“Rupak, your father and I will take a taxi home. You should drop Serena home safely,” Mrs. Jha said. “Take your time. We’ll have a cup of tea and go to sleep if we get tired.”
Was his mother implying that he could stay out late with a woman and do the things young men and women do and she wouldn’t wait up? This was his mother’s way of giving approval, Rupak knew.
“Oh no, that’s okay,” Serena said. “Ithaca is completely safe. Rupak, you should go with your parents.”
“Okay, then,” Mr. Jha said. “It was lovely meeting you, Serena.”
“Anil,” Mrs. Jha said. “Stop that. Rupak will be a gentleman. Serena, it was wonderful meeting you. This is such a quick trip, but hopefully we’ll see you back in Delhi soon? Come have dinner with us when you’re in town.”
“Sure, Aunty, I’ll do that. It was nice meeting you.”
“I like your mother,” Serena said in the taxi.
Rupak nodded. This felt like a veiled insult toward his father.
“What are you going to do with them for the rest of the time they’re here?”
Rupak shrugged.
“Not much. I have to go to class and they’re leaving on Wednesday.”
“I would suggest you take them to the Johnson Art Museum, but I get the feeling your father doesn’t really like museums,” Serena said with a small laugh. “He’s sweet.”
“There’s no need to be condescending. He’s not just sweet; he also created one of the most successful Indian startups,” Rupak said, defending his father in a way he had never done before.
“I wasn’t being condescending,” Serena said. “He is sweet. And I admire the fact that he’s achieved what he’s achieved. It must be weird to suddenly get money like that overnight. For all of you.”
On the one hand, Rupak was happy to have an opening to be able to talk about it, but on the other hand, he refused to believe that calling an adult “sweet” was not condescending, so he wasn’t sure how much he wanted to open up to Serena. Nobody ever had much sympathy for the woes of being suddenly wealthy.
“I don’t live at home anymore, so it doesn’t really affect me,” he said.
“Well, it allows you to go to grad school without going into debt.”
“That’s true,” Rupak said. “And I’m grateful for that. Are you doing anything exciting this week?”
“What do you think you’re going to do when you finish? I noticed you avoid all your parents’ questions about the future. I mean, I get it—I’m trying to do theater and as supportive as my parents are, they don’t really understand. But I guess even though they may not understand, I know what I’m trying to do,” Serena said. “Do your parents even know how much you want to do film?”
“Please stop,” Rupak interrupted her. “Please don’t continue asking the same questions my mother was asking. I don’t need another mother.”
Serena turned to face him, the passing lights making her dark eyes look darker. Rupak turned away and looked out the window.
“You’re touchy,” she said. “I wasn’t asking anything out of the ordinary.”
“You just sound like my mother,” Rupak repeated.
“Rupak, you realize this is more because you don’t have an answer to the simple question of what you want to do next in life. Stop projecting this onto me.”
“Now you sound like a therapist,” Rupak said.
“And you sound like an asshole,” Serena said.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Rupak said. “It’s just stressful having parents visit, you know.”
“I’ve got a regular week ahead,” Serena said. “Pretty busy.”
“I could come up to Cornell for dinner after my parents leave on Wednesday.”
“I’ll get off at this corner on the right,” Serena said to the taxi driver. “And then you can take this same taxi home. Text me about Wednesday—I might have to help stage manage a show. Like I said, it’s a pretty busy week.”
“Okay,” Rupak said. “I’ll keep Wednesday free, though.”
“See you later,” Serena said, stepping out of the car. “I hope your parents enjoy the rest of their stay.”
As the taxi pulled away from her apartment, Rupak sent Elizabeth a text message that said, What are you doing tonight? but she didn’t reply.
When he got home his father had already gone to sleep, but his mother was sitting on the couch in the living room, drinking a cup of tea and watching television. She smiled up at him when he entered.
“She’s lovely,” Mrs. Jha said.
Rupak nodded and went into the bathroom and closed the door. Mrs. Jha sat on the sofa and worried that Serena was too good for her son.
A week after they got back to Delhi, in Gurgaon, after dinner, Mrs. Jha was sitting in the living room at her husband’s laptop humming to herself while researching exercise machines for the home. She was considering ordering one of those small stepping machines. Mr. Jha meanwhile, was fidgeting on the sofa. He was suffering from dreadful jet lag and was still falling asleep by nine p.m. every evening.
“These crystals are so uncomfortable to lie down on,” he said, turning sideways to try to minimize the poking.
“Would you use a stair stepper as well?” Mrs. Jha said. “If we keep it near the television, we can use it while watching the news in the evenings.”
“Now why are you so interested in fitness all of a sudden? For years you’ve done nothing, but now you want to buy a stair stepper?”
“You’re the one who was encouraging me to wear skirts and be more Westernized. And you were the one who wanted to join a gym. Why not put all your tracksuits to some use? You’re just being grumpy now because you’re sleepy. Go upstairs and go to bed if you’re so tired. Although I don’t know how you will ever get over your jet lag at this rate,” Mrs. Jha said. “I wish we had stayed in New York for longer.”
“You’re the one who insisted you wanted to be back in Delhi well in time for Diwali,” Mr. Jha said. “And I don’t think we should encourage Rupak to pursue things with Serena. She’s not suitable.”
“What are you talking about? She’s perfect. She’s exactly the kind of wife we would have picked for him,” Mrs. Jha said.
“Hardly. She’s related to the Guptas, which means she knows all about our money, and I bet she’s just trying to get her hands on it. I don’t trust those Guptas one bit.”
Mrs. Jha ignored her husband and was reading the reviews for one of the stair steppers. A Mrs. Sonia Prasad from Pune had written, Good for exercise and handles provide an excellent place to dry clothes in rainy season.
“I should speak to the Chopras and see if they have an exercise machine at home,” Mrs. Jha said. “I was thinking we should invite them over for dinner soon. Maybe next Sunday night?”