French Lover Read Online Free Page A

Chaitali covered her mouth with her left hand and Sanal laughed loudly, haha, hoho. Odil’s laugh showed only her pink upper gums and neither teeth nor sound. Rajesh’s moustache and beard covered his whole face and when he laughed, all of it just stretched a little and the teeth were hidden in the hair. Sunil sucked in his breath when he laughed—air only went in and never came out.
    Amidst such gusts of laughter, Babu Gogini had the urge to ask everyone a question: why do Frenchmen have such large mouths and small hands?
    No one knew the answer to that.
    Babu Gogini said solemnly, ‘Because French women have tiny breasts and huge nipples.’
    No one except Odil and Sanal laughed at that one.
    Minakshi turned away and Sahana got up to go inside.
    One question led to another. Sanal asked, ‘Do you know what gender is Law?’
    Everyone was silent. Sanal said, ‘Feminine gender.’ He then sat there quietly until someone was curious enough to ask him for an explanation. Odil did that.
    ‘Law is feminine because it has holes.’
    Chaitali asked if anyone wanted more orange juice. There were desperate attempts to change the topic.
    Kishan smiled and said to Nila, ‘Today you’re on leave, but from tomorrow you’ll have to get down to housework, okay?’
    Kishan’s comment didn’t embarrass Nila at all.
    Chaitali butted in, ‘The house isn’t just hers. Both of you will have to get on with the housework.’
    Kishan did a bottoms up and said, ‘I am not good at all this.’
    Nila asked, ‘And I have to be?’
    ‘You do. You’re a woman.’
    Everyone in the room laughed—that was that for the educated girl.
    Kishan looked at Nila with half-closed eyes and said, ‘Come closer. You’re my wife and you’re sitting so far away.’
    Everyone almost pushed Nila towards Kishan.
    Kishan knocked on his glass and drew all eyes upon Nila as hesaid, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, my wife here is quite a beauty, isn’t she?’
    ‘Certainly, sure.’ The voices were unanimous.
    Kishan patted Nila on the back and said, ‘After all, she is
my
bride.’
    Tariq said, ‘Kishan really needed a wife like this.’
    ‘Why so?’
    ‘So beautiful, so good—so totally Indian. Foreigners are no good! They are good for a little lovemaking, but not for marriage. For marriage it has to be an Indian.’ Tariq spoke in pure Hindi.
    Chaitali shouted, ‘Will someone please translate what Tariq said for Odil’s benefit?’
    Odil was immersed in a whispered conversation with Babu and Sahana. He looked up and said, ‘Has someone said anything odious about me?’
    Sanal said, ‘No, no, not odious at all. Whatever he said is true, but it is all made up.’
    Tariq laughed and said, ‘I have seen many women, but none so beautiful as my wife.’
    Odil’s pink-gummed smile was in place for a long time.
    No one noticed, but the roomful of people broke up into smaller groups. Rajesh and Tariq were in one group.
    ‘India’s economy is going in for a massive change in the next ten years.’
    ‘Nonsense! It’s a poor country and it’ll stay poor—the country is corrupt from top to bottom.’
    ‘All of Silicon Valley is in the hands of the Indians and even Europe is trying to lure software professionals from India.’
    ‘Only a handful of people have money in their hands—the rest are all dying of hunger.’
    ‘I have never seen a man die of hunger in India. It is all Western propaganda.’
    ‘Population is killing the country.’
    ‘But why! Human resource is a great strength, if it is used properly. Once the factories of Europe almost closed down and they had to fall back on labourers from other countries.’
    In another group Kishan and Babu Gogini were frothing at the mouth: ‘Congress is gone. Not even in a hundred years will they be able to come back to power.’
    ‘But the BJP also can’t be relied upon. Vajpayee is our only hope.’
    ‘The Left and Right wings are all the same. Do you know Jacques Chiraq has taken a huge bribe