When Dimple Met Rishi: Chapters 43–One Month Later

by Sandhya Menon
Dimple Shah is thrilled to be spending her summer studying web development at Stanford University — but she doesn't know that her traditional parents are planning for her to meet (and eventually marry!) fellow student Rishi Patel.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–15, Chapters 16–27, Chapters 28–42, Chapter 43–One Month Later
40 words 43 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. inflection
    the modification of pitch, tone, or volume when speaking
    “We’re leaving in three weeks.” The fog sucked the tremor of inflection in his voice, and the sentence came out sounding flat, lifeless.
  2. back burner
    reduced priority
    “Dimple Shah,” he said, his mouth still against hers, “if I get to do this with any regularity, I’ll gladly put marriage on the back burner for the next century.”
  3. prattle
    idle or foolish and irrelevant talk
    She’d come to San Francisco so relieved to get away from it all—Mamma and Ritu auntie’s constant prattle about makeup and clothes and the I.I.H.—and now she was leaving with a serious boyfriend.
  4. harried
    troubled persistently, especially with petty annoyances
    The door dinged and Celia walked in, looking harried.
  5. lilt
    a jaunty rhythm in music or speech
    “Mmm,” she said instead, hoping the lilt could be mistaken for sympathy instead of wryness.
  6. concede
    be willing to yield
    She continued staring at him until he conceded with a “Yeah, okay. I really thought it’d work, though.”
  7. revel
    take delight in
    Dimple laughed and rested her head on his shoulder, reveling in the hard musculature under his skin.
  8. earful
    a severe scolding
    Dimple smirked. “Maybe you need to have a talk with her. I’m sure I’m in for an earful when I go back home.”
  9. rivet
    direct one's attention on something
    “Delicious, just the right amount of biscuit and chocolate, light as air.”
    She watched as Rishi bit into one, her gaze automatically riveted on his mouth, her cheeks heating.
  10. smattering
    a small number or amount
    That had been happening more and more now, her noticing the sheer physicality of him, how he was so different from her, how his jaw had that beautiful smattering of stubble on it, how rough his skin was compared to hers...
  11. reconvene
    meet or cause to meet again
    “Let’s think about it and reconvene at a later date.”
  12. brazen
    not held back by conventional ideas of behavior
    Did it turn you into this brazen, dauntless person who asked for what she wanted in spite of usually being racked with social anxiety?
  13. dauntless
    invulnerable to fear or intimidation
    Did it turn you into this brazen, dauntless person who asked for what she wanted in spite of usually being racked with social anxiety?
  14. legion
    a vast multitude
    “Well,” she said, “Mamma has always talked to me about the evils of boys. I don’t think she was ever too worried though. I never had a legion of guys coming around. If anything, I think she’s always been worried that I’ll end up alone with a herd of cats.”
  15. intractable
    difficult to manage or mold
    It was that this felt like a solid, intractable line they were crossing.
  16. ether
    a medium that was once thought to fill all space
    And all his doubts vanished into the ether.
  17. fathom
    come to understand
    “Sorry, man, but she’s just too into Evan for anything to happen between you guys. For no reason I can fathom. I mean, you're clearly the better choice, but try telling her that.”
  18. finery
    elaborate or showy attire and accessories
    She unzipped it and took it off, looking around at the various stages of costumed finery.
  19. ethereal
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    She looked ethereal.
  20. accoutrement
    accessory or supplementary item of clothing
    “Magic?” Dimple guessed, nodding toward his accoutrements.
    He nodded. “I’ve been doing it since I was seven.”
  21. gyrate
    wind or move in a spiral course
    “We’re doing a dance to an Indian song,” Dimple said, feeling a flurry of nerves in her belly.
    Louis’s eyes drifted to Rishi's gyrating form. “Oh,” he said slowly. “Good luck.”
  22. compulsive
    having obsessive habits or irresistible urges
    Her eyes were wild behind her glasses (she’d refused to consider taking them off for the dance, afraid she’d tumble right off the stage, even though her eyes weren’t that bad), and she kept swallowing compulsively.
  23. nettle
    plant having stinging hairs that cause skin irritation
    I did that, Rishi thought, and the idea stung like nettle. I've made him defensive by constantly judging his choices because they aren't the ones I'd make.
  24. spontaneity
    the quality of coming from feelings without constraint
    And gods, he was so traditional. So trustworthy and practical and stable. He was a savings account. Dimple was eighteen. She didn’t need a savings account. She needed adventure and spontaneity and travel.
  25. mired
    entangled or hindered
    So how had she gotten mired in the same pit of domesticity as her parents?
  26. diffuse
    spread out; not concentrated in one place
    Was it Rishi? Had he somehow diffused her energy, the energy that was meant to go into this project?
  27. stoic
    seeming unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive
    The understanding and kindness in Papa’s voice was too much. Dimple didn’t know if she could talk to him stoically, without bursting into tears.
  28. desiccated
    thoroughly dried out
    Rishi's own stomach felt like khishmish—a dry, desiccated, shriveled raisin.
  29. limbo
    an imaginary place for lost or neglected things
    “You may as well face him. Maybe it’ll help you make up your mind, move on from this weird limbo you’re in.”
  30. commiserate
    feel or express sympathy or compassion
    If the pain weren’t so raw, she’d go over there to commiserate.
  31. incisive
    demonstrating ability to recognize or draw fine distinctions
    Dimple walked forward on wooden legs. It was her. It was really her, with her teal mermaid hair in an angled bob, her quirky retro clothes (right then she was wearing a blue polka-dotted circle skirt, a shirt with a Peter Pan collar, and jeweled cat’s-eye glasses), and her incisive gaze.
  32. discombobulated
    having self-possession upset; thrown into confusion
    Dimple had looked so utterly discombobulated, he hoped he'd done the right thing by surprising her.
  33. congeal
    solidify, thicken, or come together
    Rishi stared at her, not fully able to grasp her meaning. “Sent him my sketches?” He shook his head, like that would make this congeal a bit more. “How? When?”
  34. condescending
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    “A favor!” he thundered, throwing his hands up. “Do you know how condescending you sound right now? So you were just doing the cowardly idiot who doesn’t know what’s good for him a favor, right?”
  35. ironclad
    inflexibly entrenched and unchangeable
    “You would’ve made a great bhabhi someday,” he said, and that, more than anything, drove it all home with an ironclad finality.
  36. inscrutable
    difficult or impossible to understand
    Or would it come out hidden behind a curtain of black hair, watching the doctors with its inscrutable dark eyes?
  37. wistfully
    in a pensively sad manner
    “But still, Ritu, you’re so lucky, you know,” Mamma said, smiling wistfully at the ultrasound picture, which was now in her hands.
  38. wreak
    cause to happen or to occur as a consequence
    She wept for her hardheadedness, and for a world that couldn’t just let her be both, a woman in love and a woman with a career, without flares of guilt and self-doubt seeping in and wreaking havoc.
  39. proclivity
    a natural inclination
    He hadn’t asked Rishi to give up comics from a sense of arrogance or pride or feeling ashamed of his oldest son’s artistic proclivities.
  40. plod
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    He got up and walked out to his car, his steps plodding, weighed down with misery.
Created on Sat Sep 22 20:45:18 EDT 2018 (updated Tue Oct 02 09:40:23 EDT 2018)

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