THE BROKEN ROAD! (Arshi)

CHAPTER 6

Twenty-seven days have passed since I joined the new school, and I began my tutoring job two weeks ago.

Thud. I shoot my head at the door. Mami has pushed her way into the room with unnecessary force. Her shoes make a repetitive slurp sound while she draws near the table. She has three red boxes of jewelry. In her mouth, there is sellotape and there's a pink gift wrapping paper under her arm.

As usual, since the early morning of the hour, I'm in our bedroom, sitting at the study table, revising my school work.

She spits the sellotape on the table. "Hello hi bye-bye. Good, you are awake, Arnav beta," she says loudly and fastly. "I need help wrapping these boxes. Just the way they are, one on top of the other. It must look like it is one box ." She stacks them on top of each other correctly, indicating what exactly she means. "You should also write that it's from Raizadas and Saiji. Hello hi bye-bye, it must look nice. It must look like you used the comp-- coputa." She finally finished her sentence after struggling her way through the word computer. "The words must not be straight, but look like they are falling." She raises her arm in an Obtuse angle.

I write the names down in cursive: "Mami, like this?"

"Hello hi bye-bye, yes!"

Her hello hi bye -bye, have become the way she expresses herself. At times her hello hi bye-bye alone, is enough for us to know the type of mood she's in.

She picks up one box and opens it, and takes out a set of heavy gold jewelry.

"Look at it." She holds the necklace against her neck, which is already adorned by another heavy silver necklace. "It is beautiful, right?" She asks, opening her hand and connecting her index finger with her thumb. I say nothing. I just rest my chin on both of my palms. "We could only afford one authentic gold necklace; the rest are not." She opens the rest of the boxes. "But you can't tell the difference. Saiji has good eyes. It's good she was the one who went to the shop to buy them. Zaiyaanji and Mayukhi's daughter-in-law is going to love them. And their guests? They will only talk about my sari."

She holds her very bright glitter blue sari. It's almost like she's going to be the backup plan if the electric lights go out.

"You know, last year I was furious at your Mama for insisting we celebrate Diwali with family members only. No one to brag to. But now I can only thank him. I have better words to use, to show off this sari."

On accusations like this, Mami and her friend, aunt Sai, are different people. They aim to be loud at each party they attend. Either by their clothes or words. Seeing them for the first time at a party, you will swear they get an excellent stable salary. Or they work for an advertisement company.

"Mami, is Nani also going?" I ask anxiously.

"Yes. Your Mama convinced her. He told her, 'Zaiyaanji is our family friend.' It won't look nice if she doesn't go. Even Saiji is going."

Finally, after weeks I will be able to see my Di. When this engagement invitation arrived three weeks ago, I did my best to convince Nani through Mama and NK. Amidst the ups and ups these weeks have given, one thing is still amiss: my Di. Ever since we arrived here in New Delhi, Di is still locked up behind Nani's bedroom's closed doors.

Mami moves closer to me."To tell you the truth, beta, I didn't want her to come. Have you seen how strict she has become after that incident?"

A chill runs through my body, hearing the word 'incident.' But I hide it quickly. The incident she is referring to is Di's wedding day.

"I never paid attention," I say truthfully. My mind is continuously crowded with nightmares and school work. I never sat down to truly analyze things. The only time my mind wanders off is at school, during break time. Khushi comes to school with different board games. She says games build friendship, and she is right. I've found myself sharing more than I thought I would.