Half Girlfriend (1)

want a scene like last time.
I let her have the picture and stepped aside. She looked at it and
began to laugh.
'How old are you in this?’
'Four,'
The picture was of my parents and me standing outside the haveli.
My mother wore a saree with a ghoongat covering half her face. I
wore a vest and little else.
Riya sat down on the bed. She examined the photograph like a
detective solving a murder mystery. I sat next to her.
Is that your haveli?’ she said.
I nodded.
'It's beautiful.’
'That’s fifteen years ago. Now it’s falling apart.’
She looked closer. A cow was visible in the background.Two kids
at under a tree with an old man.
'Who are they?’
'Random people, perhaps some visitors. I told you, people come to
us with their problems. For them, we are still the rulers.’
'I'd love to go see it.’
I laughed.
’What?’ she said, puzzled.
'You? In Bihar?’
‘Yeah, why not?’
I shook my head and laughed again.
‘What’s so funny, prince?’ she said and tickled me.
‘Stop it, I’m ticklish,’ I said and laughed uncontrollably.
‘You think I can’t leave my sheltered life, huh?’ she said, poking
my stomach with her fingers. I grabbed and held her. She realized it
only after a few seconds.
‘Hey,’ she said.
‘What?’
‘You’re holding me.’