Not Just An Ordinary Family

Chapter 37

Late that Sunday afternoon, Anuradha and Nila were watching television. Narain was sitting at his laptop as usual. While an advertisement was playing on the television, Anuradha headed to the balcony to check her clothes which she had hung out after washing in the morning if they had dried.

Bringing in the dry clothes, Anuradha returned to the living room and started folding them while watching television. After folding all of them and moving some to the ironing table to iron, she left the rest of the clothes at the couch and headed to the kitchen.

When Nila saw the pile of folded clothes on the couch, she decided to help and carried it to the bedroom to keep in Anuradha's cupboard though it was usually Anuradha herself who kept her clothes into her cupboard. Nila first kept the pile of clothes on the bed and turned to open Anuradha's cupboard when she saw her Barbie watch lying outside her drawer.

"Who took my watch from the drawer?" Nila wondered aloud with a frown.

Her mother's voice replayed in her mind. "Who else will take it? It must be you only. How many times have I told you to keep everything back where you took it from after using it? Always you'll leave it lying around on the floor or somewhere and ask Mommy to search it for you."

Nila grinned sheepishly, took her watch and put it in the drawer where she kept all her hair clips and accessories. Noticing a butterfly hairclip she likes very much inside the drawer, she quickly clipped it on her hair. She turned back, quickly opened the cupboard and placed the pile of Anuradha's clothes in an empty area before closing the cupboard and whizzing back to the living room.

A short while later, Narain got a phone call and headed towards the balcony to answer it, leaving Anuradha and Nila in the living room. Nila was colouring a picture in her activity book while watching television when she recalled that she had absentmindedly kept Anuradha's pile of clothes in Narain's cupboard.

Nila ran over to the bedroom. She opened Narain's cupboard and took the pile of Anuradha's clothes and kept it out on the bed first. She was about to close his cupboard and open Anuradha's when something caught her eye in his cupboard. Narain's shirts, pants and coats were all ironed and hanging on top while his nightshirts, T-shirts and some casual pants were folded and kept below neatly. However, in the bottom shelf of the cupboard, some things were lying scattered in a mess.

Nila decided to help Narain and tidy up the bottom shelf since he usually makes sure everything everywhere is spick and span. Maybe Papa don't see these things otherwise Papa always clean up.

Nila sat on her knees and started pulling out some of the things in the shelf. There were newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs and albums; all of them contained photographs of Swetha and some contained photographs of Narain with her as well. Why always so many photo of Papa with stranger Mommy? Why no photo of Papa with Mama? Below the clippings and photographs, towards the back of the cupboard was an orange and pink dual tone silk saree material with olive green border and blouse.

Wow! What is this? Nila took the saree material into her hands and opened it out. Looks like saree like Mommy wear. It's so beautiful! Why Papa keep saree in Papa's cupboard? It's not Mommy's saree. Then who's is it? Mommy have Daddy to buy saree for Mommy so this saree Papa keep should be for Mama only, no one else.

Narain stepped into the bedroom at that moment and was walking towards the toilet when he stopped in his tracks seeing Nila seated on the floor in front of his open cupboard. "Nila, what are you doing there?"

"Who's is this saree, Papa?" Nila clutched the saree and turned to face Narain.

Narain frowned. "No one's."