“Nothing for you, Piyali?” Pronab asked as Mukundo brought two mugs of beer.

“I don’t drink, Pronab.”

“Have you forbidden her from drinking, Mukundo Babu?” he asked jocularly.

“No. But I didn’t realize when she grew up to be old enough to drink. So, I never offered…”

“Mukundo Babu!” Piyali’s cheeks grew red and hot while the two men laughed.

A while later, conversations turned to sports and Pronab was surprised when Mukundo started talking about Super Bowl.

“How do you know so much about it? Since when have you been following it?”

“Since childhood.”

“Wow. I didn’t know Indians…”

“If it helps, Mukundo Babu is a US citizen,” Piyali interjected.

“He is? Oh! How come?”

“My Baba was there. A faculty of performing arts at a school in New York. I was born there.”

“When did you come back?”

“I was about ten years old.”

“Interesting. You didn’t mind coming back to Kolkata.”

“I wasn’t happy initially, of course. But this city grows on you.”

“Wow! Do you still go there?”

“Umm… yeah…”

“Mukundo Babu travels all over the world.”

“That’s great. And what do you do otherwise? Professionally?”

“For bread and butter – there is the family property to look after. For my sanity, I teach music. At some schools and I also have some students who come here.”

“How do you manage to balance the two?”

“I keep my music lessons confined to the first half of the day.”

They talked on and conversations flew naturally. Piyali felts at ease.  It was close to midnight when they finally thought of having dessert.

“Shanti Kaki has fallen asleep, I think,” Piyali said, “I will bring it. Ice cream, right?”

“Yes. You will have to leave it…”

“I know. At room temperature for ten minutes and then blend it before serving. Don’t worry.”

“So, why arranged marriage, Pronab?” Mukundo asked after Piyali was out of ear shot.

Pronab let out a sigh. “I’m surprised it hadn’t come up till now.”

“Piyali is intelligent. Her instincts are also right. But she hasn’t exactly seen the world. Someone has to ask! And please don’t tell me that it is because you are an Indian at heart.”

Pronab laughed, “No I won’t tell you that. But couple of disclaimers first. One – I haven’t decided on the arranged marriage yet…”

“I am aware of that,” Mukundo interjected impatiently. He wanted to get this over with before Piyali came back.

“Secondly, I realized only recently that nobody here knew my story. I don’t know whether Kakima didn’t know herself, or she knowingly kept it from people.”

“Never mind.”

“I was in a serious relationship until three months ago. My parents were against it…”

“She was a gori American?” he smiled.

“It wouldn’t have been a problem, if she were white. She was black. They couldn’t imagine holding black grandchildren!”

“And you gave up…”

“No. I fought with them. I told them that I would make my own decisions. I even moved in with her. Things sort of settled. When I visited my parents, they pretended that she didn’t exist. And we let it be at that… But…”

“But?”

“It turns out that it is easier to fight the external battles, or big crises, that threaten a relationship. What is difficult to put up with is the mundaneness of life. When all you have to fight with is each other. And you start annoying each other with where you keep your wet towel, what you like in dinner and whether or not you like to go to bars every night…”

“You broke up?”

“It had gotten ugly. I am only thankful we weren’t already married. Else it would have been tough.”

“Hmm… And you didn’t want to fight with your parents for another…”

“I wasn’t sure any longer if what I wanted from the relationship was practical. Probably my parents were right. That I hadn’t been sold into an impossible American dream. If you have to make compromises to keep a relationship anyway, I wondered if arranged marriages were not a better bet. At least you didn’t start with a dream of a soul-mate. You are prepared for those compromises. And I was being given a chance to know the girl before deciding…”

“Have you decided?”

“No. But I am aware that I will soon have to. But first, Piyali has to know about this. How do you think she would react?”

Mukundo had to think before replying. “I don’t know. It is strange. We are best of friends. She spends so much of her spare time with me. But I don’t know what she thinks about relationships, marriage… Whether she is mature enough to see in your story what I see? Or if she is too romantic about first love? I don’t know. I don’t know if she has had any relationships before… I never asked. She never told me.”

Pronab smiled. “Let me guess… You weren’t joking when you said that you didn’t realize when she grew up…”

“I wasn’t. Even if I was joking, it was only a half-joke. The idea of her getting married was so unexpected for me that I was thrown off the game. I didn’t realize until today that I needed to have this conversation with you. That too, before the two of you made up your mind… It’s just…” he stopped short on realizing that he had already spoken too much.

Pronab stared at him curiously for a while; then changed the subject. “I will tell her my story right away.”

“You don’t have to,” Mukundo shook his head and tried to get his bearings back, “I mean you don’t have to tell her before me… You can choose to…”

“Since I don’t know how she will react, I think it is better if it’s done when someone is around to support her, in case she takes it badly. Nobody better than you, Mukundo Babu.”

Mukundo nodded although he was terrified at the idea of having to console Piyali should she not take it well.

But she surprised him with her calm response. “Thank you for telling me, Pronab. I don’t know right now how I feel, or how I should react. Give me some time.”

“Of course!” Everyone was relieved.

“I should leave now. It’s past midnight,” Pronab finally said.

“How have you come?”

“A taxi is waiting for me.”

“Great. Have a good night then, Pronab.”

“Good night, Mukundo Babu. Good night, Piyali.”

—

“So?” Piyali looked at Mukundo expectantly after Pronab left.

“He is honest, and clear-headed, Piyali. He will never deliberately hurt you. He will not share your passion for classical music and dance, of course. But he would happily take you to the movies. Hollywood and Bollywood alike! So, beyond this, you have to listen to heart.”

Piyali blushed and chuckled. “Thank you, Mukundo Babu. Thank you so much.”

“Run along now. Go home and sleep. It’s too late. You will fall ill.”

“Oh, I won’t! But I will try to sleep anyway.”

Mukundo looked wistfully as she pranced away. She was a young woman in love. She will have to “try” to sleep, because it won’t come easily to her agitated, love-sick self. The object of her affection returned her feelings. They were yet to confess to each other, but if nothing unexpected happened, she would be married soon. And would fly away! He had been a myopic idiot to not foresee this day. But now he would have to get used to his life without her.

—

To be continued