Sanjeev and Twinkle met four months ago and are moving into their new home together. Every day, they find Christian artifacts hidden all over the house. While Twinkle delights in them, Sanjeev resents them, reflecting their clashing personalities. With a touch of humour, the story captures their struggle to navigate love and compromise amidst their differences. This is one of the short stories included in “Interpreter of Maladies” that I read years ago and really appreciated, like this witty short story.
“By the end of the week the mantel had still not been dusted; it had, however, come to serve as the display shelf for a sizable collection of Christian paraphernalia. There was a 3-D postcard of Saint Francis done in four colors, which Twinkle had found taped to the back of the medicine cabinet, and a wooden cross key chain, which Sanjeev had stepped on with bare feet as he was installing extra shelving in Twinkle’s study. There was a framed paint-by-number of the three wise men, against a black velvet background, tucked in the linen closet. There was also a tile trivet depicting a blond, unbearded Jesus, delivering a sermon on a mountaintop, left in one of the drawers of the built in china cabinet in the dining room.”