Happy Birthday!: And Other Stories - Plot & Excerpts
THE GECKO ON THE WALL I stare in confusion at Dipti and Choti standing outside my front door until Dipti says, ‘Hi Papa,’ carrying me into the centrefolds of our relationship. ‘Hello beta,’ I reply, straightening my back like a superintendent on duty. I smile to let it be known that I’m happy to see them. ‘How’ve you been?’ Dipti continues in a tired tone, wafting in with the smell of the neighbour’s curry that, for the first time, curls my nose. She crosses the threshold with her leather suitcases, her clothes buttered by fabric softener and a beefiness that visits, as she does, every second year from America. Immediately, my living room—a luxury in Mumbai—becomes smaller. ‘Hi Nanu!’ says Choti, the little one. She flings her arms around my waist with such force that I stumble backward, almost slipping on my dead wife’s rug. In my old house with the grainy floors the rug was a solid thing, but this shiny new house with its slick flooring has made it dangerous, an accident waiting to happen.
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