Chapter 26Firecrackers started popping at Lilavati’s house later in the evening. Baby Piya was coming home! The house was alight with festivity. But Iris’ own mood was sour; her mother had refused to speak to her again and her father sounded old and tired on the phone. She would go to Delhi as soon as she had said her good byes in Shambala; she owed her parents that. She had booked a seat on the last flight leaving for Delhi, and felt wretched. Through the open door, she could see Laila twirling like a dervish around the room, her arms spinning like windmills as her glass bracelets tinkled. Her shiny ghagra-choli glistened turquoise and pink with flashes of emerald green. Lilavati adjusted the pleats of her own sari as she smiled at her granddaughter indulgently.
ghagra-choliIris stepped
