Facing the World

Chapter 2

It was such a lovely morning, birds chirping, cows mooing and people yelling?

"Wake up!"

Huh!What? Was I dreaming again?

Disha looked really pissed, she was about to pull my blanket and kick me out of bed.

"Stop dreaming and get up quickly. Aunty Roop and her family will be here any minute".

Oh my! I had forgotten about Aunty Roop, her husband and their two daughters were coming to visit us after almost a year. Thinking about Aunty Roop, made me do things quicker, she was like my idol. Me and Aunty Roop had so much in common, we always viewed life on the edge and I remember she always used to attend to me first before her own daughters. I always thought she was the only lucky one born in our family that got to move out of this village and live far away in the city.

I quickly ran downstairs and found everyone busy preparing food,cleaning the house and the garden. It felt like the President was coming. I guess everyone wanted to make Aunty Roop feel at home and most importantly make her husband believe that we were very clean and generous people. After all, my two cousins were visiting us after a very long time.

It was about 12 mid-day when all the children in the valley near our house starting screaming and cheering. This is usually a sign that someone wealthy , with a nice car has entered the village. Hearing the noise in the neighborhood, all the ladies in the house began to line up in front of the gate to welcome Aunty Roop.

As the car stopped in front of the gate, two girls wearing tight jeans,stepped out the car and to my surprise I decided to look at Dahdi, to see her reaction. The confused look on her face made me laugh but looking at the situation I tried to hold it back in. Dahdi was in no condition to say a single word, she looked like she was about to drop straight to the ground. My cousins that had just stepped out the car,were dressed a little modern, but in the eyes of the villagers, it was extreme.

Aunty Roop and Uncle Raj got out the car, and came quickly towards Dahdi and touched her feet for blessings. My two cousins were hidden behind the back and it seemed like they weren't enjoying the dusty climate. Aunty Roop then carried on hugging her brothers and sister in laws.Before she came towards us she looked behind to see if her daughterswere following her.

"Sharon and Diya, go take blessing from your Dahdi, don't just stand there"

It was really the most awkward scene I have witnessed in our house by far. The two girls slowly walked towards Dahdi, who was slowly leaning backwards, not being able to believe what she was seeing.

Veer unable to control his laughter, kept staring at me and kept whispering "I think they went through a bad robbery, no wonder half of their clothes are missing". I gave him a nudge on his arm and told him to keep it down.

Sharon was the oldest, and so she bowed down to Dahdi's feet first. Dahdi made her stop half way and gave her a hug. Diya just skipped the bowing down and gave Dahdi a huge hug with a big smile.

"Finally Dahdi we meet again", Diya squealed.

Dahdi was trying to escape Diya's hug and replied '"Yes, yes, It's been a while, you girls have changed so much".

Suddenly Aunty Roop came towards Dahdi, "I'm sorry Maa, but these girls wouldn't listen to a single word I say".

Dahdi who looked angry now spoke with a sarcastic tone "Well no one can blame you".

We all welcomed the guest inside and me and Disha went quickly to the kitchen to prepare tea.

"Did you see what they were wearing?", I was trying to distract Disha but failed to get a reply.