Light Upon Light

#14 The Maternal Family

Assalamualaikum dear readers.

This one's a bit late and most definitely fillerish... it is still and update though. Have fun reading.

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#14 The Maternal Family

It has been nearly a month since I've come to Salimabad and I have yet to visit Dar-e-Rahma, Mom's home.

I had called Nani soon after I reached Ashiana and talked to Khalid Mama and Arifa Mami and my cousins Sara Di, Safa and Sana. They had a lot of questions and I had no answers. It was an almost one sided conversation. And that was it.

I never called after that or visited.

I'm actually kind of surprised that Mom didn't mention it, not that we had a great chat to start with.

Dadi had got on my case though. Apparently Nani has been calling her regularly and asking about me and making special mentions of me going to stay there. And I had no excuse. Weekend's here and I don't have much to do, Samar was going to his Masjid Youth Group meeting and Di planned on visiting her friend Iqra.

Initially, I was going to join Di to Baithun Noor to spend some quality time with Sidra and get to know her sister. Then Dadi said I had to go visit Nani and stay overnight. I tried resisting and then she pulled on her stern face. Her eyes were narrowed and lips pursed and if it was possible she sat up a tad bit straighter. For a woman of her age, Dadi had no problems with her posture.

"Junaina maintaining family ties is an important aspect of being a Muslim. If you won't go then I'll simply not talk to you for the next two days."

And that did for me.

I mean, I could tolerate my mother's family. It is not like they're bad or anything. But I don't want Dadi to avoid me. That would suck big time.

It was a wonder how she was immune to the puppy dog eyes though. Dad could never ever resist it. How else could I have gotten away with all my exploits?

"Fine Dadi. I'll go. But do I really have to stay? Can't I come back after dinner?" I begged.

Dadi sighed.

"It is just one night beta. I'll send Dawud to you first thing in the morning." She said.

And so I dragged myself up to my room and packed my overnight bag. I also decided to carry my Physics homework with me. Sreejith Sir was going to quiz us on the new chapter and I didn't want to let him down. Especially since I loved his class. Some extra prep won't hurt.

Chacha was going in to work late, so he was going to drop me off at Dar-e-Rahma. It was right in the heart of town, an area populated by the upper middle class.

"Juni, they may pester you with questions. Actually they will pester you with questions. Don't go angry sherni Juni on them, just be calm and reasonable." Chachu advised on our way there.

I rolled my eyes in response. Of course they would conduct an interrogation. It was almost like a case of deja vú. I went through a similar situation back when I first landed in India. While the whole confrontation with Dadi went out without disturbing me, I was positive it would be the opposite with Nani.

My only savior there would be Nana. If he was home I'd be lucky. If not, I'll be on my own.

Soon enough we reached Dar-e-Rahma.

Though not as humongous and stately like Ashiana, it was a beautiful two storey house painted a nice rust colour with forest green roof and white windows. There was just a short walk from the gate to the main door.