Mixed Masala

Chapter 10

"Happy birthday, Appa!"

It was October 2nd and Meera's father had just turned seventy.

"Thank you, darling," Vishwanath smiled, hearing his daughter's voice. "You are the only one who calls me on the dot at 4.35 a.m. every single year." He stifled a yawn and looked over at his bleary-eyed wife who was trying very hard to get back to sleep.

"Well, this was the exact time you were born all those years ago, Appa," Meera said, giggling. She could just imagine her mother tossing and turning for the next half hour or so. Unlike her father who would simply go back to sleep in seconds after hanging up the phone, Lakshmi Devraj was a light sleeper and once awakened often found it very difficult to go back to sleep immediately.

"You obviously didn't give your mother a good night's sleep," Meera added. "I'm just continuing the tradition."

Her father chuckled. "Well, I wouldn't want it any other way. This is the one time I don't get up thinking that someone has just died ... On any other day these middle of the night calls never spell good news."

Meera smiled. "True. Anyway, you better get back to sleep. I love you, Appa. And happy birthday again."

""Thank you, Meera. Good night." Vishwanath hung up the phone and settled back in his bed again, his eyes closed. Time indeed flies when you're having fun, he thought to himself. He was seventy years old and yet he still remembered exactly how he had felt when he was thirty. In fact, he didn't feel seventy. He might look it, but he definitely did not feel it.

He sighed as he opened his eyes and caught his wife staring at him.

"How is she? Is she okay?" Lakshmi asked.

"Meera? Oh, she's fine. She's perfect." Vishwanath paused for a moment, then added, "They're all perfect. Don't you think so, Lakshmi?"

His wife smiled but didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Instead, Lakshmi fluffed her pillows once again and curled up under the sheets to try and get some sleep. Her husband was still awake when she turned around a few moments later.

"You're still awake?" she asked, surprised.

"Just thinking ..." Vishwanath replied softly. "I am a very happy man."

Lakshmi smiled. "Well, you're going to be a very sleepy man if you don't get some shut-eye now."

Vishwanath gave a mock sigh. "Don't worry about me. You need your beauty sleep more than I do."

His wife threw a pillow at him and laughed. "Go to sleep old man ... and happy birthday."

*****

"So how come there's no big celebration?" Suresh asked as he and Meera had dinner at TGI Friday's that very evening.

"Actually, we are having a surprise party for him this weekend," Meera said as she rolled up her fajita and attempted to put it in her mouth. "There's no dainty way to eat this, is there?" she asked finally.

Suresh grinned and took a large bite out of his own portion. "No, there's definitely no easy way to do this. It's a messy job, but it's worth it. Go for it, Meera."

"So anyway," Meera said as she washed down her first mouthful with some ice cold lemonade. "My mother is bringing him down to KL this weekend on the pretext of attending some medical convention or other ... She even got Raj to print out a phoney pamphlet before he left for London."

"Sounds like you've all been planning this for some time now," Suresh said, as he put a couple of French fries drenched in chilli sauce into his mouth.