A Suitable Boy

by Vikram Seth

‘Boys aren’t in love, they’re just bold. When the four of us were walking to the grove just now, I noticed a couple of boys on bicycles following us in a pathetic sort of way. Neither really wanted to brave an encounter with us, but neither could say so. So it was quite a relief to them when we entered the grove and the question became moot.’

‘If I thought it would do any good, I would prescribe her a string of meems, one to be taken every hour and several before she retires.’

Families contain far too great a range of temperament—and, unlike acquaintances, they can’t be dropped. And we’ll continue to be related till one of us drops dead.

‘It is entirely a matter of chance that Kishor Babu was born in a Hindu family and you, Master Sahib, in a Muslim one. I have no doubt that if you had been exchanged after birth, or before birth, or even before conception, you would have been praising Krishanji and he, the Prophet. As for me, Master Sahib, being so little worthy of praise, I don’t feel very much like praising anyone—let alone worshipping them.’

‘Besides,’ Amit added, ‘we are all accidents of history and must do what we are best at without fretting too much about it.