“Sing anything…with the brigade. In front of others. Vibrant people always sing. I love karaoke.”
Jana shook her head. “I’m a terrible singer.”
Shelina snorted. “You don’t want to do something you’re bad at?”
Kamila glared at her sister. “You’re a fine singer,” she said to Jana.
“I’m really not,” Jana said. Dancing she could do. But she sang like a cat with laryngitis.
“Just write it,” Asha said. “You don’t have to do everything on the list…It’s just there as inspiration. Think of it like your vibrant mood board.”
Jana reluctantly wrotesing in front of otherson the list.
“Wear a color!” Shelina said. “Something you choose yourself, not something picked out for you for the wedding events.”
Jana frowned, looking at her beige pants and black T-shirt. She added it to the list.
Yuriko grinned. “I have one! Go skinny-dipping!”
The entire brigade looked at Yuriko quizzically.
“Don’t swim naked in Tanzania,” Namrata, the mehndi artist, said.
“Seriously, listen to her,” Kamila shook her head. “Any watering hole here is hippo infested. Those things are nasty. You know, there are more hippo-related fatalities in East Africa than any other animal.”
Namrata raised one confused eyebrow at Kamila. “I meant because it’s illegal? And wrong.”
“Actually,” Jana said, “there are moremosquito-related fatalities than any other animal in the world.”
Nicole nodded. “True. Malaria. But…are mosquitos animals?”
Yuri shrugged. “Skinny-dipping was in the small-town romance I was reading earlier. That’s how the main character let loose.”
“Well, I’m not going to swim naked.” Jana couldn’t even imagine what her mother would say about that. Or the aunties. “I’m trying to get a job here.”
“But you don’t specifically have to do it. It’s inspiration,” Kamila said.
“I amspecificallytelling younotto do it,” Namrata said.
“What about swimming in the bikini Kamila got you?” Asha suggested.
Jana shrugged. She wasn’t really a bikini person and wasn’t planning on using that swimsuit, but she added it to the list. As inspiration. It was better than skinny-dipping.
Shelina waved her hand in the air, which made the aesthetician, who was painting her nails, scowl. “I have another one! Hook up with a strange man.”
Jana frowned. These ladies seemed to have missed the point of this list. “Um, no, thank you.” Hooking up with a strange man was what got her into this mess in the first place.
“What about just flirt?” Asha asked. “When Sam Uncle isn’t around, of course. You’re single and carefree and on holiday…why not?”
Jana shook her head. She couldn’t imagine flirting with someone in front of Anil.
“How about have a long conversation with a stranger? And not about the wedding or your work. Show you’re personable and confident,” Nicole suggested. Jana nodded, writing it down.
Namrata suddenly stretched her arms. “There. All done.”
They all crowded around to look at Kamila’s finished feet. “This is so beautiful,” Jana said. The intricate, lacelike design on both of Kamila’s feet was breathtaking. “I hope it wasn’t a huge inconvenience to come all the way to Serengeti for this.”
Namrata snorted. “Are you kidding? Serengeti weddings are the dream. It’s worth the drive from Nairobi.”
