Hindi

An evening in March at the Sharmas': Papa ji and Mummy ji set the engagement for a Sunday in April, and Noah learns what the boy's side has to bring: the three degrees of having to.

A jeweller's in Dariba Kalan, the jewellers' lane of Chandni Chowk: a gold ring with a small stone, twenty-two karat, four grams, made smaller by tomorrow, and the bill in Noah's name: having a thing made or done.

The engagement at the Sharmas' house on a Sunday in April, Dadi ji up from the village, Rohan and Neha with the plate of sweets: the blessings an elder says with keep and stay, and how to wish one back.

The hotel kitchen in Connaught Place after lunch service: Noah asks Chef Khanna for a letter from the hotel, three days off in September and an early Saturday, in the most polite Hindi there is.

Rohan's laptop at the Sharmas': the registration office's list of papers, read in plain Hindi: a copy of the passport, proof of address, the embassy's letter, the letter from work, four photos and three witnesses: the chains that name a paper.

The typists' stalls under the trees outside the court in Saket: a declaration on stamp paper, the embassy's letter translated, Noah's name in Hindi as on the visa, all done by one o'clock: the verbs that happen by themselves.

The window at the registration office in Saket: the embassy's letter valid for six months, a notice up for thirty days, a date after the thirty days and within two months, a Thursday in September, there by half past ten: time limits and validity.

The Sharmas' dinner table: by custom the hall and the dinner are from the girl's side, the band, the mare and the clothes from the boy's, the sweets for the lane from Noah's own hands, the flat on the couple and the card Rohan's job: whose side a cost is on.

The lane in Lajpat Nagar, Raju bhaiya's auto outside Gupta ji's store: Noah asks the man who brought him from the airport and the neighbour whose shop he buys from to be his witnesses: the linking word's other forms, whose and the one who.

The registration office in Saket on a Thursday morning in September: everyone present, the declaration read and accepted by a man and by a woman, the filled form, the attached photo and the signed declaration, and on paper a marriage.

A banquet hall on the Chhattarpur road: which date, the price per plate, the ice cream by the plate, the hall for the whole evening and the music by the hour, and a quarter now as the advance.

A cloth shop in Chandni Chowk, then Papa ji's tailor of thirty years: cream silk for the groom, let me measure you, keep the coat a little longer, let the trousers stay narrow, make him a groom and not a chef, and leave the price to Papa ji.

The printer's proof from Chawri Bazar: the card reads the date, the card's Hindi and the words you say when you hand it over, all of you, do come, how many cards for the hospital and the kitchen, and the first card for Raju bhaiya at the gate.

The Sharmas' roof terrace the evening before the wedding, Priya's hands drying: no groom here tonight, I only brought the sweets, never make her cry, don't let a quarrel sleep the night, neither forget the birthday nor the anniversary, don't look at her hands, and find your name in the mehndi tomorrow.

The band at the Sharmas' gate and Noah on the white mare: get on while the drums play, hold the reins and smile, as soon as we reach the gate the garlands, stand still while the welcome happens, dance a little as you go, and at the hall door Mummy ji says stop here.

The hall, the two families at one table, Noah carrying his parents' English across: ask your mother whether she is tired, my mother says a little, how did your father like the procession, he is asking whether every wedding has a band, this house is theirs, and chai at the shop at six.

Noah's Hauz Khas flat the week after the wedding: this flat must be too small for two, it seems so to me too, Greater Kailash probably, that must be the point, the rents must have gone up, forty-five thousand at least, and the dealer must be your friend.

The Hauz Khas flat, Rohan reading out adverts: two bedrooms, second floor with a lift, a first floor without a lift is fine, the third has two balconies and the fifth is a ground floor, not the ground floor in the monsoon, S Block with an old family upstairs, and first of all a call to the dealer.

A property dealer on the phone, then a freshly painted flat on the main road of Greater Kailash Two: is the flat still available, still free, can we see it at six, another one just finished, it still smells of paint, the owner no longer lives here, the lift still isn't working, not yet, and not this one any more.

A first-floor flat in S Block of Greater Kailash Two, the landlady down from the floor above: this was my son's flat, the light and the terrace, my husband used to sit here every evening, nobody has lived here for two years, the kitchen used to have a window here, you understand kitchens, this room used to be the store room, and chai upstairs after the money talk.

The landlady's living room above the flat, the dealer's papers on the table: forty-eight thousand, two months' security, forty-five if the chef cooks once a month, then the agreement's clause in the Hindi of forms, the landlord shall hand over and the tenant shall pay, and the everyday has to beside it.

A January morning at the S Block gate, boxes on the pavement: the guard offers to take them up, the books first, the fridge hauled up by a rope, don't lift the mirror like that, and chai for everyone by evening: the verbs of carrying.

The hotel kitchen in Connaught Place after dinner service, a cold January night: it's been three years, the menu has become yours, a new restaurant in Khan Market and the head chef is you, from the first of February, don't be nervous, and Noah has already started feeling nervous.

The restaurant in Khan Market before its opening, the manager showing the kitchen: the clay oven arrives next week, the kitchen needs a bigger exhaust, I need two clay-oven cooks, the menu needs to be ready before the opening, three weeks and a week of trials, and the manager needs the opening on the first of March.

The restaurant's office in Khan Market, the manager with the offer: a one-year contract from the first of February, probation again, twelve lakh a year, that is one lakh a month, about eighty-seven thousand in hand after the provident fund and the tax, a bonus up to a lakh and a half, and leave in summer with Chef's agreement.

The office in Khan Market, the appointment letter on the desk: the form's Hindi first, in the event of termination two months' notice, then in plain Hindi, if anyone leaves then two months' notice, it renews by itself unless someone says no, the recipes are the restaurant's provided that your name stays, and a doctor's note, otherwise no leave.

A bank in M Block Market, Greater Kailash, the form for a salary account: the name in full, in capitals, as in the passport, in Hindi too, as on the card, exactly so, the phone number in figures and the salary in words, one lakh rupees, and the signature exactly as in the passport.

The Khan Market kitchen on a February morning, the sous chef and the team around Noah: where do we start, the clay oven must be fired by Thursday, the gas has already been connected, the cold room ready by Saturday, the vegetable man has already sent his list, every dish made once by next week, the dal already written down, and the first rule: chai for everyone.

The office in Khan Market, then home in Greater Kailash: gross one lakh, after deducting eighty-seven thousand, a deduction of thirteen thousand, your provident fund and tax, the money by transfer, sign on receiving it, before receiving or after, and at home: after paying the rent, what's left, enough for a dinner in M Block Market.

A Sunday in March in Hauz Khas Village, Dadi ji in Delhi for the week: when the restaurant settles, come to the village, a little place by the lake with a sign that says to let, if I ever open a place of my own then right here, when you open it I bring the pickle, I'll cook for the whole village, and when we get home, Priya has something to tell Noah.