Rishi smiled a little. “What makes you think this isn’t what I want?”
His brother’s eyes, the same color of dark honey as his own, searched his face for something. Finally, apparently not finding it, Ashish looked away. “Whatever, man. As long as you’re happy.”
Rishi felt a pang of something, looking at his little brother. Ashish was now taller than him by a full inch. They were so fundamentally different. And to Ashish, he was just some weird relic, something that belonged in their parents’ time in India, not here in modern America. Maybe this is the beginning of us growing apart, Rishi thought, and his heart hurt. But he forced himself to get up, because he knew they’d said all there was to say for now.
He made his way up to his room, to pack for San Francisco. For Dimple Shah, whoever she was.
CHAPTER 4
“What about this one? The color will really suit you, Dimple.”
Dimple couldn’t resist rolling her eyes at the voluminous salwar kameez Mamma was holding up. It was swaths of gold brocade, with a vibrant peacock blue dupatta. It looked like a costume for a Bollywood movie. “Sorry, Mother, I cannot wear that to Insomnia Con.”
Mamma lowered the offending garment, looking outraged. “Why not? You should be proud of your heritage, Dimple.” From around the tiny shop full of imported Indian clothing, parents gave Mamma approving looks. Dimple could see her practically preening for the crowd. “Papa and I have held on to our culture, our values, for a quarter century! When we came to America, we said we would never—”
“Yeah, but I didn’t come to America,” Dimple interrupted, darting a defiant glance at all the shoppers. “I was born here. This is my home. This is my culture.”
Mamma clutched the gold salwar to her bosom. “Hai Ram,” she said faintly.
Dimple sighed and grabbed a few kurta tops hanging on the rail next to her. They were all variations of the same color and pattern: black with grayish-silver accents. “What about these?” she said. She could pair them with her skinny jeans and Chucks and look almost normal.
Mamma made a face, but Dimple could already see she was going to agree. “I suppose that will do, but a little bit of color would really be nice for your complexion. Since you refuse to wear makeup . . .”
Dimple hurried Mamma to the counter to pay before she could begin looking around the store for kaajal.
? ? ?
Back at home Dimple texted Celia. Leaving tomorrow 8 AM! Should take me about 4 hrs from Fresno.
Celia was one of the few other girls who were attending Insomnia Con. They’d met on the forums and decided to room together for the month and a half.
Of course Dimple hadn’t told Mamma and Papa about that. They’d worry that Celia would turn out to be a fifty-year-old man with a shovel and a van if they knew that Dimple met her online. (She wasn’t. Dimple had checked her out on Facebook.) It had been hard enough to convince them to let her drive herself. Dimple wasn’t completely sure they grasped the concept of college—that, in just a couple of weeks, she’d be living apart from them, making decisions for herself. Alone.
Her phone beeped with an incoming text.
I. Cannot. Wait.
Celia, who’d also just graduated high school, lived in San Francisco with her parents. She would start at SFSU in the fall.
Me either! Do you want to meet up for lunch when I get there?
Sure! How about on campus? They have a great pizza place.
Sounds awesome.
After they’d settled the details, Dimple sank back in her bed and smiled. It was all falling into place. Her life was finally beginning.
Ma performed the ritual in the driveway. She’d set a bowl of kumkum powder dissolved in water on a silver tray, and she circled it around his face and shoulders. Her lips moved feverishly in prayer to Lord Hanuman as she asked that good fortune smile on her oldest son. When the ritual was completed, she stepped back and smiled up at him, tears glistening in her eyes.
Pappa put his hand on Rishi’s shoulder and squeezed once, briefly, before letting go. “You have everything you need?”
Pappa said “everything” with a meaningful weightiness, and Rishi nodded solemnly, knowing what he meant.
“Call us the minute you get there,” Ma said.
“We’re in Atherton. It’ll take him, like, an hour to get to SFSU. He takes longer baths.” Ashish was a few feet away, shooting hoops while he waited for his friends to swing by and pick him up for whatever fun weekend activity they had planned—contracting hep C or maybe alcohol poisoning.
His mother glared over her shoulder. “Yes, but this is a special trip. He could be meeting your future bhabhi, Ashish. Have some respect.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll call as soon as I can,” Rishi said quickly. Then he bent down and touched their feet. “Bye, Ma, Pappa.”
He felt his chest swelling with emotion as he got in the car and drove off, his parents waving like mad in the rearview mirror. Something bigger than him threatened to flatten Rishi, something bigger than all of them. He could swear, as he drove down the tree-lined street in the late morning light, that he saw dozens and dozens of flickering ghosts—his grandparents and their parents and their parents—watching him, smiling. Escorting him to his destiny.
Dimple stretched out her stiff muscles as she made her way to the cluster of stores and restaurants across from the parking garage. The afternoon sunlight was luxuriant on her skin; she’d been sequestered in her car for the past three hours. The open air of the city felt positively therapeutic after all that inhaled air-conditioning.
Dimple had gotten here faster than she’d anticipated, so she’d texted Celia to tell her that she was here, but to take her time. She would explore the campus a bit while she waited. But first—Starbucks.
She needed some caffeine in her system before she called home to tell her parents she’d arrived. Mamma was sure to have another litany of questions and warnings about American college boys. Dimple had to actually roll up the car window while Mamma was talking this morning so she could leave on time. Even Papa had given up and gone inside after twenty minutes. The woman was relentless, with the jaw muscles of a jungle predator.
The upside was that because she’d been so worried about being late, Dimple had driven ten above the speed limit the entire time, refused to stop for breaks, and made it early.