CHAPTER 4

(don’t worry if you didn’t read ch 3, it was an add-on story)

Ayush was the first guy I was ever in a relationship with, technically. We were officially boyfriends, and nobody knew for the first three months. Not even Sims and Jina. They were surprised I hadn’t blurted it out to them yet.

It’s the 6^th of July and Ayush hasn’t unblocked me from either Whatsapp or Instagram. This is one thing I don’t understand about exes; I get that we didn’t break on the best terms but is it necessary to just shut someone out completely, especially the ones you have held so dearly in the past. He didn’t have any medicos in his life, and if, God forbid, he needs medical assistance, I’d have been glad to help him. He took a keen interest in Ayurved. I’m sure he’d be able to pass the first-sem exams if given a choice with all the knowledge I fed him.  But that hardly makes him any good at taking care of him.

I remember there were times when I would brew concoctions at home, drop them at his office when he was ill and couldn’t come to my place. He used to complain about the taste but would always return the bottle with a rose and a thank-you note after a couple of days.

He used to love the Shahi Paneer and Bhurma Karela I used to make. Both of which were my mother’s recipes. He wasn’t Marathi either, so getting accustomed the state food wasn’t his forte either. He was a Punajbi who had spent some of his time in Delhi too. That’s why he understood what I meant by Dilli ke Chhole Bhature aren’t something you can get just anywhere. I remember I made him Sarso saag and makki Roti once. He was overwhelmed that day. He sent a picture at his home saying one of his friends’ mothers made it for him. I should’ve been upset but I understand how curious Bharatiye mothers can be. It was the 6^th of January.

I get now why he said “Vivan, you’d make such a good wife”

………

“It’s really funny how I end up behaving like heterosexuals when I’m with someone. I hate the concept of these monthly-anniversaries; the word anniversary itself means something that comes after a year, and yet for the 6^th of each month I did something special, like making good food, or watching his favorite movie or even some good bed-regime. He would bring lotuses on that day because he knew how much I liked them. It was something that the rational-me would never approve of doing, but I think it, being my first relationship, really got me overboard.”

“I think that’s the minimum you should be doing. And honestly, stop being so heterophobic, all couples, irrespective of sexuality do stuff for each other that only a lover would do” Sims over video call nagged. “You’re just tsundere”.

I gasp at the accusation, “No I’m not!” “I’d rather he had brought something that I could have put to use or cooked, flowers just rot as the rainy season comes”

“Congratulations on becoming an Asian mother”

We talk a bit more and then disconnect.

……..

Indian mothers, do not approve of buying things that hold only symbolic meaning. Everything should hold a purpose, should have some use. My mother is like that too, and I seem to have inherited most of her traits. Even though I like lotuses, I never bought them for myself. The only time our house would have lotuses was on Saraswati Puja, which would later be dried and used for making incense. I used Ayush’s lotuses for making bodywash powder, he has no idea. Lotus helps to cool the body and improve skin complexion. I wonder what he would think of it if he came to know I did that. I never gave him a rose or any other flower, I just always brought him stuff to eat.

My mother is even more of an economist than other mothers. Love and relationships are seen as a necessary engagement or transaction in life. To accessorize these with perishable jewels such as flowers is for the wasteful rich to do. Sensible people invest in permanency and sustainability. Funnily enough, she progressively becomes richer by the day, more beautiful, and respected in society.

An apple doesn’t fall far from the tea; a rotten apple falls quicker.