Read Online When Hari Met His Saali by Harsh Warrdhan - Free Book Online

had to talk to both of them. Simi didn’t feel equipped to handle this situation.
    What do I do? When does my life start?
    ‘
So rahi hai kya andar
?’ her mother called again, as if she was hiding somewhere inside the bathroom. It always seemed to Simi that her mother would stand just outside the bathroom door listening to her. Of course, she was just being paranoid.
    Simi took her bath quickly. She came out and went to the kitchen to start making dinner, but a minute later her mother came in.
    ‘What are you doing here? I’ll cook some
khichidi
and
kadhi
…’ She started prepping the food.
    ‘
Arrey
, Mom, I was also doing the same,
na
!’ Simi insisted, but her mother almost brutally shoved her aside.
    ‘You work all day and then come home and cook. It’s not right. What will people say?’
    Simi loved her mother, she was so cute and naïve. She hugged her from behind.
    ‘What people, Mom? Who are all these people who keep saying these things about us? Where are they, I want to meet them!’
    Her mother removed herself from the hug and scolded her: ‘Go and watch your shows. I’ll call you once the food is ready!’
    ‘You’ll have
papad, na
?’ her mother asked as Simi switched on the television. Simi hated
papad
but she knew her mother loved them and this was her way of saying that they were going to have them with the
khichidi.
    After dinner, her mother went to sleep in the bedroom. Simi laid her mattress on the floor in front of the TV. She loved sleeping in front of theTV. She watched TV shows till she couldn’t keep her eyes open and then she slept. This way, she didn’t have to entertain her thoughts.
    Simi only watched American shows. Her favorite was
The Practice
— a gripping drama about lawyers at an American law firm, along with some other shows on the Fox Crime channel.
    While she was watching Lindsay Dole, the feisty lawyer from the show, Simi remembered Tia. Lindsay Dole reminded Simi of Tia. Just like her character Tia was focused, a go-getter, an independent woman. Simi imagined Tia having a posh office and house just like Lindsay. Maybe Tia’s man even looked like Lindsay Dole’s boyfriend on the show, Bobby Donnell. Simi knew that Tia was dating some guy in L.A.
    Maybe he looks like Bobby Donnell, or who’s the actor … umm … Dylan McDermott!
    Simi got goosebumps thinking about the blue-eyed Bobby Donnell. She had a massive crush on him, but he was clearly out of her league.
    Wouldn’t it be fun if Tia married a hunk like Bobby Donnell?
    As she was relishing that thought, another came to her mind.
    But what about you, Simi?
    Simi suddenly felt like she had no control over her own thoughts.
    What about me? Oh, don’t worry about me. I am never leaving Mom alone. If I ever get married, the guy will have to agree to live with us.
    Simi couldn’t deny that she would have liked to make lots of money like Tia. Be independent, like Tia. Be an adult, like Tia. After all, Tia was the only high achiever she knew. She wanted to ask Tia so many questions, like how is it to live away from home? In America? Did she ever miss them, Mom and her? But whenever they spoke over the phone or on Skype, they would talk generally — although even that was an improvement over earlier times when there was no communication between them at all.
    Now, she was at least cordial with her sister when they spoke, mostly by Skype. They didn’t have the huggy, sappy, touchy-feely kind of relationship some sisters have, but they had closeness because they had been apart from each other for so long. Weird, but maybe it was because of the physical distance between them that in the last couple of years they had become more like two adult friends. What no one would have guessed was that Tia missed her sibling or that Simi wanted and needed a sister in her life.
    By midnight, Simi was just about to go to sleep when Namit called. Her phone rang loudly. Shit, she had forgotten to put it on silent.
    ‘Who is