Hospitality

We met at the train station, it was so good to see her after such a long time. Her beautiful eyes had hints of longing, slight irritation, stories of years passed between us and some satisfaction to see me in good health. She asked her errand boy to give three beautiful marigold flowers to me one by one, he said to me each time in Urdu ‘yay-lo bhaijan’ which meant ‘take this brother’. We instantly laughed hearing that, knowing at least two other ways to interpret ‘yay-lo’. I was home and life was beautiful. My mother gave me a hug and jail time seemed like a distant past.