The Normal Family

Memories

Narrator's POV

The wedding went on well. Everyone sat together the evening Anitha came home. They wanted her to get to know the family better. As per the family traditions they showed Anitha old photo albums and videos. There were many childhood photos of Sriram and Vijaya in their preschool uniforms. There was one photo of the whole family from a trip to Malaysia, and another one of them playing with water guns. Those water guns disappeared in a week and were found it in Krishnan's cupboard two years later. Water guns had always been disastrous.

Akhila had recently bought Adithya water guns. He has been spraying water on everybody in the worst possible times. He sprayed water on Shiva while he was fully ready for work, and on Sriram when he was sleeping.

The family continued to look at their old photos. There was one of Shiva, Krishnan and Gopal riding cycles. "Look how Krishnan is scowling, he hated cycling, or any outdoor activities. Gopal was 4 years only but could still ride the cycle. Did you know what happened that day?" Shiva asked as he continued telling the story. "We had all got cycles. Krishnan was afraid to cycle, he said he will stay inside. After our parents managed to convince him to try, he did start, but after some time he said he was tired, and started cribbing and saying he wanted to go home. Back home I suggested we eat ice cream to cheer him up. This made him more upset and he started crying. He had such a peculiar behavior. That day I ended up eating his ice cream as well." Everybody was laughing hearing the story.

"I was not peculiar, I just don't like ice cream. It may cause a cold or something." Krishnan added. "I will tell you how obsessed Shiva was with ice cream. When he was 8 years old, one summer day, our mom was going out. She asked Shiva if he wanted ice cream, she asked him to check with us as well. He asked me if I wanted , I knew he was teasing me. I declined. He went and asked Gopal, he on the other hand said yes. He went and told mom that Gopal didn't want ice cream while he and I did. Then, he realized that mom may give my ice cream to Gopal. Since Gopal was allergic to nuts, he asked her to get hazelnut ice cream for both of us. He enjoyed eating both the ice creams that day while Gopal was crying."

"That is what these people used to do." Gopal added. "I was the only sensible one." "You were not that sensible, when you assumed I will be a girl, and were disappointed when I was not." Sriram said. "He had got pink colour socks and had thought of a lot of girl names for me." "I was not the only one, even our parents were hoping for a girl." Gopal added. "After having only boys for 15 years, they were more than happy when Vijaya was born. That was one of the reasons why she was spoilt." After they finished talking everyone went back to their work.

Anitha's POV

I did enjoy the first few days after marriage, living in a big house was nice. Later I realized things were not what they seemed. I saw the rooms arrangements, and found out that we had one of the smallest room. It felt quite unfair. Srihari, Akhila madam's son had one of the biggest rooms. She behaved like the whole house was under her control. It was really hard for me to live under the same roof as her. She made no efforts to make me feel welcome. Nobody asked me what I wanted. I couldn't help thinking I was looked down because of my family status. Srihari lies down on the Sofa every evening, even though, he had a big room. When I told this to Sriram, he took no notice of it. "Should we kick him out of the hall or something." he asked jokingly. He got no respect in this house, but he didn't seem to mind. All I wanted was to be treated equally here. If it was not possible we should move out instead. I suggested this to Sriram.

Sriram's POV

I was watching something on my phone, when Anitha came to me and asked. "Can we actually go somewhere." I assumed she was asking for a honeymoon and said. "Oh, dear I have spent a lot in this marriage after this loan is repaid to an extent. I will take you on a honeymoon." "I didn't mean that." she said. "It would be better, if we moved to a different house." I was shocked why was she suggesting something like this. "Aren't you happy here?" I asked. "Do you know how hard things will be if we move out. Here we get every meal prepared. Neither of us know how to cook. It will also cost more. Everything is comfortable for you here right?" "It is not about comfort or anything, it is just that nobody treats you with respect. I felt bad when Akhila madam ordered you to go get butter yesterday. It sounded so mean." she said. "Well, that is how she talks to me, it is just that I am the youngest among the four of us. She had known me ever since I was a teenager. I am used to it. Why does it bother you?" I asked confused. 

"Well, just because you are the youngest, why should you always get whatever is left over. All this belongs to you as much as it belongs to your brothers. Just tell me why our room is the smallest. Srihari himself has a bigger room than us. There are two of us in this room, shouldn't it be fair for us to get the bigger room." she asked. I was quite fed up with her cribbing and wanted her to stop, so I suggested she should go have a rational conversation with Akhila regarding it.