*Is she hot?' Bala said, *Like good-looking?'

*She is my girlfriend's mother. I find the daughter pretty.'

*What?'

*I have to do this Bala. I am hitting all-time low with her. If I don't do something drastic, I can kiss my girl goodbye forever. They've got a Cisco guy lined up, pure as fresh coconut oil.'

*Your girlfriend is Tamilian?'

Yes, Brahmin, so you can deal with it for once.'

*Iyenger or....'

*Iyer, does it matter?'

*No,' Bala said and came back to his seat. *Now I know why you came to Chennai.'

*Apart from the fact that I was dying to work with a financial wizard like you,' I said.

*What?'

*Nothing, now, are you doing it?'

*What?'

*Finalising the singers, Hariharan, S.P. and the new talent Radha.'

*What will the agents say? We have a committee.'

*Everyone in the committee works for you. They are your drones.'

*But still,' Bala said, in deep thought.

*You decide,' I sighed. *I have work. I haven't cleaned up my mailbox in ages. I still have those emails of yours asking me to push those Internet stocks, I should delete them, right?'

Bala stared at me as I turned to leave. *Look, it is not personal,' I said, *but this is about my future kids.'

31.

*Aunty, may I come in?' I said.

Ananya's mother looked at me through the mesh door with sleepy eyes. She wore a nightie; I had disturbed her afternoon nap.

I had told my agents I would be out for a late lunch. Before coming to their house, I stopped at Grand Sweets and packed two kilos of Mysore pak.

Aunty opened the door. I came inside. She went inside to change her clothes. I flipped through The Hindu util she returned.

*Uncle's back?' I asked.

*He came last night.' She yawned. *But he is in office now.'

*Sorry to wake you up,' I said and passed her the box of sweets.

*What's this?'

*I wanted to apologise for the dinner that night.'

Aunty kept quiet and looked at the coffee table.

*I am sorry about the Ratna Stores incident. I assure you, nothing cheap happened,' I said.

*Chitra is a loudmouth,' she responded. *She would have told the whole of Mylapore by now.'

*I can understand. We have people like that in Punjabis as well. People who love to interfere in other people's lives.'

Aunty ignored me. She went inside to keep the sweets in the fridge. She came back with a glass of water and their family dish of hard, brittle spirals that didn't taste of anything.

I took one. My tooth hurt as I tried to bite it. I took the spiral out of my mouth and faked I had taken a bite by pretending to chew. We had an awkward minute of silence.

*Aunty, I wnted to show you this,' I said and opened my bag. I took out the Carnatic music CDs and gave them to her.

*T.S. Subramanium? Whose is it?

*Mine.'

*What?'

*I'm trying to develop a taste. I'm learning , but it's hard. There's the swara, the raga, the shruti.'

*You know about shruti?'

*Only the basics. I am not an expert like you.'

She returned my CDs and gave a wry smile. *In Chennai I am a nobody. Even Chitra is better than me. Though people say she knows the corporator of Chennai, who asked Guruji to take her on. The corporator is in charge of the kutcheri venues, so Guruji had to oblige her. Can you imagine how shallow she is?'

*There have ot be other gurus,' I said.

*I was ready for an advanced one. Anyway, I am sorry I overreacted that day.'

*No, no, you don't haave to spologise. I came ot apologise. And for a little request.'

*Request? What are you requesting me? You young people do whatever you want, anyway.'

*Nothis isn't about Ananya and me. This is about our Citibank concert.'

Over the next half an hour I explained the upcoming event. I told her about the Fisherman's Cove venue, the who's who of Chennai that we expected to be present, the popular music concert for two hours divided between three singers, and that I wanted her to be one of them.

*Me?' she echoed, shocked.

*Yes,' I said.

*I've never sung popular music,' she said.

*You have a trained voice. Switch on MTV and see the latest chartbusters.

Three Kollywood, three Bollywood. You are done.'

*Why me?' she asked, still bewildered.

*Actually, we are desperate. We need three singers and we found only two. My boss gave me the job of finding the third singer. So, my appraisal depends on you.'

*Who are the other two singers?'

*They are a bit known. So, the third one has to be fresh to balance things out.'

*Who?'

*hariharan and S.P. Balasubramanium,' I said.

Aunty's mouth fell open. She stood up and left the room. I followed her into the kitchen. *Aunty, it is no big deal. It isn't a public concert.'

Aunty answerd by placinga frying pan on the stove and poring oil in it. Once the oil heated uo, she tossed in mustard seeds and curry leaves. A pungent smell filled the kitchen. I coughed twice.

*See, this is what I do all day. I cook, I don't perform. I am an amateur. I can't even sit in front of Hariharan and S.P., let alone share the same stage.'

*It's fun night, not a competition. They sing after you.'

She tossed chopped onions in the pan. My eyes burned along with my throat.

"aunty, have you ever performed on stage before?'

*No. OK, yes, a couple of times in the Tamil Sangam events where Ananya's father was posted. But his, five-star hotel, high-society, Hariharan....You've got Hariharan, why do you need me?'

*Only professionals will make it too commercial. We want to give our clients a family feel. A casual vibe will be nice,' I said.

Aunty shook her head. I continued to convince her until she had prepared the evening dinner of tomato rasam, lemon rice and fried bhindi. I had followed the recipe and could now make rasam from scratch. However, I still didn't have her on board.

*Why are you doing this? I accepted you apology, didn't i?'

*that's not why I am doing it.'

*Then why?' She covered the dishes with plates.

*I am doing this because I think you are a good singer.'

*How do you know that?'

*Because Ananya told me. She also said you've trained all your life. And I believe her.'

She looked at me.

*Don't tell me the idea doesn't excite you. Not even a little?' I said as we came back to the living room.

*of course, it is a huge honour, but I can't.'

*Don't say you can't. C'mon, we will keep it a surprise. We won't tell uncle. We won't even tell Ananya if you want.

We sat down on the sofa. I noticed the whisky bottle, the level was the same as I had left it.

*OK, here is the deal. You give a tentative yes now. You prepare the songs when Ananya and uncle are not at home. If on the day of the concert, you want to back out, let me know the night before and I will manage. If not, give it a shot.

Deal?'

*I will chicken out at the end,' she promised.

*I'll take the chance. Please,' I said.

She took ten seconds, but she gave a brief nod at the end.

I sprang up the sofa in excitement. *Cool, your practice starts now,' I said and picked up the remote and put on MTV.

*What are these songs?' she said as the screen showed two hundred South Indian dancers dancing on the Great Wall of China.

*I'll let you figure it out. And now, I better go to work,' I said, *The Citi never sleeps, but the Citi shouldn't bunk office, too.'

I fist-pumped as I left Ananya's house.