Strings Attached

~Chapter 9~

"You will try your best, won't you, child?" she asks me, her voice no longer stern. "Yes dadi, I promise. Just don't stop speaking to me and call me as much as you can," I plead to her. "Of course, child; you can count on me for that. And if that's all that is worrying you, I will phone to ask you how you're doing, soon. But if it isn't, then Ali is still there, I will tell him to bring my gudiya home." "No, please, dadi, don't say a word to dad about this. He's going back this weekend and I don't want him to worry."

"Is there anything more you wanted to tell me?" "It's just that Uncle Jabbar, dad's friend, has a daughter about my age," I begin reluctantly. "She's not very happy to share her home with me, an old-fashioned stranger, I think." Dadi lets out a loud, disgusted snort at that. "Why? Does she wear ill-fitted clothes like the angrez do?" she asks me, interrupting my narrative. "Not all angrez people wear bad clothes, dadi. And don't interrupt me again!"

"Oh! Go on, go on." And I tell her how she confronted me when we first met, and the way she treated me in the morning. I also tell her how she threatened me at the school entrance, and then I have to tell her about the famous member and leader of the school-known gang of boys, Daniyal Hasan; how I, or rather he, bumped into me and gave me a headache, how he pushed me to get his detention scrapped (I have to tell her what a 'detention' is, too) and how I find him scary.

"I don't know what to do, dadi, the Principal has punished him to carry my books and do my homework for me," I tell her worriedly. "Hah! That will teach that boy a lesson," she exclaims happily from the other side... and I groan. She is totally missing the point here. Sometimes, I find this generation gap between us really annoying.

"But that's not it, dadi! I don't want to have anything to do with him." "What a stupid girl you are, Hidayah! He'll do your homework for you... serves him right." "He is bad news, dadi! He is a gunda (goon), he even wears rings in his ears! Do you want me to associate with that kind of a guy?"

"No... certainly not!" dadi answers, without missing a beat. "Why weren't you telling me that before?" she asks me, annoyed. "You weren't giving me the chance to get out a proper sentence without interjecting me," I blame her, equally annoyed with her.

"Just tell him to mind his own business, will you? And if he doesn't listen, just whack a chappal at his cheek from my side, alright." And I burst out laughing at that. I can imagine my dadi with her weak, cataract eyes twinkling from amusement, and it makes me feel considerably lighter. Trust her to make you feel better in any situation.

"I want to smack that girl myself, seeing as you won't get the courage to do it anytime soon," she says referring to Hiba, getting serious once again. "But you need to be patient with her kind, child. I know her disease too well; she is jealous that you'll get yourself in the good books of her parents with your excellent grades and good behavior, so she will try to make you look bad in front of them."

"And she'll only succeed if you give her a reaction. She may even exaggerate them and make up false stories about you. It will be the proof of your good-breeding if you're patient with whatever she throws your way. Remember, have patience." And I resolve then and there to stay out of Hiba's way. This is just the beginning; I don't know for how long I'll be able to stand her insults, so staying out of her way seems to be the best solution. And of course, patience will help keep me sane.