‘Bhabhi. Just bhabhi,’ said Veena.
So – how did you like her?’ asked the woman.
‘Fine,’ said Maan.
‘Fine?’ said the woman, pouncing delightedly on the word.
‘I meant, fine that I should call you bhabhi.’
‘He’s very cunning,’ said Veena.
‘I’m no less so,’ asserted her neighbour. ‘You should come here, meet people, meet nice women,’ she told Maan. ‘What is the charm of living in the colonies? I tell you, when I visit Pasand Bagh or Civil Lines my brain goes dead in four hours. When I return to the lanes of our neighbourhood it starts whirring again. People here care for each other; if someone falls ill the whole neighbourhood asks about them. But it may be difficult to fix you up. You should get a slightly taller girl than average –’
‘I’m not concerned about all that,’ said Maan, laughing. ‘A short one is fine by me.’
‘So you don’t mind whether she’s tall or short, dark or fair, thin or fat, ugly or beautiful?’
‘Z for A again,’ said Maan, glancing in the direction of her roof. ‘By the way, I like your method of drying your blouses.’
The woman gave a short hoot of laughter, which might have been self-deprecatory if it hadn’t been so loud. She looked back at the rack-like arrangement of steel on the top of her water-tank.
‘There’s no other place on my roof,’ she said. ‘You’ve got lines all over on your side… You know,’ continued the woman, off on a tangent, ‘marriage is strange. I read in Star-Gazer that a girl from Madras, well-married, with two children, saw Hulchul five times – five times! – and got completely besotted with Daleep Kumar – to the extent that she went off her head. She went down to Bombay, clearly not knowing what she was doing, because she didn’t even have his address. Then she found it with the help of one of these filmi fan magazines, took a taxi there, and confronted him with all kinds of mad, obsessed remarks. Eventually he gave her a hundred rupees to help her get back, and threw her out. But she returned.’
‘Daleep Kumar!’ said Veena, frowning. ‘I don’t think much of his acting. I think he must have made it all up for publicity.’
‘Oh no, no! Have you seen him in Deedar? He is amazing! And Star-Gazer says he’s such a nice man – he would never go after publicity. You must tell Kedarnath to beware of Madrasi women, he spends so much time there, they’re very fierce… I hear that they don’t even wash their silk saris gently, they just go dhup! dhup! dhup! like washerwomen under the tap – Oh! my milk!’ cried the woman in sudden alarm. ‘I must go – I hope it hasn’t – my husband –’ And she rushed off like a great red apparition across the rooftops.
Maan burst out laughing.
‘Now I’m off as well,’ he said. ‘I’ve had enough of life outside the colonies. My brain’s whirring too much.’
‘You can’t go,’ said Veena sternly and sweetly. ‘You’ve just come. They said you played Holi the whole morning with Pran and his professor and Savita and Lata, so you can certainly spend this afternoon with us. And Bhaskar will be very annoyed if he misses you again. You should have seen him yesterday. He looked like a black imp.’
‘Will he be at the shop this evening?’ asked Maan, coughing a bit.
‘Yes. I suppose so. Thinking about the patterns of the shoe-boxes. Strange boy,’ said Veena.
‘Then I’ll visit him on my way back.’
‘On your way back from where?’ asked Veena. ‘And aren’t you coming for dinner?’
‘I’ll try – I promise,’ said Maan.
‘What’s wrong with your throat?’ asked Veena. ‘You’ve been up till late, haven’t you? How late, I wonder? Or is it just from getting soaked at Holi? I’ll give you some jushanda to cure it.’
‘No – that vile stuff! Take it yourself as a preventative,’ exclaimed Maan.
‘So – how was the singing? And the singer?’ asked Veena.
Maan shrugged so indifferently that Veena got worried. ‘Be careful, Maan,’ she warned him.
Maan knew his sister too well to try to protest his innocence. Besides, Veena would soon enough hear about his public flirting.
‘It’s not her that you’re going to visit?’ asked Veena sharply.
‘No – heaven forbid,’ said Maan.
‘Yes, heaven forbid. So where are you going?’
‘To the Barsaat Mahal,’ said Maan. ‘Come along with me! You remember we used to go there for picnics as children? Come. All you’re doing is playing chaupar.’