“Amma. I miss your podi dosa. Mess food is killing me slowly.”

At 7 PM, the doorbell rang. It was the akka from next door, borrowing a cup of sugar. Then the mama from upstairs, asking if Suresh had a spare screwdriver. The house was never really closed. In an Indian colony, doors are just suggestions.

, their 17-year-old daughter, was the next to surface. She came out of her room with a towel turbaned on her head and her phone glued to her hand. Unlike her mother’s slow, graceful waking, Kavya moved in a blur of frantic energy.

“It’s hanging behind your door. And eat your upma before you run.”