( continues...) slept in her own lap.
Hirenbhai's wedding was next, and the reason I have to miss class. Hirenbhai is Mehulbhai's cousin. At his haatak, I had to use the Indian "toilet" for the first time in eight years. And I was wearing a kafni, whose top went past my knees, so I had to hold all that up. And I squatted the wrong way, meaning my shit fell not into the water but on the surface, accumulating and stinking until I washed it down with a bucket of water. Thankfully, I had some toilet tissue, so I didn't have to do the hand thing.
We were watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on Zee Movie Zone, and there was a scene like dozens we had seen before, of a line of men shooting arrows at their foes. I had a thought, though, one I'd never had all these years. I turned to my brother: "Hey, Kiran, what if they all shot at the same person?" And he went apeshit cause he'd had the exact same epiphany. Yet another example of our psychic bond.
Kiran and I figured out why you can just throw trash on the ground in India. All the animals eat it.
Downtown Surat looks more like you'd expect a city to look like although still, you know, Indian. There are lanes, and a traffic light people actually seem to obey. Buildings look newer and swankier. We saw a movie theater. The most expensive ticket was a hundred rupees, about $2.50. We also ate at a Pizza Hut! The pizza was a bit different, especially the sauce, but it was still good. Afterward, we stopped by a juice place where I had fresh strawberry juice.
Today was Hirenbhai's wedding, which was pretty much like Mehulbhai's wedding. My brother and I cut out early, taking a rickshaw home with Dada and Suresh Uncle. The main thing I remember is this girl in a purple sari (weirdly enough, Nikky had been wearing a purple sari too) from the bride's side. My brother didn't think she was pretty, and maybe she wasn't spectacular in any way, but I liked her. What really got me was her smile. It was the kind that causes an instinctive reaction in your body to smile too, it makes you that happy. I hadn't seen a smile like that in a long time. I would marry her if she spoke English and were everything else I want in a woman.