Anika [On Hold]

Chapter 2.18 Nursery Drama

After a long wait, Mummy was allowed from the gate. She called out my name and Sujata Ma'am allowed me to go. I held Mummy's hand firmly. Guiding me out of the crowded gate, we walked to the society. Mummy asked, "How was the first day in the big school?"

"Good."

"Good? What happened to Anu? Tired?"

I answered, "Hungly."

"Anu is hungry? Did you eat the idlis I had packed?"

I didn't answer. She sighed. "Did you make any new friends?"

I replied, excitedly, "Yes Mummy. Hel name is Shalvali."

"Shalvali? You mean Sharvari?"

"No," I shook my head. "Hel name is Shalvali."

Upon reaching the home, she checked my box. She found it was half-empty. She looked happy. "Good girl. If you would have eaten both the idlis, you wouldn't have felt this hungry."

*

The normal school routine on for almost everyday except two days where I wasn't supposed to go. Since I had liking going to school, I would cry to go. To this Mummy would say, "There won't be a single soul! What would you do there?"

Though I hadn't understood the first sentence, I would answer to the question she had asked. "Play with fliends," I would reply.

"When there won't be anyone in school, with whom would you play?"

"My fliends!"

Mummy would sigh. "I give up."

But on the days where I would have school, Daddy would drop me on his scooter. He would make me stand in the gap between the seat and front part. He had explained that it was to keep his foot while he was driving. On the first day, I was very scared but Daddy drove very slowly to make me feel comfortable.

I was still scared because I always had this fear of falling off from the scooter. Daddy says that if we have balance, there's no need to worry. I don't know what's balance either. Like every other day when I go to school, I describe everything that has happened in the class.

Today, again, I was narrating, ". . . then it was tiffin box time, I opened my box and gave it to Shalvali. Then Nikhil also wanted . . ."

"Nikhil?"

"My new fliend, Daddy. Shalvali and Nikhil are Anika fliends."

"But you said some other person . . . Manoj was your friend."

I cried, "Oho! I told that Manoj tore colouling paper."

"Which paper?"

"Colouling paper."

"What's that?"

"Sujata Ma'am gives clayon and we coloul it . . "

"Arre baap re! You are talking about colouring paper and crayons!"

I nodded. He finally understood! Continuing, "After colouling, Ma'am told put bag, go home."

He stopped in front of the gate and said, "Now Anika has to go to school."

I nodded with a beaming face. Waving a bye, I went inside the gate. The class was similar routine which, I felt, got over very quickly. This time when I came out of the gate, Mummy looked little angry. She asked me, "Anu, tell me whether you eat your tiffin or give it to your friends?"

"I give fliends," I confessed in low voice.

"No wonder you would be hungry by the time you reached home. Why didn't you eat your tiffin?"

I looked at her. "It not nice."

"Not nice? With such difficulty I cook food. Do you even know how much food you waste?"

I looked at her as she handed me a biscuit. "Eat this. It's not good to starve yourself."

As I ate and ambled, I noticed that a puppy was walking next to me. I took another biscuit from Mummy. I had seen some big people throwing biscuits at puppies and big puppies. I did the same. It gobbled up the biscuit within seconds. I clapped my hands with happiness.

This puppy-biscuit thing continued for a long time. It seemed after every few days, a puppy was added. Mummy was annoyed but I guess now she is used to it. They sniff my legs which I find ticklish. I think I love animals. But on that fateful day, everything changed.

It was raining heavily that day when Mummy and I were walking from home. Mummy held the umbrella yet I felt some raindrops falling on me. I saw some puppies running towards us. Grabbing a few biscuits from small box which Mummy was carrying, I threw towards them.

Usually, after eating the biscuits, the puppies would scamper away. This time, they didn't. All of them were trying to fit inside the umbrella. In fear that they might scratch me, Mummy lifted me and walked swiftly.

She mumbled along, "See, this is why I told you not to feed them regularly. If either of them scratches you, you will fourteen injections! You can't even stand one. Hopefully they will stop following us after we reach the apartment. It will be dry over there."

As soon as we reached the ground floor of the apartment, the puppies looked at each other. Mummy folded the umbrella and started climbing the stairs. Some of them started jumping on us. Mummy tried calming them but they looked more excited.

We reached our floor when Iyer Aunty was standing there with a stick. No sooner did Mummy unlocked the door, we dashed through the door. Iyer Aunty was chasing them away by simply waving the stick. They were frightened and ran away.

I was so scared by the turn of incidents that I started crying. There was a huge battle of words between Iyer Aunty and Mummy. I sobbed until I was exhausted. I heard Mummy say, "I don't want her to face the same fear that I had faced when I was a kid. I dreaded the animals. I thought maybe Anika can overcome it."

She didn't know that I was very scared. Scared to an extent that sight of puppies and other animals would make me tense.

***

References:

Komolika: Complete name – Komolika Majumdar. Popular character from a Hindi daily soap, 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' (2001 - 2008).

I swear to have come across many women who kind of were inspired from this 'Komolika' look. I have seen it in Parents Teachers Meetings especially. Since this chapter is in 2000 where this particular daily soap hadn't launched. But it was this character was introduced later in 2001 (Wikipedia says so). I have assumed that this might have been the character's style previously which got refined on launch of the daily soap.

***

Hey guys! Hope you all are safe. Happy Dassera/Dussehra to all the readers!

I know I had just disappeared. Lately, a lot of things had happened in my life, including falling sick, loosing one of my grandparents and then graduating from engineering. Amidst all this, I was drowned in self-doubt to an extent that I stared at the blank Word document for hours. This went on for a week, making me more miserable. I have taken part in the Inktober 2020  challenge and art has been a great medium for me to remove my doubts. After two weeks into it, I saw better thoughts forming and here I am with this chapter.

Phew! That was a long rant. Trust me, I am feeling great. But the process takes time.  I am sharing this just in case someone is facing similar, just trust the process and yourself.

Thank you for reading.