सखी

The Room, After

Twenty seats. Two afternoons. This is what stayed.

The laid table before the afternoon begins — plates, menu cards and a coral runner, string lights at the window behind.
A guest stands before the mantel, reading the framed poetry beneath a string of warm bulbs.
Two guests deep in conversation across a tiered tray, one gesturing mid-sentence.
Tea poured from a gold-handled pot into a cup fitted with a filigree strainer, hands resting at the table's edge.
A guest in a brown kurta sits by the window with both hands around her cup, a plate of pastry on the table beside her.
A framed Akbar Allahabadi couplet in Hindi and English: "Just a warm cup of tea and friends sitting beside me — no kingdom on earth is greater than this moment."
A poet reads into a microphone while the guitarist plays behind him, paper lanterns and printed verses strung overhead.
Two guests talking by candlelight beneath the Sakhi sign and a painting of three women.
A three-tiered tray of Indian high tea — savouries below, scones and mousse in the middle, cake and citrus dessert on top.
A guest looks down at her plate mid-afternoon, the Sakhi sign and framed prints on the table behind her.
A guitarist sits by the window, playing with his head bent to the strings.
Close view of tea streaming from a floral teapot into a dark cup with a patterned rim, a red cloth beneath.
A dark cup of tea on a gold-rimmed saucer beside a menu card, string lights blurred behind.

Thank you to everyone who sat down with us.

THE NEXT AFTERNOON