Did You Get Your Period?

CHAPTER FIVE.

"A bit of exercise and waking up early wouldn't hurt you. No, don't make that face. Shruti, don't laugh at your sister. You've been lazing around at the house all day as well. A little bit of walking won't hurt a hair on that cell phone-addicted head of yours." Their mother says with an affirmative nod.

Shruti and Shweta both look at each other horrified and ready to protest. But their grandmother has something else to add.

"When you come from school tomorrow, we shall go and visit my Jyotish. She says decisively."

(Jyotish: fortune teller)

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The next evening Shweta trudges back home very slowly. Riddhi, rather aggravated by the pace kept tugging her.

"But I don't want to go." Shweta wails. "There's so much I can accomplish in that time. So many things!" She cries and Riddhi smiles sympathetically.

Shweta's mother hadn't been very intent on the idea of sending her daughter to get her fortunes read. She had tried to convince her mother-in-law but to no avail. Even when Shruti exclaimed about the amount of homework Shweta had yet to complete her grandmother didn't budge.

"What if there's some dosh in her graha? What if it's some health disorder? What if it's cancer?" She had reasoned. And once the old lady's mind was set, there was no budging it. It had been decided quite unanimously (only by her grandmother and Seema and Shruti's exasperated silence) that Shweta was to visit the Jyotish. (Dosh: fault, Graha: alignment of stars).

When they finally reached Shweta's house, having taken an extra fifteen minutes, Dadi was already ready and waiting for her. "Oh, hello Riddhi. How are you today, child?" She asked beaming.

Shweta cocked an eyebrow, noticing a glint in her grandmother's eye. This was ominous, she realized. Unsuspecting Riddhi smiles back at Dadi. "I've been good. I'm afraid I just couldn't join the morning walk today." She says.

"Well, don't worry about that. I had the good fortune of meeting your grand-aunt; my old friend today. You didn't tell me that she was visiting? Well anyway, she really wanted you to go to the Jyotish as well. But her hip's been acting up lately. So, she asked me if I could take you along with me. I, of course, agreed." Dadi said, smiling affectionately.

Riddhi swallows and smiles weakly at Dadi. Shweta, standing behind her grandmother claps her hands in joy thanking the stars for letting her have a partner to suffer with.

"Sure, Dadi. I'll have to ask my mother though." She says.

"No reason to do that! If you run around asking your mother every tiny thing, you'll drive that poor woman crazy. Stress triggers a lot of underlying diseases and also proliferates the growth of cancer-causing cells!" Dadi says, glaring at her.

"Of course, Dadi." Riddhi says. "I'll meet you in fifteen minutes."

She walks home with a pace twice as slow as Shweta's.

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Sixteen minutes later, Shweta and her grandmother appeared in front of Riddhis house. Shweta is in an extremely grumpy mood, having been asked to fit into an old kurta set. It looks extremely unflattering on her but her grandmother wouldn't let her wear anything else. She rejected her other better kurta sets and chose the beige colored one, which she proclaimed made Shweta look very 'sweet and simple'. She, Shweta was absolutely convinced that if there was anything in this life that she would never be; it was her grandmother's version of an ideal kid. A bit like the wildflowers that she plucked when she was a child, Shweta is defiant and willing to withstand storms to see herself rise. She fits perfectly into the generation that she is born in. Clipping her wings and thrusting her to fit into a mold of an older generation will only be met with a rebellion. But since it's just three days with her grandmother she's keeping quiet. She also has enough maturity to know that her grandmother comes from a different school of thought. While she might not necessarily agree with it, she realizes that it pleases her grandmother.

In conclusion, you could say that Shweta believed in feminism. Shweta believed in family. But sometimes in India and perhaps in other places as well, the family tends to blot over the colors of feminism. It is tricky, managing the sometimes-thin line between the two and knowing when the compromises have to stop being made. That is perhaps the conflicting beauty of this generation of young girls in India who have been raised by mothers harboring feminism in their hearts even if all of them weren't able to express it. They have seen the compromise in their mother's eyes and silently stared back, promising to compromise lesser and pass on the legacy. Until there is a generation where equality is the norm. Until then, there shall be growth, slow as it may seem.

"Shweta. Look at this." Riddhi says pointing to the frilly orange kurta that she's been fit into.

Shweta almost bursts out laughing for she's never seen poor Riddhi look so uncomfortable in her own skin before. The loud color standing out and clashes with her skin in a horrible way. Riddhi's grand-aunt stands at the doorway, talking to dadi.

"I don't look any better." Shweta tries to reassure her friend.

"Well, I'd wear beige any day over this," Riddhi grumbles, frowning.

"It's a bad day, today. For both of us." Shweta still tries to console her friend.

"Well, not a completely bad day. I topped the Chemistry test." Riddhi says, smiling.

Shweta smiles along saying, "I could never get my head around Chem. But good for you, Riddhi."

"Oh, yes. I remember you cursing Organic Chemistry on every single one of our tenth-grade exams, while I absolutely detested geography. Those cash crops in all the states, ugh." Riddhi laughs as Shweta shudders.

"I think we'll have to consult the Jyotish," Shweta says, jokingly.

Riddhi's eyes widen as she asks, "You really don't believe this crap, do you?" and Shweta laughs, "Of course not, silly. We'll just have to play along and pretend to be interested. Besides, it might even turn out to be fun."

"Hm, a mystical adventure, I like the sound of it. Riddhi, Shweta & And the Mystery of the Crystal Ball. Riddhi says, trying to make her voice sound mystical and dreamy.

"Sounds like one of those mystery novels you kept reading when we were twelve," Shweta smirks.

"Hey, they are good!" Riddhi protests.

"Were good."

A/n: What do you think about Dadi and her mannerisms?

Warmly,
shortgirlbigbook ❤.