When Dimple Met Rishi

A fight breaks out among Hari, Rishi, Evan, and Ashish, but Max breaks it up and tells them to clear out. Isabelle admits she wasn’t comfortable with the dance either and apologizes to Celia. Back in Dimple’s and Celia’s room, the girls tend to Rishi’s bleeding nose and Ashish’s cut lip. Celia apologizes for her involvement with the Aberzombies, saying she “wanted a high school do-over or something” (321). She thanks Dimple for being a good friend. Ashish invites Celia to take a walk, and they leave.

Dimple and Rishi take a nap, and a phone call from Max wakes them up. He says they won first place and $1,000 toward the development of their app. He also says Rishi won’t be kicked out of the program for fighting, as long as it doesn’t happen again.

Three weeks pass, and the judges arrive to review the app prototypes and announce the winner at the lecture hall. While they’re waiting, Dimple, Rishi, and Celia get gelato. Celia is texting Ashish and talking with Dimple and Rishi about having been allowed to stay in the dorms until the Last Hoorah party even though she dropped out of the program. Rishi suddenly feels ill from eating too much gelato, and Dimple takes him back to the dorms and cares for him. Dimple reiterates how important meeting Jenny Lindt is to her, and Rishi says Jenny Lindt would be lucky to meet her. Dimple leaves Rishi to get paper towels and water from the vending machine.

While headed toward the vending machines, Dimple runs into Celia, who tells her, “If you don’t watch out, he’s going to turn you totally domestic” (328). Dimple suddenly feels anxious that she’s becoming everything she didn’t want to be: a young girl in a serious relationship with a traditional Indian boy. Before she can think more about it, the judges finish their assessment and the students are called to the lecture hall for the grand-prize announcement. The judges announce that Hari, Evan, and Isabelle win for their prototype, Drunk Zombies. Dimple is crushed and wonders if she’s “done exactly what she’d been afraid she was going to do and let herself get distracted by a boy” (332). Rishi assures her that the Aberzombies won because of Hari’s influential parents and that Jenny Lindt won’t like their app. He offers to watch TV with her, but Dimple wants to be alone. She feels like “the world was falling to pieces” (333).

In her dorm room the day after the announcement, Dimple berates herself for losing and “wasting Mamma and Papa’s money” (334). Celia theorizes that “the founders of Insomnia Con had been in Hari’s dad’s pocket from the beginning” (336). Dimple’s father calls, and Dimple apologizes for losing the contest. Her father says she’s not a failure and that he’s proud of her for attending Insomnia Con and working toward her passion.

Rishi texts Dimple, inviting her out to brunch, but Dimple feels that something has shifted in their relationship. She feels boxed in by their plan for a long-distance relationship, and she’s still sad about her loss. She texts back that she has a headache. Rishi reminds her Jenny Lindt will be at the Spurlock Building, but Dimple insists on staying in.

Rishi goes to brunch with Celia and Ashish, and Celia assures him that Dimple will bounce back. Ashish agrees, telling Rishi to give Dimple some time. Rishi decides to go ahead with his plan, which involves a USB stick in his pocket and a conversation he wants to have with Jenny Lindt.

Celia wakes Dimple from her nap at seven p.m. to take her to the Last Hoorah dance. Celia notes that Dimple hasn’t been speaking to Rishi and says if she’s going to break his heart, she should do it now rather than stretch it out. Dimple knows Rishi loves her but feels they’ve met too early. “That was the cruelest of things. It wasn’t that Rishi was wrong for her. It was that he was too right” (341). Meanwhile, in his room, Rishi gets an exciting and mysterious phone call.

Dimple allows Celia to drag her to the Last Hoorah dance, where she sees Rishi and her stomach lurches. She feels crazy for thinking about ending things with him, but she knows it will be harder to break up five years down the line as opposed to now, so she has to do it now.

Rishi interrupts Dimple’s busy thoughts, whisking her away to an empty lecture hall, where he has arranged a surprise meeting with Jenny Lindt. Jenny compliments Dimple’s work and disparages the Drunk Zombies app and its creators. She notes that people get ahead unfairly because of being white, male, and/or straight and because of economic privilege. Jenny says that’s why she tries to amplify those who don’t fall into those categories, as an effort to diversify the field. She tells Dimple she’d like to partner with her to get her app market ready, and Dimple excitedly agrees.

While Dimple talks to Jenny, Rishi waits outside, remembering how he assembled a montage of video clips to send to Jenny to show all of Dimple’s effort. When Dimple emerges, she hugs Rishi and thanks him. They go to talk, and Dimple reveals she sent Rishi’s sketches to Leo Tilden. Rishi is outraged, but Dimple tells him he was being cowardly and defends her actions. They argue, and Dimple says she never wanted a relationship in the first place.

Dimple says the relationship isn’t working for her anymore because Rishi cares too much about what his parents think and because she wants “so much more from my life than you seem to want” (353). She keeps from Rishi that “she was afraid they’d just met too early, how she was terrified she was giving up an essential part of herself” (353). Rishi says he’s changed so much for Dimple even if she doesn’t realize it. He calls her unkind and walks away.

Dimple decides to leave early and packs while Celia and Ashish hang out on Celia’s bed. Dimple says she’ll continue to work with Jenny Lindt remotely and promises Celia she’ll keep texting. They hug goodbye.

Rishi wonders if Dimple was right. Was he “too afraid to stand up to his parents, too afraid to really live life?” (356). He calls home and expresses his doubts about MIT and engineering to his father before telling Pappa that he wants to pursue comics. His father is shocked and asks if Dimple said something to change Rishi’s mind, but Rishi says there is no Dimple and that he’ll be home soon.

Back at her childhood home, Dimple is bored listening to Mamma, Ritu auntie, and Seema didi discuss Seema’s pregnancy. Mamma remarks that Dimple was a difficult delivery and ungrateful after. Once again, Dimple feels she’s disappointed her mother. She and Mamma haven’t discussed Rishi, though Papa wanted to make sure Rishi didn’t hurt her and encouraged Dimple to keep focusing on her app and Stanford. Frustrated and sad, Dimple leaves the room to pack for Stanford. Mamma follows her, and upstairs Dimple says her mother’s disappointment “is like a cold, heavy blanket around my shoulders” (363). Mamma says she’s not disappointed in Dimple and that she understands 18 is young for marriage. Then she says she sees Dimple’s sadness and knows Dimple loves Rishi. At that, Dimple bursts into tears, realizing “she’d broken his heart and decimated her own” (364). Mamma points out that women do have to make sacrifices but that Dimple is sacrificing her happiness now by not being with Rishi. Mamma tells Dimple she’ll always love and be proud of her.

Meanwhile, Rishi prepares to leave for SFSU, where he’s been accepted via late application (with his parents’ blessing). Rishi learns from Ashish, who learned from Celia, that Dimple has been taking the breakup very hard and that she still loves Rishi. He decides to try to win Dimple back.

As she drives to Stanford, Dimple remembers the summer in San Francisco and realizes that she’ll never find another man who loves her as deeply and truly as Rishi does. She heads to the airport to try to intercept Rishi’s flight to MIT but doesn’t find him. Meanwhile, Rishi looks for Dimple at her dorm at Stanford but can’t find her.

Compelled by nostalgia, they both wind up at SFSU, at the fountain where they met. They are surprised to see each other, but Rishi feels it’s kismet. Rishi tells Dimple he’s going to study at SFSU and that Leo Tilden spoke to the admissions panel on his behalf. He thanks Dimple for sending Leo his sketches and apologizes for reacting as he did; Dimple thanks Rishi again for putting her in touch with Jenny Lindt. Rishi confesses he went to the Stanford dorms looking for her and says he still loves Dimple. Dimple says she still loves him too and that these are their lives and they get to decide the rules. They choose to give their relationship another chance, and they kiss.