Namaste New York: A Novel

  ***

  Hina was a very studious and intelligent girl with a huge independent streak that often created conflicts with her conservative, religious family. Her insistence on studying at a well-known engineering school after obtaining a fellowship from a New York-based HVAC company was a source of contention with her father and brother, who had argued with her over the decision, convinced that such pursuits were not proper for a young Muslim girl. Hina stood her ground, though, and finally, with support from her mother, her father and brother relented and agreed to allow her to attend. She knew it was a significant concession, and she vowed to make the most of the opportunity. She would prove to them that she was capable of excelling academically in what they thought was a man's world, while still being true to her beliefs and to her family. Hina spent long hours in the library, learning as much as possible and striving to be better than anyone else in her class. It was during one of her regular study sessions that Lucky saw her, and he emailed Vijay immediately from a library's computer.

  Initially, Vijay thought Lucky was just teasing him, but Lucky was adamant about what he saw, and Vijay's desperation to befriend Hina quickly overrode any concern he had about falling for the trick Lucky might be playing. He left the lab and double-timed it to the library, finding Lucky at one of the computer terminals.

  "She is sitting in the corner beside the copying room," Lucky said, pointing in her direction.

  Vijay quickly swatted at his hand. "Don't point! But what should I say?" Vijay whispered.

  "Tell her that you could not sleep whole night," Lucky laughed. Vijay pinched him on the arm.

  "Aaah! Dude, just go!" Lucky cried out, and the librarian gave them a stern look and placed her index finger in front of her lips. "Otherwise she will leave," Lucky said quietly, rubbing his arm.

  Vijay didn't want to lose another opportunity. He grabbed one of Lucky's books and tucked it under his arm as he forced himself to walk casually towards her and then right on by her. He pretended not to notice her presence until he had already passed her, and then he stopped and turned around. "Oh, hey! It's Hina?right?" Vijay asked, acting as though he was struggling to remember her name. Hina was busy writing her assignment. She looked up at Vijay briefly, said "Hi", and turned back to her work.

  Vijay was not surprised by her behavior, but this time he was prepared to be shameless. He sat down right next to her. "Are you doing Professor Walker's assignment?"

  "Yes," Hina replied without even looking at him.

  Vijay kept silent for a minute, trying to think of something that would get her talking. But he knew how conservative she was, and figured that he was limited to talking about their classes. "Hmm. Do you know how to solve problem number 4?" Vijay asked. Hina nodded.

  "I'm struggling with the boundary conditions of that problem," Vijay continued. "Can you please help me? I was late yesterday."

  Unknowingly, Vijay had found Hina's Achilles heel. Though she was very reserved, she never refused to help anyone who asked for her assistance. She stopped writing and looked up at Vijay. His expression seemed genuine, so Hina began explaining the solution to the problem.

  Vijay was so happy that Hina was finally stringing words together in full sentences that he paid no attention to what she was saying. Instead he focused on her face, the movement of her lips and the beauty spot above them, her deep brown eyes, the flush in her cheeks, and the small pieces of curly chestnut-colored hair that kept escaping her hijab, which she would subconsciously tuck back in every few minutes.

  "Do you understand now?" Hina asked.

  Vijay was still staring at her, and had to force his eyes towards the paper on the desk. "Yeah, yeah. That's perfect!" Vijay replied, looking at her solution.

  Hina was not oblivious to his odd behavior, but she didn't think anyone would be attracted to a girl who had covered every inch of her skin. Still, she couldn't take any chances. "Okay, I have to go now," Hina said as she started to pack her bag.

  Vijay's heart began pounding. He had to figure out a way to stop her from leaving again, because these short conversations with her were becoming frustrating and tortuous. After each goodbye, he found himself counting the hours and days before he would see her again, and although he looked forward to every encounter, he felt like each time was like starting over with her from the beginning, just as though they were total strangers. He wasn't making any progress towards become her friend. Vijay frantically wracked his brain for anything that might be useful in getting her to stay for a few more minutes when he suddenly noticed a mistake in her solution.

  "Wait!" Vijay said, startling Hina. The librarian shot him another displeased look. Vijay ignored her and looked at Hina. "Don't you think normal viscous stress should be zero at the fluid - air interface?" he asked.

  Hina put down her bag, and picked up her notebook. She spent several interminable minutes reviewing her solution, and then finally looked directly at Vijay. He hadn't noticed how dark and thick her lashes were before, but now he couldn't miss them.

  "Hmm, you're right. I don't know how I missed it," Hina replied. She sat back down in her chair and began correcting her solutions.

  Vijay was still standing. "Do you mind if we compare our solutions for all of the problems?" he asked her softly.

  "I guess that would be alright. Do you have your solutions?"

  Vijay looked over at Lucky's management book, which he had set down on the table beside him. He quickly flipped it face down and put his arm over the cover. "I don't have my work here, but I memorized everything. Can I borrow your book and a piece of paper? If you give me a few minutes, I'll just redo the problems here."

  Hina ripped a page from her notebook and pulled the book out of her bag, sliding both to Vijay. As she did, she gave him a small, shy smile.

  Vijay was ecstatic. "Thank you. May I borrow a pencil?"

  Hina passed him her pencil, and Vijay went to work on the problems, solving all five in a matter of minutes. Hina realized that as a PhD student, Vijay knew far more than she did, and she assumed that he was just faking stupidity as an excuse to talk to her. But he still had an air of innocence about him that she liked, and for some reason she found his pretend-stupidity flattering.

  From that day forward, Hina and Vijay started to do their homework together. Hina would even bring some extra food in her lunchbox every day to share with Vijay. Vijay was relieved not to have to eat any more cheap pizza for lunch, but he also felt that if a girl like Hina was willing to share her food, it must mean that she cared about him. Her generosity also gave him an excuse to take her out for coffee every day after they finished their studies, as payback for her delicious lunches. Over time, Vijay's friendship with Hina began to blossom.

  Hina's strong religious beliefs and her appearance had made it difficult for her to make many friends. Particularly after the 9/11 attack the year before, most students avoided her. Vijay, on the other hand, being from India, had a very good understanding of her religious obligations. He also appreciated how much courage it took Hina to walk around campus wearing a hijab, even when so many students pointed and stared, and made derogatory comments. Vijay respected her strength and her commitment to her beliefs. He slowly began sharing his past, present and future with Hina, and she eventually became comfortable enough with him to reciprocate. Hina became Vijay's main source of emotional support, and there was not a single moment when he didn't think of her. He would always do his best to arrive to class early so that he could sit by her, and on the days when he was delayed and found someone else in his seat, he was devastated. They spent countless hours studying together, and both of them were excelling academically.

  After some time, Hina began to sense that Vijay's feelings for her went beyond friendship, but she second-guessed herself frequently and told herself she was imagining things. Despite their close friendship, there had never been any physical contact between the two: not a hug, not even a single hand
shake or pat on the arm. Maybe that's why Hina felt so safe with him. She chided herself for her silly thoughts, reassuring herself that Vijay was just trying to be a good friend. After all, he was from India, and he was Hindu. Although she had been born in America, Hina came from a very conservative family of Pakistani Muslims, and while their two communities shared a similar culture, similar food, and similar dress, the tension between Indian Hindus and Pakistani Muslims was extreme, and deeply rooted in centuries-old conflicts. Hina valued Vijay's friendship immensely and trusted him completely, and despite the occasional voice in her head that said otherwise, she convinced herself that Vijay didn't actually love her. He couldn't, Hina told herself, because nothing good could come of that.

  Hina did have one other close friend, Nadira Akhtar. Nadira had accompanied Hina to the university party where Vijay first laid eyes on Hina, and Nadira was the girl who had pulled her out of the party, ruining Vijay's chances of introducing himself. Nadira was also from a Pakistani family, but she was very much westernized. She didn't wear a hijab or follow any Islamic traditions. In fact, she was a rebel, a feminist, and a big fan of Bollywood.

  Nadira was also a mechanical engineering student at the university, and she would sometimes accompany Vijay and Hina to the library. The three of them would often sit together while Vijay and Hina worked the problems and Nadira pretended to study while waiting for Hina and Vijay to give her their homework to copy. When she wasn't half-heartedly flipping through her books, Nadira would amuse herself by observing Hina's behavior with Vijay. Her friends might have thought they were doing a good job of hiding their feelings from one another and from the outside world, but Nadira noticed the flirtatious glances and shy smiles, and she thought a person would have to be blind not to see the love between Vijay and Hina. It made Nadira's heart happy to see the two of them together, but she also worried for their future, because she knew that their relationship was dangerous and that it would eventually end, probably badly. But for now, she decided to keep her concerns to herself, wanting Vijay and Hina to enjoy their love while it lasted.

  Nadira's family was close with Hina's family, and sometimes, unbeknownst to Hina, Nadira would indirectly cover for her and Vijay. Hina often lost track of time when the three of them were in the library, and she would jump up in a panic, frantic that her family would be furious when she got home. On those nights, Nadira would always make a point of casually mentioning to her family how helpful Hina had been, agreeing to spend the whole evening in the library tutoring her. Obviously Nadira left Vijay out of the story, and she knew that the conversation would eventually find its way to Hina's family. Hina's father and brother would berate Hina for being inconsiderate on the nights she came home late, but they never seemed suspicious of her behavior. Hina was sometimes surprised that she was able to get away with being late so many times, but she just thought she had been extremely lucky and counted her blessings. She never considered the thought that Nadira had been lying for her, and Hina never would have asked her to do so.

  One afternoon, Vijay and Hina were having lunch in the cafeteria as usual. She had brought chicken kabab and roti, and was sharing the meal with Vijay.

  "These kababs taste like what we eat in Bombay," Vijay said after he took his first bite.

  "Oh! My mom is a fan of Indian style food and spices, so I'm not surprised," Hina replied. "She speaks fluent Hindi and Punjabi, and she loves the Bollywood movies, songs, and dances. At home, we eat more Indian food than anything. Sometimes I wonder if she's really Indian!" Hina smiled.

  "Well, I don't think there's much difference between Indian and Pakistani food anyways. But you have to admit that our movies are more interesting and more popular than yours," Vijay laughed.

  Hina tried to fake indignation and started to defend her Urdu movies when she noticed that Nadira had entered the cafeteria.

  "Salaam!" Nadira said to Hina and then smiled at Vijay.

  "Wa 'alaykum al-salaam," Hina replied.

  "I was looking for you in the library, Hina." Nadira was not surprised to see Vijay and Hina together, but she decided to give Hina a hard time, just to amuse herself.

  "Oh, we were just having lunch," Hina explained, trying to discretely move her chair further from Vijay's.

  "I can see that. Interesting?you never shared your lunches with me," Nadira teased.

  "Oh, sorry! You can also have some." Hina offered the kababs in her dish to Nadira. Meanwhile, Vijay kept eating his kababs and kept quiet.

  "It's okay, I already had my lunch," Nadira replied. After a pause, she added: "Your Ammi called. She was asking for you."

  "Really? What did you say?" Hina hurriedly grabbed her phone and looked at the display. She'd had a few missed calls from her mother. She must have forgotten to turn the ringer back on after class.

  "Are you going to at least share your homework with me, if not your lunch?" Nadira asked.

  "Sure," Hina said as she reached for her bag, her heart racing. "What did you say?"

  "About what?"

  "To my mother, what did you say?"

  "Nothing. I told her that you were in the library and that's why you couldn't pick up the calls," Nadira replied.

  "Shukran, thank God," Hina replied with visible relief.

  "I told her that you are studying very hard," Nadira said, glancing at Vijay and laughing.

  "What do you mean? I do study hard," Hina replied, handing Nadira her homework. "I am giving this to you because you are my friend, okay?" Hina was trying hard to pretend that there was nothing going on between her and Vijay, but she was beginning to get the impression that Nadira thought otherwise, and she wondered if she believed that the homework was some kind of bribe to keep her quiet. Hina barely wanted to admit her feelings about Vijay to herself, let alone anyone else. And she certainly did not want to feel beholden to anyone.

  "I know. Don't worry about it," Nadira replied sarcastically. She had picked up on a tone in Hina's voice or perhaps it was the look on her face, and it irritated her. Nadira had no problem lying to Hina's family to cover for her and Vijay, but the least Hina could do was show some gratitude and confide in her about their relationship. Instead, Hina treated her like she was stupid and couldn't see that there was something going on between her and Vijay. Nadira thought she'd earned the right to be accepted into their little inner circle, but apparently Hina thought otherwise. Nadira grabbed the homework and began to walk away from the table.

  Two tables over, Dan Patel had been watching the exchange between Nadira, Vijay and his friends. Dan had been angry at Vijay and Lucky ever since the graduate student party, when Anna had humiliated him in front of his friends by associating with those PIGS. Dan came from a traditional Indian family who held traditional Indian beliefs about all things, but particularly education. His parents had insisted that he go to graduate school, and Dan was not in any position to argue. He had to show them respect, and he couldn't oppose their wishes directly, but his resentment ran deep, and often played out on the poor Indian students who, to Dan, represented everything he detested in his parents and their generation. The fact that the PIGS generally did better in school than he did, even though they had no money or family support, and spent much of their time doing dirty, illegal jobs just to survive in this country, only served to add more fuel to the fire burning deep in Dan's belly. Though he hated all PIGS in general, he had a particular bone to pick with Vijay and Lucky because they had befriended Anna. While he knew he'd never be able to control her, he certainly wasn't going to just sit by and watch these PIGS enjoy themselves in his cafeteria. Dan turned to his friends at the table and motioned for them to follow his lead.

  Just as Nadira turned away from Hina, she walked straight into Dan's chest. She looked up at his face in disgust, and then noticed his other friends had gathered around the table. This could be bad.

  "Hmm, so that is how you get full points, haaan?" Dan said, snatching the homework paper ou
t of Nadira's hands.

  "Hey! Stop it!" Vijay stood up to face Dan, but one of his friends shoved Vijay back into his chair.

  Dan turned his attention to Hina. "And what do we have here?" Dan said, dragging out his words. "Look who is friends with the PIG?a terrorist!" Dan proclaimed loudly as he and his friends laughed at Hina. Hina was scared and averted her eyes. She fumbled to fix her scarf and make sure that her body was properly covered.

  Dan walked closer to Hina and leaned down until his face was inches from hers. Vijay was furious, but he couldn't move because his arms were pinned behind his back by one of Dan's friends. Hina still would not look at Dan, so he reached out and put a finger underneath her chin. She turned her face away, which irritated Dan further. Stupid raghead. This time he grabbed her forcefully, wrapping his fingers around her delicate jaw and holding her face tightly so that she couldn't look away. "I don't think Islam allows you to be friends with a PIG, am I right?"

  Vijay had never been so angry in his life, and he thought if he could free himself, he might kill Dan right here, right in this cafeteria. He didn't care about the pain in his shoulders or the humiliation he was feeling. He cared only about Hina, and couldn't bear to see her suffer like this at the hands of these idiots. "Why are you troubling us?" Vijay shouted.

  Dan stood up and shifted his focus to Vijay. "We are not troubling you! You are troubling us," Dan said, pointing his finger in Vijay's face. "You come to our country, you take our jobs, steal our money, and then?" he turned back to look at Hina. "And then you hijack our planes and fly them into our buildings!" Hina had put her head down, and Vijay could tell that she was crying.

  "You guys are assholes!" Nadira screamed at Dan and his friends. "Losers! Don't you have anything better to do with your life? You're all a bunch of pathetic, jealous, idiots who couldn't get laid in a whorehouse," she continued. During Nadira's tirade, Hina stole a glance at Vijay, hoping that she could reassure him and calm him down. She didn't want him to try to fight Dan or his friends.

  A group of students had started to gather after hearing Nadira's shouting, and Anna was in the crowd. She pushed her way through the students and went straight for Dan.

  "What the hell is your problem?" Anna shouted, shoving Dan backwards with both hands against his chest. "What did they do to you?"

  "Anna, stay out of this," Dan ordered.

  "Why should I? You're a coward who picks on innocent people because you don't have the balls to face me!" Anna shouted in Dan's face. "Sleeping with my roommate wasn't enough for you?" Dan tried to control Anna by grabbing her arms, but she slipped out of his grasp and slapped him hard across the face.

  By now an even larger crowd had gathered, and many students were booing Dan and his friends, some even throwing food at them. Dan's friends had had enough, and signaled to him, knowing they were better off leaving before the campus police showed up. Anna and Nadira followed them out of the cafeteria and down the hallway, their screams and curses echoing in the corridor as the doors closed behind them. Small groups of students followed them, and the remainder of the crowd in the cafeteria began to disperse, not wanting to be anywhere near Vijay's table when campus security showed up.

  Vijay went over to Hina and bent down beside her chair. "I am so sorry," he said, wanting to touch her and comfort her, but not wanting to upset her further.

  "It's not your fault. I'm used to it," Hina replied, wiping her tears. "We should just stay away from such people."

  "I thought that's what we were doing?" Vijay replied.

  "I know?it's okay. Let's go to the library," Hina suggested. They packed their bags and left for the library without finishing their lunch. Vijay had lost his appetite anyway.

  Once again, Anna had humiliated Dan in front of everyone. As Dan stood in front of the mirror in the men's room, doing his best to clean the tomato sauce out of his hair and off his shirt, he vowed to end his relationship with her once and for all, which was exactly what Anna had wanted all along.