Did You Get Your Period?

CHAPTER FIVE.

Their grandmother was undoubtedly a very strict woman. She followed a strict diet herself and had none of the normal grandmotherly warmness for her grandkids. She didn't stand for the nonsense of any kind and would tell people exactly what she thought of them. She wasn't one to mince her words and most people respectfully heard her out sometimes even fearing to cut her in the middle of her long rants. Though quite aware and up to date about the happenings in the world, she was very easily fooled by medical fiction. She would have easily sold all her property and given away her money to the cancer awareness scammers had it not been for the girls' mother repeatedly reminding her not to. This was her one great weakness. The other one was rather contradictory. For a woman who claimed herself to be very alert and aware (particularly about cancer), she made it a point to visit a crystal ball fortune teller once every year. The fortune teller was coincidentally located in the same city as the girls lived in. She always made it a point to go there right before she went on her Kali Maa Darshan tour.

Dadi trundled into the kitchen to look at her two grand-daughters. "Off with you. One cuts ridiculously giant shaped vegetables. While the other .. oh dear. Shweta! You seem to have a whole lot of pimples these days. Come here! Stand under the light and let me see your face clearly. Now go, wash your face. You need to stop eating those Kurkure and Bingo that you kids are so fond of. Only boiled and green vegetables now! Do you know those packets contain those- what's it called.."

"Carcinogens!" Shruti says and Dadi continues her rant.

"Yes, carci- whatever it is. Very dangerous. Now off with the two of you. Go upstairs and read a book or play some games. Whatever is it that you do!" She says, almost breathless by now.

The girls hurry upstairs, not wanting another bout of scolding.

"Hey, Shruti. Do I have a lot of pimples? This time Dadi seems right. I do seem to be getting a lot of acne these days!" Shweta says rather concerned and drags her sister towards the mirror where she Shruti plays the devil's advocate convincing her that it was Dadi who was an over-exaggerating dame of one and seventy and that her face was nothing to stress about.

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Later that night, all of them sit in the dining room tucking into some delicious daal (lentil puree), gobi (cauliflower), bhindi (lady's finger), paneer (cottage cheese), and rice. How their grandmother managed to do all of that alone and still not drop dead with exhaustion was beyond them. Their mother had been pleasantly surprised when she entered the house to see her mother-in-law very busily whipping up some dishes. While they were not very close, they still had a good amount of respect for each other. Unlike Seema, her husband's mother had never quite gotten over her son's disappearance. "I shall pray he rots to death" was what she said, every time his name came up. She had three other children all of whom lived near her home which was an eight-hour journey from the girls' home. She lived alone in a huge bungalow, her husband having died when her children were quite young. Having been a single mother in the unforgiving times of old India, she had a huge amount of empathy and respect for her daughter in law. They shared a cordial and amicable- if not intimate- relationship.

"So, Shweta," Seema says, after a while. "Did you get your period today?"

"No. Not yet." Shweta says, hoping her mother wouldn't bring up the pregnancy scandal yet again. If her grandmother were to hear of it, she was certain it would be the death of her.

Her grandmother, alert as always perks up her ears. "Her period is missing? See, this is why I tell you to exercise. Seema, have you checked her? Ovarian and Cervical Cancer are on a rise among Indian women." She says nodding disapprovingly in Shweta's direction.

"Hm. You are correct about that. A bit of exercise goes a long way in fixing health issues. I haven't checked her yet and I'm certain there's no reason to jump to a conclusion and call it cancer." Her mother says, thoughtfully.