Violet skirt

Five

My sister handed me her violet coloured silk skirt and a black scarf. I wore the skirt and draped the scarf across my chest. I picked up the half a foot clay Golu doll from the cricket set. I always liked him, his smile was hidden by the thick moustache drawn above his lips. I sat on the pillow and placed the groom next to me. My sister sang slogans and threw raw rice and dried rose petals on us when the door bell rang. She took the clay doll and told me to clean the rice on the floor before she opened the door. She hid the doll in her cupboard and ran out to open the door. I picked up the rice grains and the petals from the floor as I didn’t want amma to get mad for making a mess.

“What are you wearing?” amma asked in her stern voice.

I stood up and replied “I cleaned the floor, see nothing on it.”

She came closer, pulled the scarf from my body and threw it on the ground. She turned towards my sister and asked “Is this your work”, without waiting for her reply amma turned back to me and said “Remove the skirt right now.”

My hands shivered as I tried to unhook the skirt. Amma knelt down pushed my hands off and tried to unhook the skirt. The rusted hook was stuck, she looked at me for a moment and tore the skirt off me with all her might.

Fourteen

I counted the money I saved from my weekly allowance. I had more than enough and did not bother the scorching agni nakshstram.

I parked my bike and went inside the gift store hotchscopping.

“May I help you?” Asked the store assistant with a smile.

I ignored her and went straight to the dolls section and picked up the Barbie doll I had an eye on for a long time.

“Should this be gift wrapped?” asked the cashier.

“No” I replied hastily, “This is for me.”

The cashier looked and me and continued to bill the doll.

~~~

I placed the doll on my study table without opening the box. I had my answer ready to my parents — “I bought it for display.” They weren’t amused by my answer. But they let me keep the doll.

I dressed up the doll when no one was at home. And I would put it back in the box with it’s original dress before my parents returned.

~~~

I rushed back home from school to meet my favourite cousin. I hadn’t seen her for a year now. She was visiting us that evening along with her year old baby and husband. I was catching up with my cousin and amma came back with a box in her hand, it was my Barbie doll. She said “Cavin had bought a doll for his niece” and handed the box to the toddler.

Twenty three

“You cannot say what I should do with my life” I yelled.

“What are you thinking? This will never be accepted by any sane person. Is this how we brought you up?” yelled appa equally.

“It is all your fault” he looked at amma and said.

“And now the blame falls on me. What were you doing all these years? Why didn’t you put any effort in spending time with the kids?” amma yelled.

They both looked at me, amma said, “you are a disappointment.”

Thirty two

Our house was a mess after the birthday party. Amma was busy attending the guests who decided to stay that night. Appa silently slipped into his study room once the cake was cut. My sister was busy instructing the helps clean up the living room. Having encountered too many unpleasant relatives and acquaintances I went back to my room and locked it. I crashed on the bed and closed my eyes.

I woke up to the banging noise on my room door. “Mama, open the door…” bang bang bang my niece was at my door. I closed my eyes again. The banging on the door was now louder.

I opened the door and looked, I saw my niece standing along with one of our help — both carrying gift boxes. “What?” I asked.

“Mama, let us unpack the gifts” she said in an enthusiastic tone. The help grinned.

She made her way inside before I could say anything. The help placed the gifts on the floor and left. I sat with her as she started to unpack one by one. I checked the labels before she unpacked the gifts. Her disappointment level increased as she unpacked her gifts.

“Why do people gift the same stuff again and again?” She asked me.

“Because they don’t know what you have” I replied.

“I am excited to see all these gifts. But they are so boring mama!” she exclaimed.

“What does not bore you?”

She made a thinking face as she unpacked the next box.

“Barbie!” she exclaimed.

“There you go, now that wouldn’t bore you” I said.

“Huh, this is the fifteenth Barbie” she threw the box aside, farther than the other gifts. Maybe she wanted to make a point to me that she really wasn’t interested in the doll.

My eyes were fixed on the box as she carried on with her not-so exciting gift unpacking session. She ran out once all the gifts were unpacked. My room was a mess with the gift wrappers floating around. I called the help to clean my room. She stacked the gift boxes neatly and continued to clear the wrappers. I looked at the Barbie doll placed on the top of the stack. I took the box and stared at it for a while. I placed the box on my study table.

The story doesn’t end here; there is more to thirty two…