The morning sky was clear. I was helping Akkachi to make fish pickle for Maria.
“It is a sunny day,I think I will wash Maria’s clothes today.”
I saw Akkachi taking Maria’s clothes from the cupboard. Although the clothes aren’t dirty, the moist monsoon air gives a funny smell to clothes in the cupboard. Akkachi is giving all the clothes one final wash before Maria leaves.
Maria being the oldest got the best part of the Godrej cupboard. Her section of the cupboard is big, she can even hang her clothes inside. I got the smaller side of the cupboard and My clothes have to be folded and kept.
Akkachi slowly removed the clothes off the hangers and placed the empty hangers back in the cupboard.
“Now yo can use all the hangers Nina”.
I looked at the empty space in the cupboard. I felt scared.
“Later Akkachi”
Amma was sitting at the table with our jewellery box.
“Can I see my bangles, Amma?” Liza was shouting
“Shh, don’t scream, the neighbours will know we keep gold in the house and then it get stolen.”
“I want to see my bangles” liza spoke in a soft voice.
Amma opened the jewellery box. Inside of the jewellery box is lined with red velvet and the gold ornaments looked beautiful.
There weren’t much inside. Few of our bangles, Amma’s long chain and our arinjanam.
Amma took Liza’s bangle and gave it to her. She wore it right away and did couple of dance moves with her hands.
“My bangle is beautiful, isn’t Amma?” Liza spoke
“It is, but I think I will sell your bangle.”Amma spoke
“No way, nobody is selling my bangle.” She hid her behind her back
“Liza, your bangle is small, that means less weight, I don’t want to sell the big ones yet.”
“It is Maria who needs the money, so you should sell her bangles.”
“Give me the bangles” Amma was getting angry, she tried to snatch the bangles from Liza’s hand.
“No” and she ran out of the room.
“Are you going to sell my bangles Amma?” now it is Sally’s turn to cry.
“No, she isn’t.”I didn’t want her to cry
“Amma sell my bangles, and if there is extra money, keep that in the bank.
“Then I might as well sell Maria’s bangles”
“No Amma, let her wear hers, she is going to the university, everyone will be looking at her hands.”
I saw Akkachi rinsing the clothes.
“Give me the ones you have finished washing, I will help you to hang it”. I took the clothes and placed them on to my shoulder. It was heavy and my blouse was getting wet.
I tried to hang the clothes on the line fast, because my shoulder was hurting.
“Nina, I am scared”
I turned around and saw Maria leaning on the coconut tree.
“Scared of what?”
“The college is too far from home, what will I do if anything happens to any of you?”
“Nothing is going to happen to any of us, You don’t worry about such things, you just worry about your studies and become an engineer fast.”
“How will we pay my hostel rent?”
“Well, we won’t pay the rent here and Amma will send the money to you every month.”
“How will we pay back Chacha Appachan all the money?”
“in 4 years you will be an engineer, you will get a good job and you can pay back. Who knows, you might even get married to a rich guy!”
Then I saw her.
“Hold this” I gave all the clothes that were on my shoulder to Maria and ran inside
“Amma Akashavani datang“( Akashavani is coming).
Amma quickly hid the jewellery box inside the cupboard. I ran to get my youngest sisters and warned them not to open their mouth.
Akashavani is our neightbour. Her full time job is gossipping. Whenever she buys a new saree, she visits all the neighbours. She is dark in complexion, but under the thick layer of cuticura powder shine, you don’t really notice the darkness, unless you see the rest of the body from the neck down.
“You are all alive ah?, I haven’t seen anyone outside for few days now!”
“We were busy” Amma spoke
“Why, is Maria getting married”
“Oh, no! She is too young to get married, She is going to the university”
“Oh, I See, which University?”
“IIT, Kharagpur, She got admission to do Electrical engineering.”
“Kharagpur, isn’t that in the North? Why didn’t she get admission in Trivandrum engineering college? It is the best engineering college in the world.! may be her entrance exam result was not good, that is why they gave her admission in the far off place”
I could see Amma getting angry.
“Tak payah ma, ini perempuan bodoh”(Never mind amma, this woman is stupid)
“What language was that?”
“Malay”
“You all speak Malay to each other? See, this is Kerala, we are malayalees, we speak malayalam, not khingho khingo language. Do you understand?”
” By the way, where is the children’s father? I haven’t seen him for a few days”
Before Amma could respond, I told Akashavani
“He went back to Malaysia”
“Why?”
“to work”
“How could he leave just like that?Why didn’t he wait till his daughter went to the university?”
“Because he had to join immediately”
“Oh! How much money does he make?”
“I don’t know aunty”
“More than he makes it here.right?
“Right”
“He was making about 2500Rs here right?”
“Right aunty”
Amma tried to change the topic. “What would you like to drink, coffee or tea?”
“Oh nothing. I just had my breakfast”
“Come on, You can still have some coffee. Nina, go and tell Akkachi to make some coffee.”
“Oh ok, if you really want me to drink some coffee, I might as well drink, I don’t want to disappoint you, but tell the servant not to put any sugar in my coffee, I have dabbatis”
“You mean Diabetes? I asked her
“Ah, that one, dabbatis”