Mixed Masala

Chapter 21

"How's Karthik?" Meera asked her sister as she glanced through the files on her desk.

She wrote down some instructions on several yellow Post-Its and stuck one on each of the files as Mages, her secretary, stood watching close by. Meera nodded to her when she was done and Mages dutifully collected the lot and retreated to her table in the outer office to carry out the scribbled instructions.

"He's fine. He's rolling all over the place, and when I say rolling, I literally mean rolling. He's like a little cuddly ball ... The kid sure loves his milk. Naturally, Ravi is thrilled that he's inherited our appetite."

Meera smiled, thinking about her nephew. Ravi and Jayashree seemed to have stepped into their roles as parents with relative ease. Of course the fact that they both had medical backgrounds meant that they were not prone to panic as was the case with most new mothers and fathers, but it also helped that Karthik was such an easy-going little fellow.

It was Thursday, the 13th of April, and Raj would be arriving from London in a couple of days. Meera planned to go with Jayashree and Ravi to pick him up at the airport and then travel back to Ipoh with them that same evening. Her sister and brother-in-law intended to stay on for a week (the benefits of having their own private practice!) and Meera had decided to take an early bus back to Kuala Lumpur Monday morning. She would naturally have liked to spend more time with her brother but then Raj would no doubt be making frequent trips to Kuala Lumpur, or at least away from Ipoh, every chance he got. Besides, he was not due to leave again for another three months (Raj was going back to London to do his Masters) so there would be plenty of time for them to catch up later. For now though, Raj had strict instructions from his mother to return home ... to his mother.

But there was something Meera wanted to do before then, something she didn't want to put off any longer than she already had. She had called Jayashree early Tuesday morning with a request, and ever since then, she had been waiting impatiently for her sister to call with some news. Jayashree had finally called a few moments ago and Meera's heart raced as they chatted a while about Karthik, and then the moment of truth arrived.

"Now about that phone call you asked me to make," Jayashree said. "I made it ."

"And?" Meera asked with bated breath.

Jayashree sighed. "Sujatha has never even heard of this Chitra. Suresh has never mentioned her. You, on the other hand, he never stopped talking about ... until of course you dumped him. Then apparently, he was painfully careful not to mention you."

"Thanks for rubbing it in," Meera said, but her heart was beating faster now as she felt a renewed hope. If Suresh's family didn't know about Chitra then maybe he wasn't all that serious about the girl after all. At any rate, there was still a chance ... maybe.

"Thanks," Meera said after a few moments.

"No problem," her sister said. "You just owe me a day of baby-sitting this little fellow here."

Meera laughed. "Any time."

"Don't laugh. I'm serious. I mean, the guy is cute and cuddly and I love him to death and all that, but sometimes I feel like I'm losing my mind!"

Meera smiled. "Well then, I'm the perfect nanny. I've got nothing more to lose."

*****

"Hi, Suresh," Meera said as he answered on the third ring.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and she wanted to catch him (in more ways than one!) before he made other plans for the evening. At least she hoped he hadn't already.