Chapter 2 : Clouds She ate her jetlag away. Aloo ko acchar, kwati, deep fried fish, fried eggplant, sadeko badel, rayo ko saag - her mother had prepared everything she had asked for. "Chori nahuda ta esto mitho khana kahile paidaina!" her dad declared at the dinner table that night much to the amusement of her mother. "Ufff, timro baba lai jiskaunu payo bhane pugyo" . Her dad and mom constantly needled each other with much wit and love "The older he gets, the grumpier he becomes" she continued in Nepali "You know, last month, he stayed home one whole week because of the bandh and ate my head up completely!" She had yearned for seven long years for this moment. She remembered those lonely nights eating alone in her Santa Monica apartment when she would wish she was sitting at the dinner table with her parents throwing their warmth, wit and humour around and her forever-hungry brother wolfing down his food, indifferent to the glares of those around him. It all seemed too good to be true when the inevitable happened.It was on the third day of her return that her mother broached the subject. "How do you find Bibek?" . "Who Bibek?" she had forgotten about him since. "Well, he seemed like a nice guy" she said as she remembered. She had barely spoken those words when she realized what her mom was getting at. " Why do you ask?" "Well, remember, how we talked about you starting to think about settling down?" "No I don't remember any such thing " she wanted to say but her mom jumped in before she could answer. "Bibek is a nice guy" her mom said. "He just finished his ME from Australia and he plans to go to America. He has been offered a good job in a big company in New York. He is Geeta aunty's sister-in-law's cousin from her husband's side. Very good family" "Oh" she said. "Well, what do you think?" her mom asked again. "Chhyaa, mummy, I don't think anything" she felt a bit awkward having this conversation "I don't think I want to get married right now" "Good heavens, what are you saying, choree?" she knew what her mom would say next "All your friends are married and have children now. Smriti just had her second baby - a boy - last month. You are getting old and if you don't get married now you will never find a bride later" "I don't want to get married now!" the temperature in the room was heating up. "Why? Do you have anyone you like? Just tell me if you do and we will get you married to him" "No I don't" she wasn't sure of herself when she said that. There was someone she liked but they had decided to be friends and she knew they would never get married. "You guys get engaged now and you can talk to each other when you both are in America" her mom continued "and next year, you can come back here and get married. We will make all the arrangements and you don't need to worry about a thing". "Mummy, stop dreaming!" she was getting a little annoyed. "I will get married when I want and to whom I want. I am a grown up woman and I don't need you to tell me all this". , "Ammai ni!" her mum glared at her " Ke bhaneko testo? Just because you lived in America for 7 years, does that mean you have forgotten your culture and traditions? Did I bring you up just to see this day? Hare shiva, why is it my children who have to do this? What will we tell Geeta maiya!" her mom was no stranger to overstatement and melodrama at times. "Bibek is going to call you. At least say hi and talk nicely. Maybe you will feel differently after you talk. In our times we never talked to boys. I talked to your dad only after I got married to him. We allow you to talk but you stand up on our heads!" she said as she walked out of the room.