"This is what it comes down to, thought Sunil. After all those years we spent growing up together, all those secrets we shared, we can find nothing safe to talk about anymore other than our jobs." (p. 385)
The beginning of this story seemed like a caricature of family life for me. It becomes clear in the end that it really is a facade from which Sunil escaped. Bipin has carefully hidden behind the facade of an average life. He has a family and a well paying, boring job, a decent car. He is safe, as Sunil says. He didn't have to do much to get where he is, didn't take any risks or rock the boat. Bipin and Sunil can only seem to exchange pleasantries, the mundane facts of their lives, not really connect like they could when they were young and idealistic. Their evenings spent together as young men are very much still in their minds, as evidenced by the ending scene when the two men are alone and Bipin immediately bursts out, "I had no choice." Clearly, when Bipin asks heatedly "Why should I torment myself needlessly about things I might have done?" he has been tormenting himself, and the question should be more like, "Why am I tormenting myself?" The two men are dully content with their lives, which seems like a euphemism for resignation. Bipin's wife, mother, and son only interrupt real connection between him and Sunil. Bipin and Sunil have to act out an exchange between grown men as if for an audience. They have a brief moment when they talk freely, and then their guard comes back up when Mala calls the men to dinner. This story reminded me of Brokeback Mountain.
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