Bombay Time by Thrity Umrigar

Author:Thrity Umrigar
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-312-27716-1
Publisher: Picador

One Sunday morning, Soli heard a horn toot under his window at 6:00 A.M. Grabbing the plastic bag that held the mutton cutlets his mother had prepared, he kissed her and quickly ran down the stairs. Two carloads of friends had stopped to pick up Soli on their way to Juhu Beach. He opened the front door of the second car and got into the passenger seat. His friend Dinu was squeezed in between Soli and the driver of the car. As the car took off, Soli turned around, careful not to knock Dinu’s glasses off by making any fast moves. As he recognized the woman sitting between the two others, he gave a start of surprise.

“Oh, Mariam,” he said. “You coming with us to Juhu?”

“No, Soli,” Dinu said with a sarcastic laugh. “Mariam will drop us off and continue to Paris.”

Still, his surprise was understandable. Mariam did not really hang out with his crowd. What Soli did not know was that Mehroo Kat-pitia, who had recently married his friend Jamshed, had struck up a friendship with Mariam in the last two years. It was Mehroo who had invited Mariam to the picnic. Mehroo had thought nothing of it when Mariam had casually inquired if Soli would be there.

Soli spent as much time around Mariam as he could that day without making the rest of them suspicious. He knew that if his friends got a whiff of the fact that he was interested in Mariam, they would be merciless in their teasing. He glanced at her every chance he got and realized that she was even more beautiful than when he’d first known her. Time had burned the puppy fat off her face, leaving behind something sad and authentic, and the dark circles under her eyes gave her a haunting beauty she had not had before. He noticed that her hands were as lovely as ever, the rich blue vein running like a river down its length. He longed to speak to her alone but didn’t know how. Impatience made him restless and he shifted on the sand until one of his friends asked, “Su che. Soli? You need to do soo-soo?”

His chance came in the afternoon, when the others were napping under the shade of the coconut trees that lined the beach. Mariam got up and declared she was going to walk the length of the beach. Soli rose casually to his feet. “Can’t let you walk alone,” he said lightly. “Sea may come and kidnap you. Then Abe Uncle will be after my boti.”

They had barely moved away from the sight of the others when Mariam turned to him. “So you’ve forgotten the Rubins, eh? We don’t see you much anymore. Mommy and Daddy still miss you, men. But you must be busy now, what with working and all.”

Soli looked away to where the thrashing Arabian Sea seemed to be imitating the turmoil he felt. He didn’t quite know how to answer Mariam’s half question, half accusation. Suddenly, he remembered the first time he had seen her.

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