"Mommy... When is daddy coming home?", shrieks an angry Shruthi, as she tries valiantly to fix those balloons above the fridge, in vain. Her dad would better come early today, as it spells D-DAY in the Rao family calendar today - Shruthi's 8th birthday.
"Wait na, shweetie... Papa is coming na, he told you he won't be late today. And you be careful, ok, with those scissors! Careful with the egdes!"
"Ouch!", does Shruthi as she punctures her left pinky trying to poke open the plastic bag full of "Uncle Redneck" balloons.
"Mommy! See my finger is bloody now! I am doing so much much work for decorating! All the kids we had called better come! Otherwise I am not eating anything!"
The wind caressed over the cold, pale, white scene at #22 F, Doughstone Lane, Illinois. It was more or less a lower-middle-bracket dwelling area. Shujith is one brain-drained NRI, basically half Kannada half Mallu, who, alongwith his Mallu wife Renjitha and daughter Shruthi, lived on the Fourth floor of this ordinary, economical residential complex. Shujith moved in nine years ago, as an IT outsourced labour to the US, representing an Indian multinational, which he soon quit, and joined an IT counselling firm set up by the infamous JK Mishra and Sons from Pleasanton, CA. He was earning decent money, and less than a year after his arrival, was getting offers from brahmins, back offshore. Shujith's parents, utterly overjoyed, took a large dowry and ended Shujith's not-at-all colorful bachelorhood (Shujith was a non drinker, non smoker, a vegetarian and never experienced party life) by getting Renjitha, a B Ed. from Shornur, Kerala, to marry him. Like Shujith, Renjitha was a similar, strong lady, who waxed her hands and legs only once, during her pregnancy when she was hospitalized, as her mother found out that American Nurses loathe Indian women patients with grizzly features. Both Renjitha and her mother found this fact very weird, and concluded it with the statement "Psycho Foreigners".
However, their daughter Shruthi was groomed the American way, at St. Lauren's School, a convent, where Shruthi was admitted when she was three. To Shruthi's surprise, she managed to have only four friends who did not spit over her tiffin box full of uttapam - A girl called Ramala with a faint moustache at this young an age, basically from Vijaywada, AP, Rizwanur, a Bangladeshi boy, who likes his green pants a lot, Dhipika, another girl with Mallu nativity and Doug, the geek, whose specs always seem to be falling over his profusely running nose, and Doug was the only American Kid in their group.
The Clock rang. It was 7 PM and Shujith had sweaty eyebrows inside his AC office hall. His company had recently installed an ERP Software System for their Clients, Pratt Miller and Jonathan Borowski, who ran a chain of tin cutting equipment across the East Shore, and was doing good, especially in NYC. But less than a month of installation, when the whole business was being bestowed over the ERP System, it was constantly returning errors of Overloading that night. Shujith cursed his God Shanmugam, and wondered how on earth can he possibly solve this problem to reach home in time for Shruthi's birthday with the cake, which he had bought in the afternoon, from a discount store. Shujith was getting nervous by the second.
"Anand... These bugs keep on coming when you least expect them to!! The internet traffic is pretty heavy too, so I don't think you and me alone in this office can manage to whiff off this bug tonight..."
"But Sir, you are the only senior who can take care of this problem now. All the others have left the office, and are not returning their calls. I think everyone's gone out with their families tonight. Its snowing, you know", Anand says. Anand is a newly recruited Software Engineer.
"Yes i know, but how can I override the system now, especially when so much is at stake. Miller and Borowski would end up killing Mishra Ji, and I'll be in trouble for it!"
"Sir, I think about three hours of debugging shoud do the trick... After all, you are a genius sir! You can do it!"
Shujith wondered what on earth can he do to make it home in time. It was a very critical project, and Shujith could end up losing his job if the system was not up by that night. He clicked away at the piece of code on his Computer, wiping his forehead with his kerchief... The night was getting longer...
"Mommy!! Nobody has come till now!!! Not even daddy!! What happened to the neighbors? Are they dead?". Shruthi was almost in tears. It was 8 already, and there was nobody in the house, other than her mother. It was supposed to be a wonderful birthday celebration. The colorful balloons were in place, the candles surrounded the apartment. But the guests had not arrived, And neither did the head host.
"Wait, shweetie... Let me call up your friends." Renjitha dialled one number after the other, only to arrive at the answering machines all the time. She was lucky to get through Ramala's mother, who picked up the call, and was quite reluctant to tell anything back to Renjitha.
"Ohhh!! We completely forgot, Mrs, Rao! You know Ramala's dad was caught by a few goons last week when he was returning home at night. Ever since then, even we do not go out that much. Sorry Mrs. Rao, my best wishes to your daughter. Ohh, Ramala is sleeping. I'll let her know you called once she wakes up."
Renjitha was educated. She understood the reactions by Ramala's mother. They were ignoring them. "As it is, foreigners treat us like shit, now even our Indian people are becoming like them!! Too Bad", she thought. She realized the guests would not be coming. Indians are never considered human. Especially the Rao's. Renjitha went and made Shruthi sit on her lap. She took a towel and wiped off Shruthi's wet eyes and cheeks.
"It is up now sir. But you'll need to stay for another hour. The Boss told us na, post-debugging-one-hour", says Anand.
Finally at 10 PM, Shujith runs out of his office, cake packet on one hand, mobile on his ear with the other.
"Hello. What happened? Anyone arrived?"
"There's no one. And you could have called earlier. Shweetie was very upset. Come home fast. I heard the roads are not safe anymore"
"Arre i'm already driving! I'll be home ASAP, i mean, fast!"
Shujith took the elevator and pressed the fourth button. As he arrived, he saw the answer to his surd existense. All the candles were out. The balloons were still swaying under the fan. Most of the lights were out. The Dosas went cold inside the kitchen. Their bedroom light was on, and Renijtha was sitting alone, gazing at the red face of Shruthi, aestivating, hair all messy.
"She waited for you... She waited for her friends... Nobody came... I tried to call but everyone ignored me. Most of the neighbours, including the Delhi wallas are out partying at that new Lounge across the Bridge. The posters say they are offering free drinks. As it is, Indians are cheap. But you? You could have mended up shweetie's time. I tried controlling her, but she did not stop crying. She did not eat anything and fell asleep. Why didn't you leave early from work? Why can't your bloody company allow you some personal space? Are we slaves? Is this what we are here for? The great NRI Dream?"
Sujith stared at Renjitha. He had messed it all up. There was no birthday cake, no guests, no songs for his daughter. There was no daddy. All others have big big parties. For Shujith, he had disappointed his daughter. He wondered how soon can he quit and leave for India. Perhaps a couple of months. Yes, appa and ammi would also be happy, he thought.
