Namaste New York: A Novel

  ***

  When Vijay got home that evening, he found Lucky and Raj in the kitchen cooking dinner.

  "What are you cooking? It smells good," he asked from the doorstep.

  "Oh! You are here. I am just helping Raj. He is cooking kashmiri pulao," Lucky answered.

  "Man, I am very hungry," Vijay said while removing shoes.

  "It's almost ready." Raj turned off the gas, and Lucky grabbed a bunch of the free newspapers that they picked up every week and set their dinner table on the floor. Raj carried all the dishes and cooking pots from the kitchen to the middle of the room, and they all took a seat around the newspapers.

  Vijay took plenty of pulao on his plate and immediately started eating. "Hmm, this is way better than my mom's pulao or any restaurant's pulao," Vijay said while chewing a mouthful of rice.

  "It is really awesome," Lucky said.

  "Thanks. I wanted to treat you guys for all the help you've given me. I'm glad that you like it," Raj replied.

  Between the three of them, they ate the entire dish while discussing their day. When they finished, Vijay stood up first. "You guys cooked, so relax. I'll wash the dishes," he said, grabbing the pots and heading towards the kitchen. "Hey, Raj. Did you find an apartment?" Vijay called out over the sound of running water.

  "No, but I am trying," Raj said.

  "It's okay. You can stay here as long as you want," Vijay said. "As long as you keep cooking food like today's breakfast and dinner!"

  "Sure, no problems," Raj replied, and then looked at Lucky as if he was waiting for Lucky to say something.

  Lucky looked at Raj for a few seconds, and then got up and walked towards the kitchen. "Um, Vijay? Can Raj stay here with us?" Lucky asked. "It will reduce the rent share for us."

  "Hmm?if he wants to," Vijay replied as he scrubbed a pot.

  "Oh, yes. He wants to stay with us. We talked about it while cooking," Lucky replied with a smile.

  "Good. I'm okay with it," Vijay agreed, and turned the water back on to rinse the dishes.

  Lucky looked at Raj and gave him the thumbs-up signal. Raj smiled and began cleaning the floor and throwing the newspapers in the garbage. Meanwhile, Lucky made the beds for all of them, once again positioning his blankets close to the other two, now that his little problem had been solved with some engineering ingenuity. Vijay told Raj that it was garbage day, and asked him to take the bag out to the curb. When Raj stepped outside the apartment, Vijay spoke to Lucky in a hushed voice, and ended the conversation before Raj returned.

  Thirty minutes later, Vijay was lying awake in his bed. Like the previous night, Raj slept beside him, and Vijay turned to face him. "Raj, now that you're going to stay with us, I should tell you something," Vijay said.

  Raj rolled over and waited for Vijay to continue.

  "Well?you know that Lucky and I, we're both from needy families. We don't have much money," Vijay explained, and after a slight pause, he confessed. "So we both have off-campus jobs."

  "Oh, okay. Why didn't you tell me before?" Raj asked.

  "Because it is illegal, and because we just met you yesterday," Lucky explained as he sat up in bed. "We could not take the risk. But now, since we are going to live together, you will come to know anyways."

  "Understood. Thanks for telling me the truth," Raj replied as he rolled onto his back. "So, what do you guys do?"

  "He hands out flyers and I am going to work at the gas station from this weekend," Lucky explained.

  "Can you guys help me find a job?" Raj asked.

  "I think you should try to find a job in an Indian restaurant. Anyone would hire you," Vijay offered.

  "When I was looking for the job, there was one north-Indian restaurant that was advertising for kitchen help," Lucky offered. "But I am dark-skinned and from south, and I am vegetarian. I never touched meat or anything. So they did not hire me."

  Vijay couldn't control his laughter. "Well, there's that, and, you know, the fact that you can't cook."

  Lucky snorted. "Well, whatever, I am sure they would hire you, Raj."

  "Really? Can you please take me there tomorrow?" Raj requested.

  "Sure," Lucky said.

  "Thanks. I don't know how I can ever thank you guys enough," Raj replied.

  "Well here's the thing, Raj. We don't have any family in this country. There's no one else here to help us. So we have to take care of each other. We have to help each other. I'm sure that we're going to be friends for life," Vijay said, extending his hand to Raj.

  Raj was touched by the generosity of his new friends, men he'd only known for a day. Instead of a handshake, Raj took Vijay's hand in his own and held it. Lucky leaned over and placed his hand on top of Raj's, and Vijay completed the pile with his other hand. "You guys are my family," Raj said, his voice gravely with emotion.

  "Talking about family?Raj, tell us about your family" Vijay inquired. Raj withdrew his hand, roughly wiped his eyes, and lied back down. "Hmm?maa and baba," he replied.

  "Sending their only child here alone must be tough for them," Vijay replied. "And what do they do?"

  Raj rolled away from Vijay and pulled the sheet up around him. He took some time before answering. "Hmm?.haan? Nothing special?Local, small-small jobs."

  "Have you told them that you reached here safely?" Vijay asked.

  "Um, sure. Sure, yes, I told them." Raj stumbled with the question. Lucky was surprised to hear this, as he had spent almost every moment with Raj since they'd met, and he'd never noticed Raj speaking to anyone.

  "When did you get the chance? Even I did not call my family yet," Lucky said.

  "Oh, from the airport?" Raj replied. "I'm really tired, guys. Can we talk about this some other time?"

  Vijay knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what. Maybe Raj was just a private person, and uncomfortable talking about himself or his family. He decided to let it go. "Raj is right, it's late. We all need to get some sleep. We have a lot of things to do tomorrow," Vijay said. He thought he heard Raj let out a long, deep breath as Lucky got up to turn out the light.