Paritosh came out of his reminiscence when his phone rang. It was Amrit, his wife.

“Right… Yes… Yes… I remember…” he lied. He had forgotten about the wedding they had to attend that evening. He was supposed to buy a gift before going home to pick Amrit up. Amrit perhaps knew that he would have forgotten. So, she called. He was thankful for that. But he wondered sometimes. Instead of putting in so much effort in making him remember, why couldn’t she step out and buy something from the neighborhood shop herself? It wasn’t like she didn’t have time. But she seemed to have an aversion to taking any decision related to money, even minor expenses! His mother always said that he was fortunate to have a wife like that, who always deferred to him. He wasn’t so sure.

—

“This is quite late even for you!” Rupali was surprised to see Paritosh in the department’s common room at two in the morning. Having a night-out in the department was not uncommon for the students or young faculty. But not for others with family. Paritosh was known to stay till late, but usually even he left by midnight.

“I had to finish reviewing Smith’s paper.”

“When is the deadline?”

“Next week. But I am going on a break the day after.”

“Break?”

“Diwali. I have to go to my native place.”

“You had gone last year too.”

“I go every year.”

“For how long will you be gone?”

“One week.”

“Not fair.”

“What is unfair about it, Rupali?” this girl never ceased to amuse him with her antics, “You want to go home? You can go. I will approve your leave.”

“No. No. Who wants to go home? Mom is mad at me for not going there for Pujo. But your going away means that you will not come for our hostel day celebrations again.”

Every hostel in the college had a day earmarked as hostel day. They would host a party and entertain with stage performances on that day. Students living in the hostels invited their friends and faculty members they worked with to the celebrations. The hostel day for Rupali’s hostel fell in the same week as Diwali this time. Last year  Paritosh had missed it because he had been away for some conference on that day.

“I am sorry about that, Rupali.”

“Do you really have to go?”

“I told you, I go every year for Diwali.”

“That is not a reason to go. Do you enjoy going there?”

Paritosh sighed. Did he enjoy going there? He didn’t think so. He had never understood the fascination of poets and dreamers with village-life. Why were the villagers portrayed as nice, simple people? From what Paritosh had seen of his relatives in the village, they could eat an average city-dweller for their breakfast any day. And the family gatherings in his village, even around festivals, hardly felt festive. It invariably became a time to fight and bitch about what is being done with the farms and other properties of the family, who is stealing whose share and so on. Amrit, who wouldn’t step out even to buy some grocery on her own here, would fight it out like a lioness protecting her cubs. Paritosh preferred staying out of it. “Let it be, Amrit,” he would advise his wife too. But on that front, she did not defer to him. “How can I let it be? Ancestral rights must be protected, and not thrown away,” she was very clear about that.

“Dr. Khanna?” Rupali spoke again when Paritosh did not reply and got lost in his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I asked if you enjoy going to your native place?”

“No. I don’t. But we are social animals, Rupali. We don’t do things just for ourselves.”

“Do your relatives want you to come there?”

“No. I don’t think that they would miss me terribly.”

“For whom do you want to go then?”

“My wife! Amrit enjoys it. Very much. And my son too, I think. He would until he is still a child,” he smiled, “That may change in next few years.”

“Right,” Rupali’s face flushed. She suddenly felt  stupid, then fished for an opportunity to change the subject, “You were trying to get some coffee?”

“Yes. But this machine doesn’t seem to be working.”

“It won’t work the Computer Science way. We need mechanical engineering at work here,” she replied and tapped the machine hard a couple of times. Sure enough! Coffee started flowing.

“Thanks!” Paritosh picked the cup up and smiled.

“By the way, I think for someone talking about universal grammar in languages, Smith’s modeling is very weak. Prepositions, for example. The model would explain its usages in English, but definitely not in any Indian or middle-eastern languages.”

“Good point,” Paritosh nodded in agreement, “I am going to mention it in my review. Anything else?”

“No. As you had warned, the Maths did become too much for me after a while. It will take me some more time to go through the entire thing.”

“That’s fine. Whatever you managed to understand was beyond expectation. You have more course-work to do.”

“By the way, Dr. Khanna. I think you will enjoy the hostel day celebration more than Diwali at your native place. May be that should matter – at least for one year. Good night,” she said and walked out before he could process the sudden switch in the conversation. He looked confused for a moment. Then he smiled and shook his head.

—

“Rupali. What happened?” Garima interrupted Rupali while walking down the corridor in her hostel.

“Nothing,” Rupali replied hastily, “Why do you ask?”

“Why? You look like you failed a subject in your last semester and would have to wait another year for your degree.”

“What?”

“You look like you are on the verge of crying. Something is the matter.”

“Nothing major.”

“That’s fine. Who said you can’t share minor troubles. Come. Let’s sit in the canteen.”

“It’s not a trouble, yaar,” Rupali tried to appear nonchalant, “Just that Dr. Khanna is not coming for the Hostel Day this year either.”

“Aaaah!” Garima gave a meaningful smile.

“What?”

“No wonder you look heartbroken.”

“What heartbroken?”

“Do I have to tell you what heartbroken means?”

“Why should I be heartbroken? I am just annoyed. I had already purchased food coupons for him. It will be wasted.”

“I see. So, you are annoyed about wasted money? Since when did that start happening?”

“What do you mean since when? My family has money. I don’t. I do spend it wisely.”

“Sure. How many extra coupons do you have?”

“Three.”

“Dr. Khanna eats that much?”

“Silly. For his wife and son.”

“Ah! You were going to invite them too.”

“Of course. I was.”

“Okay. I can take one of the coupons from you. How much was it? Four hundred bucks?”

“Just take it.”

“Don’t care about the money, do you?” Garima winked at her and left, leaving Rupali flabbergasted.

—

To be Continued