Before you read this, read: The Prelude to a Conversation - Part 1
"Your tea," she said with such finality that the tea itself jolted into a splash in the cup. |
| Photo credit: anneheathen / Foter.com / CC BY |
"I don't-"
"What nonsense! Have there!"
"At eight in the night Aunt Geraldine?! People usually dine at that time you know."
"Look here! You stay in my house. So, you do as I say."
That wasn't exactly true all the time. Two days ago, Aunt Geraldine had ordered me to deposit myself in church at 7 it being the first Friday of the month. I said yes I will and forgot about it on purpose. I had to listen to an entire list of reasons why I was destined for hell thereafter, but those weren't all that repulsive to sit through. On the contrary, that list was pretty hilarious.
This time I was - frankly - too lazy to ask for tea - a laziness that she sensed and attended to. So, I decided to not argue with her. I merely said: "Yes, yes I will do as you say," and slouched my shoulders back onto the pillow.
But Aunt Geraldine did not want to take that as a sign to leave my room. She shuffled my papers on my desk, made them do a tap dance of sorts and locked them into my drawer. "No system at all you have!" she observed as she drew her finger in the dust holidaying on my speakers. That was one of her ways of telling me my ways don't win her approval. Well, her ways did not win mine either.
So, I smiled, and "I know" I said, "That's why I have told you to not touch my system!"
"Yes yes! Who's touching? I am just saying!"
"Well, you'll say that now. And once I am out of the house, you come and touch everything!"
"Don't talk rubbish! Your father-in-law cooks for you awhat? Talking there! I have enough work to do than bother about all this!," she said as her index finger pointed at several things not in the places she would like them to be.
I took the cup of tea from the table and began to slurp in its contents. The tea was sweet. Sweet enough to make you feel you had landed your teeth in a kilo of sugar. But hey, I am Indian! I like all things sweet. So I wasn't about to complain.
"So you went to Flora Fountain?"
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| Photo credit: Wikipedia.org |
"How is it now?"
"Meaning?"
"Well has it changed?"
"The fountain is still there Aunty."
"I know the fountain is still there!," she snapped as if I had tested her intelligence.
"Then what are you asking about?"
I could see agitation ripple through her face which had already donned its familiar look of irritation. This was a sign that she had a lot to say - a lot of nasty things that is - but her mouth and tongue were falling short of the effort required to lash it all out. But Aunt Geraldine, being Aunt Geraldine, knew even how to make her limitations work for her. So she let her mouth quiver for a while and then:
"What you're asking me that like a nut?" she sneered. "I am asking whether the area has changed."
There was no mistaking the tone. It demanded an answer knowing fully well I knew what was asked.
I sipped the sugar in the cup that had a bit of tea and licked my lips. "Yes, it has changed. But not much. "
"Well, there's a Croma at Horniman Circle now. And there's a Starbucks too."
"Ah I see. There was none of that then. There were only those restaurants."
"Oh the Parsi one you mean?"
"Yes! It was known as something - Something something it was called. You know it was very famous."
"Something something? What a name, really!"
"Shut up men! It's something I remember but I can't remember its name."
"Ideal Corner is it?"
"Haa!" she exclaimed allowing one of her few smiles to flood her face, "Yes! Ideal Corner!"
I was halfway through with the tea she had imposed on me. That smile was a bit of a bonus. She rarely, if ever, allowed that accident to happen. And since it had happened, I decided to investigate it in a bit of detail.
"So," I said,"How come you are so fond of Ideal Corner?"
"Fond of Ideal Corner? Who told you that?"
"Well, do you really want me to answer that, Aunt Geraldine?"
"Who told you that?" she asked by way of an answer. Which was her way of saying "Yes, I want you to explain what you just said."
So, I explained.
"Well," I began the way I always do when I have to explain things, "you spent three minutes asking me about Flora Fountain, and then pretended to not remember the name of that Parsi restaurant."
"I did not pretend!" she exclaimed as her right hand went up in the air and got indignant that I made such an accusation, "I forgot."
"Oh please!" It was my left hand's turn to go up in the air and wave her explanation aside. "If you could remember the lay of the land around Horniman Circle so well, you definitely would remember something as silly as Ideal Corner!"
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Photo credit: nevil zaveri (thank you for
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"Good God! It's so difficult to talk to you! Forever you look for trouble."
"Trouble? I was merely asking you a question!"
"And what a question that is! Whether I went with any man to Ideal Corner it seems!"
It took us 30 seconds - probably 40 - to realise that Aunt Geraldine had blurted out a scandalous secret. By Indian standards, this was even more scandalous than conning Rekha to admit she was married to Amitabh Bachchan (if she ever admits to that that is)!
Poor Aunt Geraldine! She had no idea how on Earth to take back what she fed my ears! The moment that sallied forth out of her mouth, it shimmered with glee across the room and disappeared into a mischievous look on my face. Her face, on the other hand, decided to make it very clear it was caught in a trap and was desperate to get out of it.
"Now that," I said, as if I had just completed a sting operation, "is not what I asked you."
Aunt Geraldine moved her hands up and down but none of that steadied her composure.
"But" I went on, "since you have mentioned that any way, who was the man? Hmm?"
To be continued...
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. However, you are encouraged to find coincidental resemblances to actual events wherever you can.
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