Page 159 of 12 Years
‘Here’s the thing about some of these Jain marriages. It is often a last-name Jain marrying another last-name Jain. You don’t even know when they get married or divorced. The last name remains the same. I could’ve never guessed Payal is divorced.’
I laughed. ‘That’s a good one. Comedy-set-worthy. I would’ve included it in my set back in the day.
‘Where are you guys going to go?’ Mudit said.
‘Not sure. After work means drinks? Or dinner? Or both?’
‘Too much. Just do tea.’
‘Tea?’
‘Yes. That’s what old friends do. Just meet for a quick cup of tea. Get all the dope on her divorce and run.’
‘Cool. Will do that. I’ll fix a time and date to meet her for a quick cup of tea. That’s it.’
‘Excellent. Now, let me go unlock all our secrets for these capitalist moneybags,’ Mudit said, hurrying out of my office.
L’ETO Caffe became extra famous after actor Alia Bhatt’s Instagram reel went viral. In the reel, she talks about hersuperstar husband, Ranbir Kapoor, flying in the famed milk cake from L’ETO London all the way to Bulgaria, where they were shooting a movie together. I, however, simply chose this café in the Mall of the Emirates since it fell midway between Payal’s hotel and my house.
We’d decided to meet on a Saturday afternoon, and Payal reached the café before me. From her knee-length floral dress to her handbag and open-toe platform shoes, she was all in white.
‘Sorry, this mall is huge,’ I said. ‘Took me a while to walk here from the parking.’
‘That’s fine,’ she said.
No hugs. No handshakes. Only smiles as we sat down across from each other.
I ordered a jug of hot ginger and spice tea and a slice of the famous milk cake. The waiter returned quickly with our order. I slid the cake towards Payal.
‘The Alia Bhatt cake. Tell me if it’s worth the hype,’ I said.
Payal took a bite of the cake, spooning up some of the creamy milk it was dipped in. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘This is so good. But …’ she paused mid-sentence.
‘But what?’
‘Tastes like rasmalai,’ she said.
I took a spoonful too. ‘Come to think of it now, it does,’ I said and both of us laughed.
We sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Then I said, ‘Okay, so Parimal and you …’
‘Yes, we got divorced.’
‘That’s strange,’ I said.
‘What makes you say that?’ Payal said.
‘I remember seeing your Instagram account long back. There were so many pictures of you and him. On trips around the world. You guys seemed happy and content.’
‘Isn’t Instagram amazing? It makes everyone else other than you look happy,’ Payal said, taking a sip of her tea.
‘You were not?’ I said.
Payal looked away. She turned to me after a few seconds. ‘I was trying to be,’ she said. ‘I thought I could make our marriage work. I was wrong.’
‘What happened?’
‘It wasn’t one specific thing. It was a lot of things. Right from the start, the foundation of it all. You remember all the drama at that time, right?’
