you keep an open mind. You only completed one year of college and you can apply to med school with any major,” Dad reminds Anuj for the fifteenth time this week.

Anuj sighs. Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen a summer internship in Atlanta over staying in Ithaca. Dad could be so progressive: telling Anuj it was okay to cry and show his emotions, buying him poetry books from independent bookstores, encouraging him to watch foreign films.

Dad could be so old-fashioned: insisting Anuj be a doctor, believing it’s always a man’s role to court a woman (hence, he doesn’t know Anuj is on Bumble), viewing America like some stern parent who has to be both respected and feared.

In therapy, the therapy only Natasha knows about, Anuj learned that the contradictory expectations and underlying message that no achievement is ever enough prevent him from fully opening up to his parents or even to his friends, no matter how supportive and easygoing they are. Despite everything Dad’s said, Anuj still doesn’t ever feel that he can truly be vulnerable with anyone outside of Natasha.

As if hearing his thoughts, Mom asks, “And how is your sister?”

Whenever she’s mad at Natasha, she refers to her in relation to other people.

“She’s fine. Going to bed,” Anuj says. “What were you both talking about before I came in here?”

A flash of worry crosses Mom’s face. But then she smiles. “Kai nai.”

“It didn’t sound like nothing,” Anuj says. “Everything okay?”

“Of course it is, beta. You should get some rest,” Dad says.

He and Mom shift their focus back to the movie. Anuj lingers by the edge of the sofa to see if they’ll retract their words or at least elaborate. When they stay silent, he turns around and heads to his room, telling himself he didn’t hear a thing.

Seven

Suhani

Our moms are going to kill us for eating out,” Zack says as he thumbs through the large menu at Highland Bakery.