“It is time for me to get ready,” Nandita told her mother after close to an hour on the phone.
“Is it 6 pm already?” her mother turned her neck to see the wall clock. “Yes, dear, it is.”
Nandita knew it was time for her Sunday dinner at the house of the eldest sister of her mother-in-law. They lived only a short distance away. The Sunday dinner was always fixed there. Everyone in her husband’s extended family on the maternal side assembled every Sunday for it. It was a family ritual that everyone followed without exception.
“I have to take ice-cream today. They have left the choice of flavour to me,” Nandita said.
The dinner was also some sort of potluck event. Everyone brought a dish with them.
“So what are you going to take, dear? Take something that everyone likes,” her mother advised.
“Everyone like the chocolate flavour here, that too the dark, bitter one,” Nandita said with a smirk.
“Oh dear, then you can’t have it,” her mother smiled, knowing well how much her daughter hated chocolate. But she soon changed her tone. “It is ok. You can take a bite. It is a good way for you to feel part of the family. It has been only three months since your marriage,” she added.
“Yes, Mom. I am going to take it. But bitter chocolate?…Eessh… Yucky..,” Nandita squealed. She rounded her lips, squinted her eyes, and raised her shoulders. She remembered the only time she had chocolate in her childhood. She had never touched it again.
Her mother didn’t know what to say. “Hmm.. It’s ok, dear,” is all she said.
“And mom, do you know I have to wear a sari for this, every Sunday?” Nandita asked.
“Yes, you told me. Sarees are comfortable for family events,” she replied. “Aren’t they?”
“Aargh.. come on, Mom, you know how much I detest them, but the eldest sister of my mother-in-law – she checks on me, every Sunday.. She gives me compliments also, by the way,” Nandita smiled.
“Good.. ok, dear. You look good in a sari. Ask Nikhil the colour – he has a good sense of matching. It is time for you to get ready. I don’t want you to get late,” her mother said.
“Oh Mom – you and your son-in-law, ganging up against me,” Nandita said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, Mom, I got to go now. Bye,” Nandita said and hung up.
**
When she turned around, she saw her husband, Nikhil, almost ready in a jeans and a blue full t-shirt.
“What did Mom say?” he asked, with a mischievous smile.
“Nothing much.. ask you for the colour of the sari,” Nandita said. Her mouth crunched, and she raised an eyebrow in an expression of affection. “So it is blue, I guess?”
“You are wearing a sari?” Nikhil asked. “I thought a blue dress or t-shirt should be good…”
“Aaah.. and then I will get weird looks from everyone at the dinner.. No chance…,” she replied.
“Come on.. no one is watching.. don’t worry.. of course, if you want, a blue sari is also fine..”
“Everyone is watching.. You have no idea…”
“Hmm.. wear the dress I got you last month.. that’s blue, too..”
“You are like.. heads I win, tails you lose.. Get aside, let me see which sari to wear..”
Nikhil combed his hair watching himself in the mirror. Meanwhile, Nandita stared at her open wardrobe, trying to decide what to wear. For her, it was not a trivial decision. Too many factors at play in her mind couldn’t let her decide in a hurry.
While she got ready, Nikhil gave his thumbs up to the sari she had chosen. It wasn’t as aunty-like as he had imagined, and given the circumstances, he was willing to adjust.
“By the way, I heard about the ice-cream..,” he said.
“Why do you eavesdrop on my and my mom’s conversations?” Nandita shouted.
“I didn’t have to make any special effort.. It was easy to overhear it. Why do you want to get a dark chocolate ice-cream?” he asked. “I know you hate it..”
“Don’t tell me you were here listening to everything from the start!!” Nandita exclaimed.
“You didn’t notice me.. by the way, tell me.. why chocolate?” Nikhil persisted.
“Well, because everyone here likes it.”
“But what about you?”
“Well, I will manage…”
“Why??? Chocolate is not such a big deal for everyone… other flavours are ok..”
“Yeah.. but still ..I know how it is.. and it is ok.. I have developed a taste for chocolate, of late…”
“Aha.. Since when?! Not since I know you, and that’s been more than four years..”
“Ok.. will you go and get the chocolate ice-cream, while I get ready? Else, we will get late, and you know I don’t want that..” Nandita said and pushed Nikhil out of their room.
**
Nikhil couldn’t take his eyes off Nandita that evening. He was over the moon. Every little moment, he stole a glance at her. This was not something that went unnoticed, least of all by Nandita herself. The blue dress that she had worn, instead of the sari she had planned earlier, had done the trick.
“Will you stop staring at me?” Nandita pinched Nikhil’s arm. She took a serving of the sumptuous paneer dish that her mother-in-law’s brother’s wife had got for the potluck.
“I can’t..,” Nikhil said, with a twinkle in his eye. “So, you finally did take my input.. I like it.. nice..”
“Everyone is looking at us.. Stop glaring at me,” she insisted.
“No one is looking at us, dear wife.. And even if they are, what’s the problem? We are newly-weds.. We have all the license that uncles and aunties don’t have, ok?” he said, and winked at her.
Nandita walked away as some relative called her for something. Nikhil followed her around after a while. He saw her getting bored making polite conversation with his extended family.
“Why are you getting so self-conscious?” Nikhil whispered in her ear from behind. She pushed him back and continued with her talk. “This is not an exam,” he said. “Be yourself.”
Everyone appreciated Nandita’s blue dress. Her matching blue necklace and blue earrings got some wows too. No one remarked on her not wearing a sari. That surprised Nandita.
After all, was Nikhil right? she wondered. Was it her who was trying too hard or thinking too much? Or wasn’t she? Nandita wasn’t sure yet. She did not want to take any chances. She remembered her mother’s advice.
The dinner was over, and it was time for the ice-cream.
It was at that time that Nandita got the surprise of the evening. While everyone else got a chocolate ice-cream bowl, Nikhil got a bowl of mango ice-cream for her. And for himself.
No one seemed to notice that too, except her mother-in-law’s eldest sister.
“You are a non-chocolatier?” she asked, coming close to Nandita, and peering over her bowl.
“Umm.. well, I am ok with it.. but I don’t know.. err.. it’s not my favourite.. it’s a bit..,” Nandita rambled and fumbled, holding the mango ice-cream.
“I am so glad you don’t like chocolate,” the elder relative remarked. Nandita looked up from her bowl in surprise.
“I didn’t have any company so far. Everyone here is a diehard chocolate fan. So much so that they don’t have anything else! I ate chocolate for all these years, you know, because of everyone. Now I am so happy I have company!” she said with a smile.
Then she turned to Nikhil. She reprimanded her nephew, “Nikhil, why are you having Mango? Because of her?” with her eyebrows raised and questioning hands.
She pulled the mango ice-cream bowl from his hand and said, “Go, get your chocolate bowl for yourself. I will have mango with Nandita. We are the non-chocolatiers.”
Nikhil stole a glance with Nandita and smiled. She couldn’t but help smile back at him. But there were no words spoken. Eyes were enough. It was clear to Nikhil that Nandita enjoyed this surprise that he had given her.
Nikhil was right, she thought while enjoying her scoop with the elder relative. This was not an exam. This was family. She decided to be herself and enjoy the rest of the evening.
***
Adjustment was first published in ILA Magazine. It is now part of the collection ‘Melange‘