‘If you’re not pleased,’ said Roopa making a mocking move. ‘I’ll go back right now.’
‘Stop it now,’ said Janaki holding Roopa’s hand, and probing her daughter’s demeanor, she asked, ‘how’s your husband?’
‘He’s fine,’ said Roopa looking around. ‘But where are our devils?’
As though to answer her query, Chandrika emerged from the bathroom and Raju came from the vegetable market.
‘So, Raju gives you a helping hand these days,’ Roopa said aloud before whispering to him. ‘What’s the commission like my boy?’
‘How is my poor brother-in-law?’ Raju said in jest. ‘Hope he didn’t pack you off to get rid of your nagging.’
‘What’s the news from Suguna?’ said Roopa..
‘She’s doing fine with her family,’ said Janaki with that sense of satisfaction mothers derive at the well-being of their married daughters. ‘But she complains that you don’t write to her.’
‘What of her?’ said Roopa, ‘why not find out if she ever wrote to me?’
‘How parents wish that their children develop a strong family bond that binds the coming generations,’ said Janaki stoically. ‘Sadly these days even the first cousins are not on familiar terms.
However, proving her mother wrong, Roopa and Chandrika closeted over coffee to exchange confidences.
‘Won’t you,’ said Roopa eagerly, ‘show me the progress card?’
‘He’s on the lookout for a job in Madras,’ said Chandrika holding Roopa’s hand. ‘We want to move out of here to save embarrassment to our parents. Hopefully the decks would be cleared by December. You know he’s eager to meet you.’
‘It should be a pleasure,’ said Roopa, ‘meeting my brother-in-law in the making.’
‘I hope,’ said Chandrika hoping to hear in the affirmative, ‘your fears are but liars.’
‘When hopes are duped what’s there to fear?’ said Roopa resignedly. ‘Maybe, it’s in the nature of marriage that one learns to fall in line.’
‘I’ll know that any way but you should know,’ said Chandrika, ‘without you Sandhya is like a fish out of water. Oh, how she loves you!’
‘If not for her love,’ said Roopa closing her eyes as though to picture her friend, ‘there’s no hope in my life.’
‘I wish I too had a friend like her,’ said Chandrika, ‘your friendship makes me jealous.’
‘Roopa,’ yelled Janaki from the kitchen, ‘why not you have your bath.’
‘I’ll have an early lunch,’ said Roopa to Chandrika, picking up her bathrobe, ‘and rush to Sandhya.’
‘I know you would be restless till you meet her,’ said Janaki in smile as Roopa went into the kitchen on her way to the bathroom. ‘Tell me, how are you managing your home?’