Chapter 10: Night Nine (Purple)
On the last day, Mummy came home from the bank early. She called me to her room.
Her old steel trunk was open on the bed. The one she kept under her bed, that we were never allowed to open as children. Inside, wrapped in an old cotton sari, was a purple salwar suit. Soft, with tiny silver flowers along the neck.
“I wore this to the garba when I was your age,” she said. “My mother made it for me. I have kept it all these years. I always thought I would give it to my daughter one day.”
She held it up against me.
“Go and wear it,” she said. “Then come back. I’m not finished.”
When I came back in the purple suit, she made me sit on the bed. She took out a small bottle of purple nail paint. She held my hand, the same hand she had looked at on the day she asked about my nails. And slowly, carefully, she painted each nail.
Then she put the dupatta on me, pinned at the shoulder, the same way she had on Night Four. She put the red bangles on my wrist again, and her blue jhumkas in my ears.
Then she stepped back and looked at me for a long time.
“Tonight,” she said, “you’re coming to the garba.”
My heart stopped. “In this? In front of everyone?”
“In this,” she said. “In front of everyone.”
She went to get ready. I sat on her bed for a minute, looking at my purple nails. Then I picked up my phone and did something I had never done before. I video-called Meera on WhatsApp. Not for work.
She picked up on the second ring. “Rohan? Is everything okay?”
“Everything is okay,” I said. “I told her. I told Mummy.”
Meera’s hand went to her mouth.
I stood up and held the phone away from me, so she could see everything. The purple suit. The dupatta. The red bangles. The jhumkas. The nails.
“She dressed me herself,” I said. “This was her suit. Her mother made it.”
For a moment, Meera didn’t say anything. Her eyes were shining. “You look so beautiful,” she said. “I’m so happy for you.”
Ananya came in and leaned into the screen next to me. “Hi! I’m the sister.”
“The famous sister!” Meera laughed. “Hi! I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Listen,” Ananya said. “If you ever come to Pune, you’re staying with us. No hotel. Okay?”
Meera smiled and nodded. “Okay. Deal.”
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