My parents were out of town visiting relatives last week, so my girlfriend crashed at my place for a couple of nights. Yesterday morning, my mom returned early and was doing laundry near my room when she held up two pastel hair claw clips from the dressing table and asked: "Yeh kiske hain?" In a state of total flight-or-fight panic, my brain short-circuited and I blurted: "Didi ke hain shayad!" My sister has lived and worked in Mumbai for the past three years. My mom gave me a slow, piercing look that could cut through reinforced steel. I muttered something about running late for office and sprinted out the front door. I braced myself for an interrogation that evening. When I came home, Mom had cooked my favorite arrabbiata pasta, greeted me normally, and the claw clips were nowhere to be seen. Total domestic silence. Desi moms have a psychic ability to know everything without saying a single word.