The Eternity - Pure Soul (English) [Watty's 2019]

Chapter - 2 (The Surprising Royal Room!)

(PS - Words or sentences in "italics" represents Kavya's thoughts and feelings at that moment.)

I exhaled a long breath staring at the door. Me and my dad lived in a small box-like-house built by housing-board. Housing board houses normally means a small-single-room with attached bathroom-kitchen. But we'd settled our whole world in that space, very efficiently.

In the kitchen we had a 100-year-old gas-stove with slightly broken-burner with nearly blocked-pipes, some steel utensils and a second-hand cooker. A wall-fixed rack for plates, cups, spoons etc... Other than that we also had a second-hand mixer grinder, which I usually avoid using, as I'm not current-proof.

Our room had a 1000-year-old iron-bed with some old mattresses. I used it and my dad slept on the floor as it was a single bed. Other than a bed, the room had a half-broken wooden-table, a second-hand iron-cupboard with a blurry long-mirror and an unbalancing-foot. It usually created irritating noise when someone opens it. We had 2 more tables but were kept in the attic, shortage of space obviously.

The tiles on the floor were fine, as they were smooth enough to walk bare-footed. All the walls were ruptured from most of the places. At some places, I could see the bricks too. I could actually break those walls with my lightest punches. The roof was even worse. The ruptured plaster was visible almost everywhere and at certain areas, I could even see the iron rods.

But I quietly lived, as my dad earned hardly enough to manage all the bills. So, even if I wanted to fix everything, I knew we couldn't afford.

For me, the most unbearable part of my house was the bathroom. Its condition was even worse than the walls and ceiling of the room. It was a permanent house of lizards, cockroaches, rats and several other creatures, hard to see in that dim bulb light. Normally, I'm allergic to all of them in my mind but eventually, I get used to live with them, no option. My screams by their sight, scared them away too.

It was hard to decide 'who scared whom?' Ha!

Each thing could have lead us to death, in its own particular way. The unbalancing cupboard could have fallen on us, the leaking gas stove could have blasted, the weak walls and ceiling could have suppressed us. But we still survived. Every night, I thanked Shiva that we won a battle dragging one more day in that risky-box.

My most favorite place in that house was outside the house, the terrace. We had an open place attached to the room. We lived on the second floor, so I was unable to fulfill my desire of gardening on the ground. Thus, I satisfied myself by growing certain plants in mud-pots. My planting helped us in reducing our common house-hold expenses too, as I planted bitter-gourd, chili, coriander, gourd, tomato, pumpkin etc...

Like any normal dad, he also didn't want me to go out and work. So I used to help him in this way too (one more way but thats a secret). As we were complete vegetarians so it was quite helpful too. It was a different thing that I couldn't grow any vegetables of my own liking. I'm more of a potato-liking-kind of girl. I can't imagine my food without it. But I still survived on my own grown-stuff.

After sunset, my green-garden under that bluish-grey-sky looked so appealing to the eyes. I used to spend most of my time either in front of the TV or my created-garden. It's good to be alone, good to talk to yourself. My dad used to stay out, most of the time, busy searching for better earning opportunities. So, I managed to enjoy my own company, no complaints actually.
Standing alone, having thoughts, feeling the cool-breeze under the stars were my most important tasks after the sunset. Dad used to come late, mostly after I fell asleep.

After I started having my periods, my dad behaved somewhat strangely. I don't know why but he used to seem worried all the time as if, he wanted to tell me something very important but unable to grab the courage to mention it in front of me. As if, there was something bothering him seriously, something torturing him from inside. I did interrogate him several many times but he usually ignored the topic.