Show Business by Shashi Tharoor

Author:Shashi Tharoor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

As she sings and dances, all arched hip and elegant fingertips, she manages to exchange meaningful glances with Ashok, making it clear every word of the playback applies to him. Meanwhile, Godambo, oblivious to this byplay, appears to enjoy himself hugely. When the song is over the audience bursts into well-rehearsed applause, and Ashok rises to his feet to clap vigorously.

At the end of the show, Godambo, in mellow spirits, looks around the hall. “So where is this girl you wanted me to meet?” he asks his son.

“You’ve seen her, Dad. And I could tell you liked her. Mehnaz Elahi, the kathak dancer. Wasn’t she something?”

“What!” Godambo’s eyes bulge in horror. “An entertainer! My son wants to marry an entertainer!”

Amma restrains him, but he storms out, wife and son in tow. They are getting into their chauffeur-driven Impala when Mehnaz, now freshly changed into a sari, emerges from the auditorium and walks expectantly toward them. She stops short, though, her pretty face clouded in bewilderment, as Ashok shuts the car door after him with a look of helplessness. Mehnaz is left staring crestfallen into the camera as the Impala drives away in a cloud of dusty intolerance.

Inside the house the scene is Godambo’s: rage and outrage alternating with advice about vice. He is furious that his son wants to marry the first plausible hussy who has allowed him to embrace her. Of course young men must sow their wild oats, but marriage has nothing to do with sexual attraction. The girl might be pretty, she might be talented, but she was completely unsuitable for the son of Seth Godambo. When Ashok marries, it will be a social event; his bride will be handpicked from a dazzling array of well-endowed virgins from well-endowed families. There is the business to be considered, the family’s standing in the community, the expectations of the society in which they live. If Ashok married—the word makes Godambo choke—married Mehnaz Elahi, he and his parents would be laughingstocks. “I understand your needs,” Godambo adds in gruff paternalism. “I was a young man myself once. But marriage is another matter altogether.”

Yes, Amma explains. Marriage is not just a relationship between individuals, but an arrangement between families. Ashok would not just be marrying one woman, he would be acquiring another family. Can he see Mehnaz’s simple father and shrouded mother socializing in Seth Godambo’s living room? Ashok has to admit he cannot.

Yet when his parents have finished with him, Ashok is defiant. “Mehnaz is the woman of my heart,” he declaims. “I will not let her down.”

“Why don’t you talk this over with her?” Godambo is surprisingly reasonable. “She may well prove more sensible than you. When are you seeing her next?”

“Tomorrow evening,” Ashok replies. “She was supposed to join a show in Bombay, but I persuaded her not to. Dad, I’m not sure I can live without her.”

“Don’t be so sure she can’t live without you,” Godambo says meaningfully.

Next scene: Godambo with our heroine, in her lower-middle-class home. Peacock-green walls, peeling ceiling, plastic-covered sofa, garish calendars of androgynous deities.

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