DELHI

Author's Note

Hi everyone.🤗 I've been contemplating the idea of writing this book for almost three months now and I thank my Friends so, so much for nudging me to write this here. It's the first ever story I've written in a while( four years) and I hope you'll all love it as much as I do.

©All rights reserved.

This is my original work. Any similarities to other works might be coincidence but I assure you that this is a story formulated by me. I haven't heard it anywhere else. Please don't copy😊
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PROLOGUE

April 4th 1923

"It's not the right one Vashti."

Mama had told me for the hundredth time now. I was frustrated and my bare feet were sore from running to and fro the shrubs near the forest. I dropped a small shrub down at her feet and slumped my shoulders in defeat releasing a sigh. Mama chuckled and rubbed her protuberant belly. My gaze slid down to her abdomen and almost immediately the fading iota of strength burst with life within me and I felt rejuvenated.

Twins.

Mama was expecting twins and I vowed to make myself useful until the day they were born. I inhaled deeply and scrunched my nose as I concentrated on the shrubs at Mama's feet. What was I missing? It then hit me. The apex! That's it! I squeaked internally what's I jerked up at the realisation. Mama's leaves weren't as pointed at the apex as the ones I had collected.

"Do you see it now?" Mama asked amid chuckled. "Yes!" I almost shouted out of euphoria of finishing the day's task. "That's how you differentiate the basil from other herbs growing in the shrubs." Mama said in a matter-of-factly tone that cued the end of the day's lesson.

The day's task had been exasperating I hadn't noticed the day slipping by in a blur. Papa had already arrived from the sea with dinner and Jeddah had come back from her weaving lessons with Grandmother Jodha. "How did my seven-year-old brilliant daughter do out there today love?" Papa asked Mama while leaning in to kiss her on the forehead and moved to me ruffling my hair playfully on my head. "She finally caught up." Mama said, her eyes closed savouring the moment while it lasted. "Always knew she would. That's the Vashti Andrews Delhi I know of." Papa added.

The crimson sun had tinted the horizon red and the waters, like diamonds exposed to, well, sunlight, reflected the light off their surface the resultant sight being breathtaking. In the background you could see the silhouettes of ships, crows and boats either making their way towards the shore or moving further away from it. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I had grown fond of sunsets. They assured me every single day that I was alive in the end, that the worriesof that day had already been taken care of and that a new dawn, which had it's own fair share of trouble was awaiting to be ventured. I for one loved adventure. Even if coming from a very humbled background and living in a place where almost everyone despised you meant that they were very rare.
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She's nothing but a disgrace to the Indian community. Her likes and her mother are not acceptable. Coloured eyes and white skin!? A work of the devil himself!

Those words hung heavy on my shoulders. They stung worse than a wasp or a bee ever would. I didn't look like your normal Indian girl. My facial structure didn't match anyone else's but my mother's. My green eyes which had been said that sparkled with a hint of hazel brown in the sunlight didn't make it any easier for me to get accepted like my elder sister. Jeddah had taken after my second aunt and was accepted to visit the extended family on rare occasions. Papa had married out of their customs and laws since he had engaged in a relationship with a 'sickly foreign lady' as they would term Mama. If only they had sat and listened to her story. The struggles and the trauma she went through trying to fit in. How Papa's generosity and kindness towards her seemed like a miracle from heaven.

When I was younger I would enjoy the stories of Mama being a messenger of a very important person who had all the gold you could ask for and lived in a secret place, way beyond the clouds. Growing up,I began to have doubts. Did he really care?. Him whom Mama referred to as the Supreme God, did he not see his messenger and her family's suffering? I asked Mama of that one time and she told me that sometimes, the Supreme God let one go through tough situations so that they may learn to be strong and stick for him no matter what. That lit a faint glimmer of hope, enough for me to accept my fate and move on regardless

Papa was ex-communicated and thus he built a house at the shores of the lake. He was cut off from tapping into he inheritance of his father despite them being extremely rich. He took care of us from the work of his sweat. I loved him for being strong and supportive, something a man at his state in the village and town would never had done. Papa converted from Hinduism to, what I learnt later was called, Christianity. It turns out that Mama had been a missionary, rumors had been going around the town that more of them were on their way. Or at least that was what our people thought...
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"Vashti dinner's ready. You've stood out there far too long for Christ's sake!" Jeddah's voice interrupted my train of thought. I then realized that my eyes had been closed the entire time. I opened my eyes only to realise that an inky darkness had already began settling in. The murky waters were casting the reflections of the last rays of sunlight and a gentle breeze was blowing towards the sea. Gently brushing my cheeks and blowing stray strands of my blàck hair all over my face. I smiled at Jeddah who laughed and motioned for me to follow her inside. "Don't you ever get tired of doing that, watching the sunset everyday escorting it back to the deep ends of the sea?" Jeddah asked. "No I don't mind really. I'm quite fond of the sunsets and mind you it does not go to the deep ends of the sea, Mama told me it sort of goes round, to different places at different times." I answered. Jeddah shrugged and sat cross-legged down at her spot in the main room. I chuckled and eyed her with a quick side glance before taking my place. We didn't have any furniture but it still felt homey and warm because my family was the best I could ever ask for, flaws and all.