The Reluctant Matchmaker

by Shobhan Bantwal

Genres: Women's Fiction; Asian American

Synopsis

In her thought-provoking, uplifting new novel, Shobhan Bantwal vividly blends the nuances of contemporary Indian-American culture with an unconventional romance. . .

At thirty-one, Meena Shenoy has a fulfilling career at a New Jersey high-tech firm. Not that it impresses her mother and aunts, who make dire predictions about her ticking biological clock. Men are drawn to Meena's dainty looks and she dates regularly, but hasn't met someone who really intrigues her. Someone professional, ambitious, confident, caring. Someone like her new boss, Prajay Nayak.

Just as Meena's thoughts turn to romance, Prajay makes an astonishing request. He wants her to craft a personal ad that will help him find a suitable wife: a statuesque, sophisticated Indian-American woman who will complement his striking height.

Despite her attraction to Prajay and the complications of balancing work and her "marriage consultant" role, Meena can't refuse the generous fee. And as her family is thrown into turmoil by her brother's relationship with a Muslim woman, Meena comes to surprising realizations about love, tradition, and the sacrifices she will--and won't--make for the sake of both.

"One of the best [novels] I've read this year. I couldn't put it down. . .this book is a gem!" --Mary Monroe, New York Times bestselling author on The Unexpected Son

"Compelling and memorable." --Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author on The Forbidden Daughter

"Vivid, rich. . .expertly portrays a young woman caught between love and duty, hope and despair." --Anjali Banerjee on The Dowry Bride

"Dazzles you with a taste of Desi culture in America." --Caridad Piñeiro

Release date: October 24, 2011

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 320

Sample

I had no clue that within the next hour my life was about to take a dramatic turn. The bizarre incident struck so unexpectedly that it left me dazed and fighting for breath. Literally.

In my mother tongue, a little-known Indian language called Konkani, this type of rare occurrence is sometimes referred to as nasheeba khéloo. Destiny’s game.

I’d heard of epiphanies and traumas changing people’s lives in a flash. I’d known one or two individuals who had either plunged into misfortune or zoomed into orbit because of a single momentous event, but I couldn’t believe my experience could match or even outdo theirs to some degree.

Those kinds of outlandish things happened to others, in my opinion. Ordinary folks like me were exempt from such encounters. Or maybe not.

One minute I was striding forward, trying to maintain my best “smart marketing-public relations executive” image, and in the next I was falling on my back, arms flailing, my short skirt riding upward, providing the shocked people gathering around me an unobstructed view of my underwear.

Sheer humiliation. Well, at least I’d had the sense to wear my best panties, the ones I’d splurged on at Victoria’s Secret.

It had started out as a normal day. I had strolled into my sixth-floor office in the multi-story building in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, like I did each weekday morning. Granted, I had an important meeting later that day, and I was uptight about it. I was to meet our highly respected president and CEO for the first time since I’d joined the company with the odd name of Rathnaya, Incorporated.

After my shower that morning I’d taken extra care with my hair and makeup. Then I’d silently offered my prayers before the altar. When it came to important business meetings, I didn’t like leaving anything to chance.

Like my great-uncle from India always said, “Prepare yourself well for any kind of catastrophe, but always be sure to pray to Lord Ganesh. Think of the elephant-headed god as your insurance agent.” It was no coincidence that my great-uncle was named Ganesh. He also happened to be an insurance agent for the Life Insurance Corporation of India.

By the time I’d gotten to the altar my mother had already finished her daily puja—ceremonial Hindu worship. Mom prayed every morning before breakfast. Despite being a modern woman and a medical doctor, she followed the old-fashioned custom of not eating or drinking anything before offering the day’s first prayer.

She had placed a single yellow chrysanthemum on top of each of the idols of all her gods and goddesses. The oil-soaked cotton wick in the silver lamp had burned itself out.

Unfortunately I wasn’t all that fervent about my Hindu faith. I went to the altar every now and then—when I needed a little extra help from above—like today.

After praying I’d felt much calmer. So what if I had to face the head of the company for the first time? I was a professional and could handle most anything. Or so I thought.

I would realize how wrong I was by the time the workday came to an end.

At precisely 8:07 A.M., our office assistant, Priyanka “Pinky” Malhotra, and I wished each other good morning as I stopped by her desk, or the administrative office as she preferred to call it.

The marketing-public relations department occupied a corner suite made up of three rooms, the first one being a main outer office with Pinky’s desk, a row of file cabinets, a fax machine, a copier, and a coffeemaker. It opened out into the long main corridor, but in the back it had two doors that led to separate offices, the smaller one being mine and the larger belonging to my boss, Paul Zelnak. The only access to Paul’s and my offices was through Pinky’s area. She was our gatekeeper.

Locking her door conveniently locked the entire department. I appreciated the safety feature.

Pinky took one look at me and beamed, the dimple in one cheek deepening. “Meena, you look great!” She swiveled her chair around to study my outfit more carefully. “Went on another shopping spree?”

“Uh-huh.”

Then her gaze lowered to my feet. “Wow, new shoes, too. Nice.”

I gave her a pleased grin. I’d hoped others would love my ensemble as much as I did. After I’d spent hours in the store looking for a fall wardrobe, it would’ve been a letdown if someone hadn’t noticed. “Thanks.”

Pinky looked down at her own black pantsuit paired with a blue shell and black mid-heel pumps. “Everything I wear looks so blah. How come when you wear the exact same thing it looks all stylish and cute?”

“Aw, that’s not true,” I said with a dismissive gesture of my hand. If only Pinky ate a few less candy bars, she’d be attractive. She had a pretty face with sparkling dark eyes and an infectious smile. Losing a bit of weight could work wonders for her. And the slightly outdated black pantsuit could look elegant if it were paired with a coordinated scarf or jewelry.

Pinky was a good worker and a kind soul, and she had become a friend and confidant in the short while that I’d been working in the company. Besides, as a forty-year-old mother of two young boys, Pinky didn’t really need to look chic. She’d bagged her man sixteen years ago, and he apparently loved her, spare tires and all.

“It is true, Meena,” Pinky argued. “That’s because you’re young and thin and pretty.”

I shrugged. “Thin yes, young maybe ... but pretty? I don’t know about that.” And frankly, I didn’t feel all that young anymore, not since my thirty-first birthday two months ago.

My parents and our extended family had dropped more than a few hints about my flagging biological clock, my soon-to-fade looks, and my shorter than average stature—my bane. The consensus was that if I didn’t find a husband within a year, I was quite likely to die an old maid.

With each passing year I was supposedly inching closer to tooth loss, dementia, and osteoporosis. I’d probably lose even more inches because small women were more susceptible to bone deterioration, according to Shabari, my mother’s younger sister. I called her Shabari-pachi in the Konkani tradition.

Of course, like most ethnic folks born and raised in the U.S., my siblings and I didn’t speak our mother tongue, although we understood every bit. However, we managed to carry on stilted conversations in Konkani with elderly relatives during our rare trips to India.

Shabari’s birthday gift to me had been a book titled Score a Hit before Your Ovaries Quit. It wasn’t a gag gift. My aunt’s sense of humor didn’t extend to witty presents. I hadn’t read beyond the first chapter yet, but it was a primer for women on the art of landing a man.

At this point, my aunt wasn’t dropping hints; she was grabbing me by the scruff of my neck like she would a recalcitrant puppy and dragging me toward matrimony. A thirty-something, unmarried niece could diminish her own young daughters’ marriage prospects. In fact, the ripple effect of one black sheep’s deficient image could potentially taint the entire clan.

Pinky wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively. “Is that suit in honor of your meeting with Prajay Nayak today?”

“No.” What was Pinky thinking? That I was out to bat my eyelashes at our CEO? Besides, I was nowhere near that significant chapter in my Score a Hit book yet and wouldn’t know how to go about flirting the right way. The book said there was a method to everything. But I had to master the subtle art of seduction first, before I ventured into practicing it.

“After all, he is your jaathwalla. He’s a good catch, right?” Pinky meant he belonged to my Gowd Saraswat Brahmin sub-caste—GSB for short. But as far as I knew, that was all the CEO and I had in common. He was a genius, a wealthy man with a corporation of his own, with all the surrounding power and trappings, while I was a nobody with an ordinary job.

To some extent Pinky was right, though. I did want to impress Mr. Nayak, but for entirely different reasons.

First of all, it was important to my career. I firmly believed in setting the right tone. And I was ambitious.

Second, since he and I both belonged to the tiny community of GSB-Americans, his family and mine had several common acquaintances. My mother had filled me in on some names. If I made a poor impression, word would spread through the gossip mill like red wine on a white sheet. I’d worked too hard to attain the image of a bright and hard-working professional to end up with a “loser” reputation.

Third, jobs like mine were rare. I wanted to keep it for a long time.

And last but not least, a dumb image would ruin my chances of finding a decent husband. Who would want a dunce for a wife, especially the cerebral Indian guys with advanced degrees and 4.0 GPAs that my parents introduced me to?

My mother on the other hand, after she’d discovered who Nayak was, and that he was single and unattached, had hinted that I should try to charm him.

“One never knows when and where fate will strike, and it is up to an individual to give it a slight nudge in the right direction,” she’d declared with a hopeful edge to her voice. She had apparently heard good things about Prajay Nayak from a number of her friends. In the Konkani book of matrimonial prospects, Nayak was a superb catch.

Pinky’s teasing grin tugged my wandering attention back to her. “Who are you trying to kid?” she challenged. “Admit it; you’re wearing a classy outfit to impress him.”

“Absolutely not,” I retorted. “I went shopping the other day, and the new line of clothes looked fabulous. I tried on a few things and ... you know the rest.”

“I know it well. Your credit card suddenly grew legs.”

I laughed at her apt portrayal of my shopping habits. “Am I that predictable?”

“Spoiled brat is what you are. Your mom and dad give you too much money and way too much freedom.”

“Not anymore,” I countered. “I’ve been paying for my own credit card bills and my auto insurance and gas since I started working six years ago.” I pointed to my outfit. “Strictly department store. And very often deep-discount stores if my savings account starts looking anemic.”

“You don’t say!” mocked Pinky.

“I love discount stores. They have some really cool stuff.”

“Humph.”

“You don’t like them?” I threw her a wide-eyed look.

“I adore them. Besides, they’re the only shops I can afford.” One thin, scornful eyebrow shot up as Pinky turned back to her computer. “I wasn’t talking about the stores you shop at, silly; I meant the things your parents do for you. How soon we forget the free room and board.”

I headed quietly back to my desk because I had no rebuttal. She was right. I was still living with my parents, Ramdas and Kaveri Shenoy, along with my younger brother, twenty-eight-year-old Mahesh, who was a medical resident at one of the nearby hospitals. He and I were the fledglings who’d left home for a few years to acquire an education and then returned to the nest as adults.

Mom loved having us around nonetheless. She’d been quite despondent when my brothers and I were at college. “So quiet and lonely without the kids,” she used to moan. “Your dad and I walk around like ghosts in this house.”

However, now that two out of three were back, Mom complained that Mahesh and I were sloppy, that our ever-ringing cell phones and late nights disturbed her sleep, and that our erratic eating, bathing, and sleeping habits left the kitchen and bathrooms in disarray.

Maneel, my older brother, was a successful stockbroker at thirty-three, and had his own condo a few miles from our home in Princeton. But most of the time Maneel hung around our house, so he ate with us almost every night. His state-of-the-art refrigerator held nothing but beer, soda, and a fat jar of salsa. Despite having a shiny new washer and dryer in his condo, he ended up doing his laundry at our parents’ place. He saved on groceries and laundry just like Mahesh and I, but had the nerve to label the two of us “cheapskates.”

It’s not as if I hadn’t thought about moving out of my parents’ home, but rents were so obscenely high in New Jersey. And it wasn’t for nothing that people denigrated New Jersey for having the highest auto insurance rates and income and property taxes in the nation. How did ordinary people manage to make a living in our state? I often wondered.

Besides, Dad and Mom lived in a big, comfortable house with a finished basement. It wasn’t posh, but it was a secure home in an upscale neighborhood, and Mom was a superb cook. Mahesh and I were no fools.

Dropping my purse in my desk drawer, I strode over next door to my boss’s office. It was dark.

“Paul’s not in yet?” I asked Pinky with some surprise before heading toward the coffeepot that she’d already started. Sniffing the wonderful aroma, I poured myself a cup. Paul was usually here before I was.

Pinky shook her head. “I heard there’s an accident on Route 1 and the traffic’s a mess. He’s probably stuck in that.”

“But he would’ve called us. He has a cell phone.”

“Paul’s not late yet. And Jeremy already called twice to check on Paul.” Pinky rolled her eyes.

Jeremy Larkin was Paul’s gay partner, and at times a minor source of aggravation for Pinky and me.

I looked at my wristwatch. “If Paul doesn’t show up soon, Jeremy’s likely to call again.”

As if on cue, the phone rang, and Pinky answered it. “Hi, Jeremy.” She assured him between pauses that Paul would be fine. “Don’t worry... . I’m sure he’ll be here any minute.... Not answering his cell, huh? There’s a traffic backup on Route 1... . Oh, you know about that... .”

I stood close enough to her desk to be able to hear most of Jeremy’s words. He sounded upset. No surprise there.

Pinky lifted her gaze to the ceiling. “I’m sure Paul’s not a statistic, Jeremy... . I’ll tell him to call you the second he gets here.... You’re welcome.”

Hanging up the phone, Pinky gave a dramatic sigh. “I don’t know how Paul puts up with Jeremy day after day after day.”

“Paul actually likes it. He’s got a doting mother, friend, partner, and lover, all rolled into one hunky package.”

“Hunky yes, but more irritating than a mosquito in heat.”

“I know what you mean,” I said on a laugh, and took a sip of my coffee. Pinky had an amusing way with words. “But he cares deeply about Paul. It’s quite touching.”

“My husband cares deeply about me, too, but if he called me twice a day to ask about my blood pressure and my ovaries, I’d get annoyed.”

“Hmm.” Jeremy was like a mother hen around Paul. He packed a healthy lunch for Paul each day with a sandwich or salad, fresh fruit, and a little plastic pouch with herbal supplements to prevent every possible health risk, from elevated cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure to an enlarged prostate and impotence.

From looking at all those pills, one would think Paul was a doddering old man, but he was only fifty and in good health. Granted, he was overweight, and he was losing hair, but he looked quite virile.

Nonetheless Pinky and I made sure Paul took all his supplements religiously. Keeping Paul in good health meant peace and quiet for the rest of us. Jeremy was forty-eight and going through a midlife crisis. As long as things were going well at home, Jeremy’s calls to our office were limited to about two per day.

I disposed of my foam cup in the trash and glanced at my watch again. Paul’s unexplained absence was beginning to trouble me.

I returned to my desk to await Paul’s arrival. Both my incoming e-mail and hard mail baskets were bulging. My day was going to be packed.

Any girl’s first year in a job is challenging enough, what with attempting to be sweet but diplomatic, curious but not nosey, friendly but not sycophantic, helpful but not pushy—and all the while trying not to step on some important and sensitive toes. Combine that with the serious marketing efforts of my employer, an aggressive, high-tech company, and I had a tough job.

The business was growing despite the shaky economy, so my life was full—and then some.

I worked hard to make the company look good. I handled their marketing campaigns, press releases, newspaper and magazine ads, charitable events. I edited and published the quarterly newsletter, and I did anything and everything that involved dealing with the public or the press.

My title was marketing and public relations manager. Sometimes I felt like the janitor, because I was expected to clean up the public relations mess if someone from the company made a faux pas.

Whenever the proverbial crap hit the fan, I ran for my bucket and mop. There was never a dull moment. Nonetheless I loved my job—most of it, anyway.

Rathnaya designed and developed advanced software for NASA, the United States Armed Forces, many federal government agencies, and some state and county governments.

Working with the Feds, the military brass, and an assortment of other bureaucrats on secret projects was a complicated job, and once in a while Rathnaya’s top executives made the mistake of giving too little or too much information to the media, and the backlash had to be handled by Paul and me.

Although Paul, whose title was marketing director, was a nice guy, he was a bit on the laid-back side and tended to push things my way—especially the sticky, messy issues that he didn’t want to soil his large fingers with.

That was precisely why he’d hired me, a woman with an MBA from Cornell, two years experience working for a midsized Jersey newspaper, and three years with a prestigious Manhattan public relations firm—until they’d laid me off when the economic crisis hit. Then there was my brief volunteer stint working on the last governor’s political campaign.

For my age I had a pretty impressive work history. My job with the gubernatorial campaign hadn’t amounted to much more than placing election posters in strategic locations and answering phones while I looked for a paying job. But it looked good on my resume.

I glanced at the digital clock on my desk. Paul still hadn’t shown up. Our meeting was in twenty minutes. I didn’t mind going to meetings without him, especially now that I’d become accustomed to this place and the various personalities. But I still disliked the thought of going to this particular meeting alone.

It would be unnerving to meet the CEO without Paul beside me. Although I was the one who did most of the routine work, Paul was the guy who had the final authority to sign off on it. Plus he was an excellent talker—he made the simplest projects sound impressively complicated. That’s why he was the director and I the underling.

If Paul was sitting in traffic, he should have called by now. A horrible thought struck me. Could he be the one involved in that accident, like Jeremy feared?

Paul walked in just as I was about to share my disturbing thoughts with Pinky. “Morning, ladies,” he said absently, stopping at Pinky’s desk.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I raced to greet him. “Am I glad to see you! We were worried about you, Paul.”

“Some guy got rear-ended by a cement truck, so I had to sit in traffic for nearly an hour,” he grumbled. Most people would have been irate, but Paul was treating it like a minor inconvenience.

“Jeremy called,” Pinky announced. “He’s convinced you were the accident victim—a statistic.”

“I had a feeling he’d be upset,” said Paul as he strode toward his office, carrying the hunter-green insulated lunch bag Jeremy had packed for him. “My cell phone had to die on me today of all days.”

“You have a car charger, don’t you?” I asked his retreating back.

“I’ve been meaning to buy one ... but haven’t gotten around to it.” He stuck his head back out the door. “Pinky, could you please call Jeremy and tell him I’m fine, but I can’t call him right now?”

“Sure thing.” Pinky was already grabbing the phone.

I made a mental note to buy Paul a cell phone charger for his car as a Christmas gift. I’d have to find out the exact make and model of his phone.

A few minutes later, having gulped down a quick cup of coffee, Paul stood at my door, portfolio in hand. “Ready to go, Meena?”

His wide body practically filled the entire doorway. The bald patch on top of his head gleamed under the fluorescent lights. What was left of his hair was combed neatly. His latest cologne, a gift from Jeremy no doubt, drifted up to meet my sensitive nostrils. Very pleasant.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, and grabbed my notes and pen.

CEO Nayak, who generally divided his time between the Washington, DC, area and India—either wooing customers in Washington, or meeting with his subcontractors in India, was going to address the managerial staff this morning. I’d never met him in the eight months that I’d been with the company.

I’d met his partner, Nishant “Nish” Rathod, several times. Nish was the chief financial officer. He was housed in our office, so he was a familiar figure around the place.

Nish was a decent guy—friendly, cheerful, entirely different from my image of the usual accountant type. Although a smart and disciplined man when it came to fiscal matters, he didn’t seem obsessed with the bottom line like some CFOs I’d come across.

He didn’t dress like an accountant either. A stocky man in his late thirties, he generally sported twill pants, colorful Indian cotton shirts, and no tie. He laughed and kidded a lot. Nish was a likeable man.

And the company name—Rathnaya. Couldn’t they have found a simpler name? But the two partners’ names, Rathod plus Nayak, had turned into Rathnaya, Inc.—a very strange handle that I personally thought was bad for PR. Most people referred to it as Rat-Naya.

Who knows, maybe a weird name like that worked in highly technical circles, where guys wearing pocket protectors discussed computer codes and discovered ways to build the most hacker-resistant firewalls in the universe.

My job was simply to make Rathnaya look good—outlandish name and all.

Although not nervous by nature, when I got tense, like I was at the moment, I needed to go to the bathroom. “Paul, you go on ahead,” I said. “I’ve got to run to the ladies’ room.”

Paul shifted away from the door. “No problem.” He flicked his cuff back and looked at his watch. “We’ve got about ... four minutes. I’ll wait. You run along.”

Paul had come to accept my pre-meeting trips to the ladies’ room with his usual calm.

Inside the restroom, after getting the essentials out of the way, I stood for a moment in front of the mirror. The auburn highlights in my shoulder-length hair gleamed. My makeup looked fresh.

The suit looked pretty good, too. It was a soft, copper-colored material with a skirt that showed about three inches of skin above the knees, creating the impression of longer legs. Every millimeter of leg was important when one stood barely five feet. The suit went well with my cream blouse and pearl earrings. I wanted to look my best for the meeting.

Irrespective of my mother’s aspirations, and who or what Prajay Nayak was, first impressions were still vital.

Returning from the ladies’ room, I nodded at Paul. “Let’s go.”

We got into the elevator and headed for the ninth floor—the penthouse. Rathnaya occupied the top four floors of the building. The second through fifth floors were taken up by a number of small businesses, while the first floor housed various doctors’ offices.

“Don’t look so anxious,” Paul said, briefly taking in my appearance. “You look fine, prettier than usual.” His hazel eyes twinkled with teasing admiration.

“Thanks, Paul. You’re good for my ego.” If any other fifty-year-old man had given me that look, I’d have wondered about his intentions, but Paul was overtly gay. I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Do I really look that nervous?”

“A little.”

I caught him checking his own appearance in the smooth chrome wall and patting his tie. I smiled to myself. I’d often wondered how a guy like Jeremy, with his classic good looks and impeccable taste in clothes, had fallen for a plain, rotund guy like Paul. But Paul had a sense of humor and integrity, so the physique could be overlooked. Also, he handled Jeremy with infinite patience and tenderness.

That’s probably what kept the fastidious Jeremy and Paul together—opposites attracting and all that. Pinky had informed me that the two men had been partners for some eighteen years—a marriage made in heaven. In some ways I envied their happy relationship.

The topic of looks reminded me of something. “Is the CEO really as tall as everyone says?” I asked Paul.

Paul nodded. “Looks more like a basketball player than a computer geek.”

Well, if Nayak was really that tall, then my mother’s hopes about him and me were groundless. I was a midget even by Indian standards. Besides, anything other than a professional relationship with him would be a direct conflict of interest.

Oh well. I didn’t care one way or the other. As long as Nayak proved to be a good boss and I could keep my job forever and not get laid off like I did from my last one, I’d be okay. If he was half as decent a guy as Nish, then I had nothing to worry about.

As the elevator headed for the penthouse, the butterflies in my stomach fluttered more briskly. I’d heard a lot of gossip about Prajay Nayak.

Some of the younger women in the office seemed to get all starry-eyed when they talked about him. I wondered if he could be gay—like Paul. An Indian man unmarried at thirty-nine was a bit unusual.

A large corner office on the top floor was set aside for him, but I had been told he hardly ever used it. I’d seen some pictures of him from newspaper clippings and company newsletters, but it was hard to see whether he was handsome or ugly or plain. He just looked taller than most of the men in group photos.

He was considered a whiz, though. On that one point the verdict was unanimous. An engineering degree followed by a master’s in computer science, both with high honors, and both from MIT, said a lot about the guy’s intellect.

The entire office seemed to be in awe of the man’s brains. Of course, the staff was eighty percent Indian-American, so getting a fair report on the man was a bit like asking the royal family how they felt about their reigning monarch. Apparentl. . .