There are advantages to beginning the day with a long-distance fight with Teja.

I can pretend to be more angry and hurt than I actually am. This is good exercise for the lungs and the lachrymal glands.

Every once in a while, he or I can disconnect. Then we can wait to see who will call first. Either way, it’s win-win. For instance, if he calls first, I am happy. If I call first, it gives me one more reason to fight.

Since he can’t see me, I can stop pretending to be angry and hurt once I put the phone down. I can instantly go back to doing whatever I was doing before he called.

I have a ready-made excuse for not working for the rest of the day. I can tell myself that I am so upset that I need to watch ‘Spanglish‘

or ‘Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Na‘

or ‘Shoot the Piano Player‘,

or lie in bed reading ‘Sexus‘

or ‘The Betelnut Killers‘

or surf ‘Memsaab Story‘ and ‘Dusted Off‘ and ‘Of this & that‘ and all the other blogs on my blogroll,

to calm down.

It’s what I do anyway, most days I am home, but I can do it without feeling guilty that I am not getting on with my book/script/film/life.

I can eat half of Dhanno’s cheese and salami sandwich as a second breakfast, a piece of dark Toblerone after lunch, and maybe even a scoop of Bavarian chocolate ice-cream after dinner.

I can put my phone on silent mode, and not worry about all the important calls that I’m missing from banks and credit card companies.

Dhanno asks if she can cook dinner for me.