Page 70 of 12 Years
‘Saket Khurana. Yes, he’s Punjabi. But he’s a really decent guy. Mostly vegetarian too,’ Payal said.
‘Mostly?’ Yashodha said.
‘He’s vegetarian,’ Payal said quickly.
Okay, lie number one delivered.
‘He’s not Jain?’ Anand said in a puzzled tone, as if Payal was not dating a human but a being from another species altogether, like a chimpanzee or a red-tailed monkey.
‘No, but he’s a good person. And since you asked, I first met him at a comedy club.’
‘Yo, sis, you go to clubs? Since when?’
‘Comedy club.’
‘What is a comedy club?’ Yashodha said. ‘LikeComedy Circuson TV?’
‘Not really, but yes, something like that. Mom, that’s not important. What’s important is that I like him, and he likes me.’
‘Since when have you known him?’ Anand said.
‘Almost a year now,’ Payal said.
‘And you never told us anything?’ Yashodha said.
‘Is there an environment in this house which allows us to freely share things?’ Payal said.
‘Why? What’s wrong with the environment here?’
‘Leave it, Mom,’ Payal said. ‘I’m telling you about it now. And you can meet him as well.’
‘I’m not meeting anyone,’ Yashodha said. ‘First, you do wrong things and then …’
‘What wrong things have I done, Mom? I topped school. Went to Stanford. Work at a good job. What’s so wrong about this thing that I’ve done? I can’t like someone?’
‘You can’t just marry anyone you want to,’ Yashodha said. ‘Listen, ji,’ she continued, addressing her husband, ‘you also tell her. Why do I have to be the bad one?’
‘This is not good, beta. We can’t approve of this,’ Anand said.
‘I shouldn’t need approval from anyone. It’s my life,’ Payal said.
‘Look at her,’ Yashodha said. ‘Send girls abroad more, and this is what happens. All that Stanford-Stanford drama she did, and you melted. Mumbai doesn’t have colleges or what? There’s KC College, there’s Jai Hind College. So many of them in the city …’
‘Dad,’ Payal said, ‘he’s a really nice guy. He’s great at business too, by the way. In case that’s important.’
‘Why would that be important?’ Anand said.
‘As if I don’t know … You like Parimal because he can take over the family business.’
‘Ha ha. What about me, sis? I’ll be the CEO,’ Vansh said.
‘Yeah, Dad, go ahead and make him CEO,’ Payal said. ‘How many months to bankruptcy, you think?’
‘You’re so mean, sis.’
‘I … I don’t know what to say,’ Anand said. ‘A Punjabi guy. Someone you hid for a year. I’m shocked. It’s all wrong, beta.’
‘Meet him once, Dad. Please, with an open mind.’
