Bombay Balchao

by Jane Borges

I wish I had the courage to tell her that she was wrong. But when you love someone dearly, you allow their truth to take precedence over yours.

The Mangalorean aunties who until then had only been gossiping about poor Joe’s fate now silently prayed harder to keep drunk, silly Goan men away from their daughters.

After he learnt that his daughter had married Benjamin in Goa, he had had a moment too many of imagining a naked Benjamin dancing to Blue Suede Shoes in front of his daughter. When this happened, he would run to the kitchen and splash cold water on his face. It would freeze the thoughts for a few seconds before the unforgivable thrusts addled his mind again.

While paeans are sung about lovers—the star-crossed ones and those whose stories sometimes end abruptly—of how their souls had once entwined and how they had carried inside them mirrors to each other’s heart, even the best of friendships rarely inspires verse.