2 States - The Story Of My Marriage | Page 3

- my dessert - I wanted to tell them. 'I'm Krish,' I said, doodling in the sambhar with my spoon. 'I'm Ananya. Yuk isn't it?' she said as I grimaced at the food's taste. 'I'm used to hostel food,' I shrugged. 'I've had worse.' 'Hard to imagine worse,' she said. I coughed as I bit on a green chili. She had a water jug next to her. She lifted the jug, leaned forward and poured water for me. A collective sigh ran through the mess. We had become everyone's matinee show. She finished her two desserts in four bites. 'I'm still hungry. I didn't even have breakfast.' 'Hunger or tasteless food, hostel life is about whatever is easier to deal with,' I said. 'You want to go out? I'm sure the city has decent restaurants,' she said. 'Now?' We had a class in one hour. But Ms Best Girl had asked me out, even though for her own stomach. And as everyone knows, female classmates always come before class. 'Don't tell me you are dying to attend the lecture,'' she said and stood up, daring me. I spooned in some rice. She stamped her foot. 'Leave that disgusting stuff.' Four hundred eyes followed us as I walked out of the mess with Ms Ananya Swaminathan, rated the best girl by popular vote in IIMA.

‘Do you like chicken?’ The menu rested on her nose as she spoke. We had

come to Topaz, a basic, soulless but air-conditioned restaurant half a kilometer from campus. Like all mid-range Indian restaurants, it played boring instrumental versions of old Hindi songs and served little marinated onions on the table. ‘I thought Ahmedabad was vegetarian,’ I said. ‘Please, I’d die here then.’ She turned to the waiter and ordered half a tandoori chicken with roomali rotis. ‘Do you have beer?’ she asked the waiter. The waiter shook his head in horror and left. ‘We are in Gujarat, there is prohibition here,’ I said. ‘Why?’ ‘Gandhiji’s birthplace,’ I said ‘But Gandhiji won us freedom,’ she said, playing with the little onions. ‘What’s the point of getting people free only to put restrictions on them?’ ‘Point,’ I said. ‘So, you are an expert on rasam and sambhar. Are you a South Indian?’ ‘Tamilian, please be precise. In fact, Tamil Brahmin, which is way different from Tamilians. Never forget that.’ She leaned back as the waiter served our meal. She tore a chicken leg with her teeth. ‘And how exactly are Tamil Brahmins different?’ ‘Well, for one thing, no meat and no drinking,’ she said as she gestured a cross with t he chicken leg. ‘Absolutely,’ I said. She laughed. ‘I didn’t say I am a practising Tam Brahm. But you should know that I am born into the purest of pure upper caste communities ever created. What about you, commoner?’ ‘I am a Punjabi, though I never lived in Punjab. I grew up in Delhi. And I have no idea about my caste, but we do eat chicken. And I can digest bad sambhar better than Tamil Brahmins,’ I said. ‘You are funny,’ she said, tapping my hand. I liked the tap. ‘So where did you stay in hostel before?’ she said. ‘Please don’t say IIT, you are doing pretty well so far.’ ‘What’s wrong with IIT?’ ‘Nothing, are you from there?’ She sipped water. ‘Yes, from IIT Delhi. Is that a problem?’ ‘No,’ she smiled, ‘not yet.’

‘Excuse me?’ I said. Her smugness had reached irritating levels. ‘Nothing,’ she said. We stayed quiet. ‘What’s the deal? Someone from IIT broke your heart?’ She laughed. ‘No, on the contrary. I seem to have broken some, for no fault of my own.’ ‘Care to explain?’ ‘Don’t tell anyone, but in the past one week that I’ve been here, I’ve had ten proposals. All from IITians.’ I mentally kicked myself. My guess was right; she was getting a lot of attention. I only wished it wasn’t from my own people. ‘Proposals for what?’ ‘The usual, to go out, be friends and stuff. Oh, and one guy from IIT Chennai proposed marriage!’ ‘Serious?’ ‘Yes, he said this past week has been momentous for him. He joined IIMA, and now he has found his wife in me. I may be wrong, but I think he had some jewellery on him.’ I smacked my forehead. No, my collegemates can’t be doing this, whatever the deprivation. ‘So, you understand my concern about you being from IIT,’ she said, picking up a chicken breast next. ‘Oh, so it is a natural reaction. If I am from IIT, I have to propose to you within ten minutes?’ ‘I didn’t say that.’ ‘You implied that.’ ‘I’m sorry.’ ‘It’s OK. I expected you to be like this. Let me guess- only child, rich parents?’ ‘Wrong, wrong. I have a younger