By Ananya Mahapatra
“So, how was everything with you??” Sneha asked.
“Okay, I guess!!... Still—unjust.”
“Why’s that??”
“I couldn’t touch anything, or anybody and sleep in a bare bed—” “Bed?? They allowed you a bed??”
“—I know… I got a bed, a mosquito net, and dozens of storybooks to pass the time.”
“How lucky you are; look at you still whining.” She gave me a side thwack by her shoulder, pocking fun.
I looked at her, almost falling… “Lucky?? Of course, I am. My parents loved me, couldn’t see me in pain, cared about me. My dad even brought me storybooks. Even they slept on the floor of my room while I was in bed, the bare bed…Lucky I am…o’course.
It’s been 13 years since I last visited my village, then I was doing my bachelor’s in science, and now I am a mother. Even though I was 19 then, I was still too dumb to render my mind to the elders. That’s where I studied and lived till I was 11; my family moved to the town right after my minor studies. Ahhh, thinking about that, it was for far good in a way moving from there. I got bullied by my so-called best friends; at least, that changed entirely right after we got shifted.
The lack of quality education, “Ahem,” not the education you are thinking though…mine prospective intend to the base of character building upliftment, the way of living in a justified society…that’s what I meant about my idea of quality education…that was a severe problem if you grew up in the countryside...mostly…typically….
Society and its surroundings will make your mind and mouth shut even before you realise the inevitable fact of living the way you are living. They’ll never be going teach you or show you the richness and the justifications of our ancient practices and the civilisational approach; instead, they’ll blind and bind you with the dark band of godly orthodoxy fear. I wonder hardly any of them actually knows the grave about them, but no matter what, they would definitely squeeze you with gratuitous cecity.
And if you are a girl—don’t ask… just don’t ask about the screwy consequences you’ll face. And the worst part!!!!!! Majorly it’s going to be a woman who’ll give more stupendous scope to this gibberish.
I somehow feel blessed that I did not fall into this one-trick-pony. When I was in my minors’, I saw some of my batchmates and seniors
getting their first monthlies. And I saw how they got treated those days. But again, as I said how foolish they were…we were; that romanticisation of the fears and the insults of womanhood made them think this was some kind of amazement and not torture or abuse.
Thankfully when I got mine, we had already left the village; even though what I went through was still invidious, my parent tried their best not to make me feel worst. I was a kid back then and couldn’t raise my voice against what I didn’t like, a victim of a similar booby trap. But with time, as I grew older, I realised what I went through was not what I deserved. Me only ?? Naahhh, nobody deserves to be treated like that.
That time, I listened to Sneha and did not reply back... One thing I learned so far... Silence... Make your silence turn into a gigantic roar that could shove the den when it’s time. I looked at her and gave a faint smile avoiding the topic; I was just too tired of answering the same question to everyone time and time again.
“How’s your little devil??” She asked.
“Ridhi!!! She had an event today, coming with her Mausi, it’s probably the time... They must have reached the village.” I said, removing my gloves; I was picking some straw mushrooms with Sneha from our little farm in the backyard.
“The car… They must be here,” she said, listening to the sizzle of the car wheels.
Before I could reach the verandah with the bucket full of mushrooms in one hand and the dirty gloves in the other, a 13 years’ jumped on me... I almost tripped, wobbling back.
“Easy Ridhu,” a stern yet dulcet voice came before the door. That’s Suhani, my younger sister. She jerked forward and caught the mushroom basket from my hand right before it could scatter in the ground. Thus, I managed to balance.
“What happened!!! Very enthusiastic you seem!!!” I asked Ridhi, who is still clinging in my arms.
“Enthusiastic, you say?? Madam just lost the fall event,” Suhani said, rolling her eyes.
“It’s not a big deal, Mausi. I’ll catch up with no time... No maa??” She turned back with puppy eyes.
I laughed... “Sure... Sure...”
“You know Nani, You are making her behave like shit??” Suhani seemed somewhat irritated.
“Okay, okay, enough, you two... Go get freshen up; got some amazing mushrooms.” “ohhh…. Sneha, my friend, you remember??” I asked Suhani pointing towards sneha.
“Ohh yes, yes…you mentioned….” She replied with a pause. “Hello Dii, Nani talked about you. Nice to meet you.” She gently bowed with closed hands towards Sneha.
That made me smile. This is the quality of education I was talking about; this is the richness of culture you inherit. After Suhani, my daughter Ridhi also bowed and gave Sneha a gentle namaskar. I smiled proudly, seeing my two baby girls growing up really well.
“Okay, Suhani can help me prepare the meal... Be on time and don’t be late.” I said to Sneha. She had some work to finish. She also came here for a holiday, just like us.
“Yah yah... See you, girl.” She said, nagging me.
After she left, I went to the kitchen and put the mushrooms in turmeric water. It’s better this way to kill the germs naturally. Doing that, I remembered how my mother bathed and made my sister and me the same, applying the mixture of turmeric and oil in the skin to cleanse the body, the filth body, in fact, on the first day of the monthly cycle. To her and to all those old people, it was like ‘cleaning the dirty body—dirty woman body…which became untouchable after having the monthly cycle. Untouchable, yes...you got it right, untouchable... Not that turmeric and oil could moisturise skin and make it healthy, but cleanse untouchability that we cannot even see. Well, I changed it for myself and my sister for herself. We now don’t apply it just for the blindness but in some off times when we would feel like having a skincare routine. But not coconut oil in it, of course; we don’t want to look like a yellow comic character. “Suhu, are you done??” I asked.
“5 minutes....” She replied, singling under the shower.
“Hurry up....”
I ground the soaked mustard seeds, chillies, skinned garlic cloves, curry leaves and skinned ginger cuts. I was up for having a fantastic mushroom Besara an authentic Odia cuisine, and the one I am making today especially has my mother’s touch.
“Hmm, what a hectic day... Here brought it for ya.” Suhani had her shower and came with two exquisite red wine bottles. She went on a road
trip to Sikkim for her vacation. I wonder she actually knew my personal taste; it’s an indigenous brand from Sikkim.
“Woaaaa... I’m amazed, you remember??” It’s been years, I missed its taste. “Hmm....” I left a deep sigh, taking one from her hand and inspecting it. “Umm..seems like Sneha would not be a big fan of alcohol. Let’s keep it for our time together.” I gave the bottle back to her. “Uhhh... Okay then.”
“You guys are going to have a fun night; what about me??” Little Ridhi came out, draining her hair in a towel.
“Hahaha….” Suhani gave a sly laugh. “You want to have a hangover too?? Sorry to disappoint you, babe; you lack some... No... A big year gap for it....”
With an irritation, Ridhi threw her towel to Suhani and plopped on the couch. She turned on the TV and looked at me, “maa, tummy is rumbling.”
“Rice is done... A half an hour and the Besara’ll be ready. Help your tummy with.” I threw a guava towards her, and she caught it really well. I gave her an admiring smile.
After 1 hour, Sneha came with her son and daughter; the son is the older one and the daughter’s same as mine. Ridhi was still watching the TV. Sneha and I are pretty close, and so as our daughters.
Simi is a shy little girl, but my Ridhi is entirely opposite, always there to prevent Simi from being alone. She is a giant extrovert. As soon as they came, Ridhi gestured Simmi to sit beside her, and so did she, squeezed beside her. Within a second, they were giggling, talking things of their own world.
Everything’s ready?? Sneha came inside the kitchen to check on me. I was cutting the carrots for the salad. “Done with the cucumber?” She added.
“Naahhh, give me a hand.” I pushed the bucket of freshly picked cucumbers towards her and then a knife.
We enjoyed that dinner; Ridhi slept early, right after they left our house; she must have had a hectic day or else she would never sleep this early. Suhani and I wrapped up everything and sat near the fireplace, not a real one, of course, an electric one. Who would gonna make a real one just for a month or two? It’s been a long time since we both have been sitting together, cosily like that. She doesn’t like to get too emotional, a huge
introvert, in that case, be it with mom and dad or with me. But we enjoy and talk a lot whenever we got quiet time together, just like today. “So... What happened today?? Ridhi nagged you??” I asked her, holding the glass of red wine, twisting and smelling the aroma of it. “Hmm... I was yearning for it... How was your trip??” I added. “Anything extra you want to add??.. Please do it all right away. Then I’ll reply to you all at once.”
“Tcf”. I mocked.
“Hmm, we already talked on the phone about it... The trip was nice. We just had one guy in our gang. Ronit. You know him. And everything else except this wine thing you already knows.”
“Hmm..”
“And about Ridhi... Yeah, it’s her habit to nag me. You and nobody else can alter that. After this ass throbbing journey, that halfwit made me run same with her pace at least half a kilometre.” Suhani grunted.
“Hain??!! Half kilometre?? Why? What happened??” I furrowed my brows.
“She told me she was feeling like vomiting when I handed her the towel. So I got stressed and ran along with her… I was concerned, you know. And right after the run, she told me she was messing with me. She didn’t even believe that I ran along.”
“Hahaha.” I choked with tears... “You are always a fool. Good for you got to do some stretches.”
“Tcf. Running is stretch for you?? What an idiot.” She rolled her eyes. “Seems like it’s yesterday when you were running the same like her in the tracks.” I patted her head. “My little girl grew up this big,” I added. “Eeeuuuu.. don’t do that” she jerked her head off. “That’s cringy”. She made me a donkey monkey face, which made me smile. That night passed Just like that. We two passed right on the sofa until Ridhi woke us up in the morning.
In most eastern Indian villages, you’ll find the house walls glued together. Basically, the homes of the same bloodline. There would be no front boundaries and all, and the concrete roads completely joint the verandah and the stairs of each house... People use back gates to park vehicles, so the front roads are not awake for vehicles. So children used to play cricket on those roads. That’s the major outdoor game of India. You’ll find people playing it in every day to day life.
Suhani used to play cricket too. Life became busy, and now it’s almost impossible to look back. Still, she is playing today with the neighbourhood children. I was sitting on the roof of our house and looking at the chippering happening outside... Some were cheering them while some elderlies were busy taunting and gossiping, looking at my 23 years playing and running with her casual jugger and T-shirt. Suddenly I got conscious and shouted towards the children, “can I join?? would you let me play??”
“Go and do your house chores and look after the plants... We don’t want to lose.” My moody sister taunted.
“You are breaking my heart. See there...even Manusi Mausi is very much interested in playing.” I shouted, gesturing towards Manusi aunt. “What’s say, Mausi?? Do you want me to join you? I see you can speak really well. I am thinking, are you also that good at playing?”
“Ukhooo... Uhooo.” She panicked, “my bones already squeezed me from walking, daughter. These are for children...let them enjoy it....” Manusi Mausi replied.
“Hahaha.” Suhani choked with laughter. And shouted towards me, “what an idea boss!!! Too cool. These people can only talk unnecessarily. Chill up.” They continued their play, and I came downstairs.
I was about to open my current read ‘The Priory of the orange tree’, but before I could pick away the bookmark, Ridhi came rushing towards me, “maaa... I am bleeding.”
I moved towards her with a distraction, “hmm, what!!”
“I am bleeding.” She said, touching her thigh.
“Ohh.” I got up from the chair, “is it hurting?”
“Naaahhhh... Nothing... It’s just blood. Say what should I use?? A pad?? Tampon??”
“Ahh...you are too tiny for a tampon; use a pad for now. Go wash up and take one from my bag. It’s in the corner.” I said, turning back to the read.
“Okay, gotcha... She ran inside our room like a flash, and she was already rushed outside within a few seconds. I glanced at her back and smiled a little... It was her first monthly. Right away, Suhani came inside for water, drank it from the table then came near me. I was still looking at the book yet glancing at her from the corner of my eyes. She came and gave a slight bump to my arm in her butt.
“Yaaaaa... Aaiiisshhhh.” I grunted.
She playfully ran outside with tiny little hops. This girl is still my little sister. Her capers can’t ever change; I like the way it is, though. I took a deep breath and went back to read with a proud smile.
By Ananya Mahapatra
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