Hues Of Dusk

Chapter 30. Dreadful arrival

I was enjoying my dream where I was flying in the space without an astronaut suit, when I heard a loud banging on my door. I stirred in my slip and ignored it. The banging became more fierce and I opened my eyes grudgingly. I didn't want to end my dream like that. I had just began lucid dreaming and was going to conquer another planet with the help of my alien army.

I dragged myself out of the bed and opened the door. My mom hit me on the head with the spatula and told me that she had been calling me for half an hour now. Why? What was so important that she had to disturb my sleep?

"What's up mom?"

"Get ready ASAP. Your dad will be returning soon with the guests. I need some help around the house."

"What?!"

"Yes. Now just don't stand here and move your butt already. I don't have time to explain everything. Can't believe they would drop here at such an early hour without informing us first. Atleast I would have time to prepare breakfast properly. But then again, your father's relatives are all like that."

"Mom, you said you don't have time." I laughed at her rambling and she smacked me on the shoulder playfully. She told me to get ready and start cleaning the house before our guests arrived.

Just, why can't they alert us beforehand? That way we could make some excuses to avoid them. Don't get me wrong, but my relatives were annoying as hell. I guess, God was in a mood to have fun. He made a bunch of idiots and dropped them on earth for others to suffer.

And unfortunately, they were my dad's family. I am telling you, before marrying someone, whether love marriage or arranged, check their family background too. Mom's bad luck, even if she had arranged one, they failed to notice how crazy dad's side was.

I won't let it happen to me. I went through all the points I would check before marrying a guy as I took a quick shower and threw a pair of old salwar kameez on afterwards. I was not a fan of that attire but since Dadi was coming too, I had to follow some traditions to avoid scolding from her and others.

I quickly got in action and started cleaning the house. My mom kept shouting orders from the kitchen and I was following her every command, sometimes getting baffled by the onslaught of multiple orders at the same time. I almost fell down the stairs while running from the bathroom to the terrace to dry out the clothes.

After completing my part of chores at a ninja speed, I believed I was qualified to become a Chunin now. Or maybe a Genin. Ok, ok. You don't have to force me now. I will settle with Hokage.

"Stop daydreaming! Come and knead the dough. Your father just called and told me two more have joined the troop. Let your dad come, I will give him a big lecture about this," Mom fumed as she cut the onions and made rotis simultaneously. I would never reach her level of multitasking.

I groaned when I saw the amount of atta (dough) I had to knead. But when I saw her exhausted face, I charged myself up and butchered the dough. I emptied all of my anger on it and amazingly, finished it before time and took on cooking rice later.

Ting tong!

The devils were here. Mom went out of the kitchen to welcome our guests and all the scenes from 'Atithi kab jaaoge' started playing in my mind, as I stirred the vegetables in the pan. Maybe I could apply some of the tricks from the movie and they would flee from the house.

"Sandhya!" I heard Dadi's voice.

To be honest, I hated my relatives but I could never hate my grandma. She was the sweetest old person I knew since the day I was born. I turned off the gas and rushed out of the kitchen. As soon as my eyes landed on her, I hugged her and asked her how she was.