Chapter 8: Before She Comes Home
Every evening, at five-thirty, I changed. The coral top went into the drawer. The clutcher came out of my hair. By the time Mummy came home at six, I was in my kurta, making tea.
But it wasn’t really the top I was hiding. Meera’s words stayed with me. Maybe your mother should know that too. Not the top. What I had told Ananya.
I tried to tell her. I really did.
The first time, we were having tea. “Mummy,” I said. “I wanted to tell you something.”
She looked up. I opened my mouth.
“The gas cylinder needs booking,” I said.
The second time, I gave her a cup, and she held my hand for a second. She looked at my fingers.
“Your nails have grown,” she said. “Since when do you keep them long?”
That was my chance. She was asking. All I had to do was answer.
“I forgot to cut them,” I said.
“Hmm.” She looked at my nails a little longer than she needed to. Then she let go of my hand.
The third time, she came home early. I was still in the coral top. I ran to my room and put on the first kurta I found. It was inside out.
“Your kurta is inside out,” she said. “In a hurry for what? You’re at home.”
I didn’t have an answer. Not for that, and not for anything else.
That night, I knocked on Ananya’s door.
“I want to tell her,” I said. “What I told you. But every time, the words don’t come.”
Ananya closed her laptop. She thought for a while.
“Navratri starts next week,” she said. “Nine nights, nine colours. Every evening before the aarti, wear one small new thing in the colour of the day. Show Mummy first. If she says no, you take it off.”
“And then?”
“Then don’t use words yet. Just show her, one thing every night. By the ninth night, either she’ll understand, or you’ll find the words.”
I didn’t answer for a long time.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s give it a try.”
Navratri was six days away. I started counting.
Discussion (0)