No one was home when I came back home. Normally, I looked forward to not having anyone at home, because I could quickly cook something and eat. Today my tummy was full. There was no need to cook. I looked around the house. Maria’s suitcase was on her bed. She and Amma were busy buying new stuff for her to take to Mysore. I lifted the lid slowly and surveyed the contents. There were new sarees still in the plastic cover. There were new saree blouses, in every colour available. Before we left Mysore, ‘he’ had given Amma a plastic bag full of blouse material in almost all the shades!. I had overheard him tell Amma
“If you have a blouse, then you just have to go to the shop and buy a saree that matches your blouse and can wear the saree on the same day, instead of waiting 30 days to get a blouse stitched!”
My mother was so impressed with that wisdom. She kept saying, how bright ‘he’ is to have thought of such a brilliant idea. She said
” If you get the blouse stiched in advance, then you are not at the mercy of the tailor! Indian tailors never keep their word. They tell you, it will be ready next week and when you go there to collect the blouse, they will say it will be ready next week!”

I slowly checked the sarees. There were 5 new silk sarees, brought from the ‘Something Special Saree showroom’ near my college. New sarees have a unique smell that kind of make you want to wear them, to feel the smooth material on your skin. Although I very much wanted to open the cover and feel the soft and smooth material, I was scared, lest Maria notices that I touched her stuff and scolds me for touching and spoiling her brand new saree.
I have only worn a saree once, on the last day at my school for the farewell party. I wore a plain white saree and blouse. I suddenly had the urge to wear a saree. I knew Amma won’t notice, if I wore her saree. So I went to her room to get a saree from her cupboard.
By the side of the cupboard, Amma had kept her old leather case. She never let us children play with that leather case. When we were little we used to pretend and play saying the case had treassures. I wanted to know what was in the leather case, that has never once been opened all these years, but travelled with us from Malaysia to India. It had a rusted lock and I knew where Amma kept the key.
I was excited. I was finally going to discover what treassure the leather case was hiding all these years. I quickly went out and locked the living room door, so there is no way anyone can come inside and see what I am doing. I didn’t want to be caught.
My hands were shivering as I opened the godrej cupboard and took out the bundles of keys. I pulled the bag and placed it on floor. I wasn’t sure which key would open the lock and I tried one by one, finally I opened the lock. My heart was beating fast. My hands were shaking as I opend the three buckles, one big one in the center and 2 small ones on either side. I opened the buckle slowly and pulled it open. I tried to open the zipper. It was almost stuck and I struggled and pulled and pulled to open it. I wanted to know what was inside. I wanted to know why Amma never opened it. I had to know. So I used all my energy and pulled the zipper. There was a musty smell of naphthalene balls as I finally unfastened the rusty zipper. I opened the lid slowly and looked inside.
It was like looking at the crystal ball. As I looked at the old moth eaten silk sarees that my mother never wore, but kept all these years, I could see the past and I could see the future. Tears were flowing down my cheeks and I was so helpless. I wanted to scream, but not a single sound came from my throat.