Today, the friend of the woman who runs the vegetable store stopped us to say hi. She was chatting with a wizened little woman in a sari called Mary. Mary, making conversation, mistakenly identified Pierre and me as brother and sister which is further proof that white people all look alike. Initially, Pierre thought that she was trying to tell us that her and Grija, the woman who owns the vegetable store were sisters. I then realized that she was trying to sus out our relationship. To avoid the awkwardness and societal shame of admitting that we are two godless perverts living in sin, we told them we were married. I don’t know if the idea went across well but it was finally nice to get to know, at least on a first name basis, some of our neighbors. Clearly, we are all harboring some curiosity about each other. It also marks the first step towards coercing the people who we interact with daily into liking us. I mean, KS store guy is finally smiling back at me, so that’s something. 