There's Something About Mira

by Sonali Dev

chai tea latte. Yes, I’ve done the unforgivable and ordered the carelessly named drink, even though finding it called that on a menu in a New York café knocked down my wide-eyed wonder at the city a few notches.

I’ve been nervous about my visit to India next month, but suddenly I’m curious. An entire country and culture that’s a significant part of my identity, and I have no idea what its reality is.

and I knock and he rings.

“Knocker or bell?” he says. “Decisions, decisions,” I say. He knocks and I ring.

“Why am I so filled with the pain of this stranger?” “Maybe it’s not her pain you’re filled with.”

“People are dicks, Miru. Society has given them permission to be dicks as long as their evil is focused on those who can’t protect themselves.”

You can’t judge your courage in a different world based on the world you’re in right now.”

All my life my parents have been lovely to everyone else and terrible to Rumi and me.

“Don’t say that, honey. Weddings are overwhelming. Our culture doesn’t make it easy. There’s too many people’s feelings to consider. Just know that you come first. It’s your day.”

Surely it isn’t hard to be a parent who doesn’t put what they want first all the time.

It’s a moment I know I will remember for as long as I live. A moment when Krish Hale showed me exactly the man he was, exactly what every man can be if he chooses.

A little piece of my ability to trust snaps back into place. A little piece of me snaps back into place. And I know that little piece of me will always belong with Krish Hale, here in this filthy room.

“Real men don’t need directions transcends language.”

haven’t noticed until now that he doesn’t seem out of place here the way he did in Jackson Heights. Either he’s changed or the way I see him has.

He rings the doorbell and I knock.

“We’re all eating each other’s food on this earth, child. Never feel guilty to eat when you’re hungry. Just remember to feed the hungry when you can.

“I don’t know why people associate that word with the physical. If you’re in love, if your hearts recognize each other as a piece of themselves, you’re lovers. When will people stop using lust to devalue love?”

I think of my parents devaluing Rumi and Saket’s love because they can’t see anything but the physical aspect of it.

“Now tell me the parts you left out,” she says, breaking the silence. Krish’s jaw tightens. She fixes him with a look. “I never forget a face, and yours is almost exactly the same as hers.”

I am there, you know. On your shoulder. As you are on mine. If there is happiness in this world it is knowing that we have that forever.

How one approaches parenting is about the person you are. The parents you get is a game of chance for everyone.”

“It is hard to do the thing you want when you’ve been taught that doing what others want means loving them.

“When you’re true to yourself, even when something hurts, it feels good. When you’re betraying yourself, even when something is supposed to feel good, it hurts.”

There’s something about me when I’m with him. And I think it’s that I really like who I am.