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I don’t feel like talking to Dad. What can we talk about? He has to retract his statement about me staying in his house as an adult if I am a lowly paid worker. Perhaps he didn’t realize what he said and how it hurt my feelings. The subject of my disappearing for the evening never came up with him. I was back, and that was good enough for him. Or perhaps Mom filled him in as to what I did, and he isn’t interested in pursuing it any further.

When he is in the room, I go upstairs and don’t come down until he has finished his dinner and is watching TV. Mom doesn’t say anything. Maybe she doesn’t know what to do. I feel sorry, seeing her serious face when I am downstairs for dinner, when we aren’t all sitting together for dinner as is usual. I am not sure if she had her talk with dad, as she said she was going to do.

“You are just like your dad, you know,” Mom says one day when Dad has gone to watch cricket with his friends. They gather at Uncle Raj’s house and have a party. Uncle Raj has a 75-inch TV in his basement. That’s where all the men gather, making it a strictly men’s club.

“Why do you say that?” I ask.

“Well, how long are you two not going to talk? He is as obstinate as you. You may not know it, but he came to America against his dad’s wishes, and you are not going to talk to him because you don’t accept his wishes.”

“I didn’t know Dad’s dad didn’t want him to come to the US.”

“Yes. His dad had said, ‘No, I don’t have resources to support you abroad.’ But, your dad said, ‘I have to go and take my chances to better my life.'”

“Then?”

“Then, what? He came here first without me.”

“You didn’t come together?”

 “No. It took me a year to join him. We had just married in a civil ceremony, and there was no marriage license. The American embassy wouldn’t accept our civil marriage. They wanted a marriage certificate with the visa application.”

“What did you do?”

“It was hard. We obtained affidavits from our elders, and somehow, they were acceptable.”

“What did dad do in the meantime?”

“He was interested in research. He had a Ph.D. in engineering. With a research grant at the University of Maryland, he was hoping for smooth sailing and a rewarding, good life. But the country was going through the Nixon recession. The President had cut off funding for a lot of projects. Everyone was suffering, especially the research and development projects.”

“Yeah?”

“So, when he landed in Maryland, he was told his grant was suspended, and he had no job.”

“Too bad.”

“Yes. He had to work at whatever he could get — flip burgers at McDonald’s, selling mattresses at Macy’s.”

“Dad did that?”

“It was hard for him. He had to swallow his pride and not tell anyone his real qualifications.”

“How did he get to be a professor?”

“It was through Uncle Raj. They met at a party hosted by Soman, whom Dad knew from India. They became friends, and it was Raj who asked him to apply for an opening at Mason. We are glad he got lucky and got accepted. So, you see, this is why he wants all of you to be successful and select careers with a promise.”

“I’m sorry he had to go through rough times, but that doesn’t mean he can enforce his will on us.”

I hadn’t realized that it was past ten-thirty. Then someone says, “Hey, you guys.”

It’s Dad. He is standing right behind me. I have no idea how much of our conversation he heard.

“Hey,” I say, breaking our vow of silence.

“When did you get in?” Mom asks, surprised to see him return early.

“I’m just coming in.”

“How come we didn’t hear the garage door?”

“Maybe you both were engrossed in talking. Did I miss anything?”

“Nothing you would be interested in,” Mom says with a sly smile.

“Arjun,” Dad says, turning towards me. The ice wall between us is melting.

“Hey, Dad,” I say. I am sure he heard my last sentence, but from the looks of it, he is ignoring it, or didn’t get the context.

“What happened to your cricket match?” Mom asks.

“Well, Raj had a problem with his cable service, and it wasn’t going to be on for several hours. So, we decided to end it.”

“Didn’t Mayur say he was going to call you early tomorrow morning?” Mom reminds him.

“Yes. Glad you reminded me about that. I forgot.”

With that, we bid goodnight to each other and retire to our bedrooms.

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