I balanced and walked slowly as I was extra careful not to hurt myself. From a room that has a big bed to sleep, I walked to the room where all my toys were kept. I see a new face talking seriously.

"Listen Arun, you must think about this job, not everybody gets one sitting in their home-"

"Uncle, the job didn't land on my lap. I have lost my father who used to work in the Karnataka state Silk Board. This job is because of his sudden demise."

"It's been more than two years since he died and you had applied for it. The letter has arrived stating you can take his job. I will request them to wait until you finish this final year in B.Com."

"I can't work in that department. My skills will be of no use," Arun Mama said, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about that. Once you officially join, I will make sure that your department will be changed where your studies are used. Your father's good name and my influences will make sure that you are put into good use for the state of Karnataka."

I was walking and coming near Arun Mama when the man stood up and remarked, "She is a little slow in walking."

Arun Mama lifted me and walked to the portico, overtaking the man. "Now she was faster than you, uncle."

He looked towards me and said, "You're a fast girl, isn't it Anu?"

I laughed as he tickled. We climbed down the stairs and waved him goodbye.

From down, I saw the familiar-scent lady and the honey-bottle lady talking about something seriously. This is a bad sign. They will force Arun Mama into the conversation and he wouldn't play with me.

"This is very nice, Arun. Srinivas uncle comes and tells you that the job has been approved and you're jumping into that. I told you to do engineering because you like that," the honey-bottle lady said as we climbed up the stairs.

"No one studies engineering after doing B.Com."

"That's not important. You don't like becoming a Chartered Accountant, you like that animation thing, writing programs and playing with those electrical circuits. I want you to think in any of these directions."

"How long will this run on Daddy's meagre pension?"

"You don't worry about that-"

"I will."

I was playing with a ball but I felt bored. So, I decided to take a stroll to the kitchen and come back. As I walked slowly taking decisive steps and found a bag having purple balls. I took a few of them and went into the kitchen to find a small vessel lying there.

I put the purple balls in the vessel and held the vessel. I walked slowly balancing the vessel, the balls and myself. I reached the place where they were still talking. I felt the vessel slipping; whilst I tried to prevent it from slipping, I lost my balance and sat down, on the floor with a loud thud. The vessel slipped and fell on the ground. I saw all the purple balls rolling away. But it was the sound of the vessel that scared me the most. I started crying, very loudly.

"Anu! What are you doing with that vessel? Who gave you those onions?" the familiar-scent lady asked.

I looked at her. I was bored. I need new toys to play with. Maybe I should tell her this to make things clear.

"Ae, ee, ke, bi, la, ka, ki," I made her understand and nodded my head.

She shook her head. "God knows what you're talking about."

Taking a cue from her, I shook my head.

"Akka, she thinks likewise too," Arun Mama said.

Akka! It is all because of you. Nowadays you don't play with me or sing with me. I again have to make him understand! How much will a small child do!

"Ke, ee, ke, li, ba, ka, ki," I scold him.

the honey-bottle lady picked me up. "She's making an effort to talk, Chaitra. Be appreciative. You're acting as if you started talking the day you were born."

"But Amma, she is still not saying proper words. Kids of her age have started speaking proper sentences," the familiar-scent lady argued.

Amma!

"Good for them. The kids who learn to speak when they are very small become very silent when they grow big. Let Anu take her time to learn how to speak. . . "

Anu!

". . . By the way, these kids whom you're referring to are-"

"Anu's atha's kids."

Anu! Atha!

"Of course! Those athas of Anu who never came to meet her."

Athas! Anu!

"Amma, one of her Atha is in Nashik."

Atha!

"But her younger Atha is in Bangalore, right?"

Atha!

"Yes-"

"In fact, her Atha is so close that she can catch any bus numbered 177 and get down in Kalyana Mantapa stop and walk for five minutes and reach our home."

Atha! I don't know exactly what happened but I just felt like telling. So, I spoke. "Atha!"

Arun Mama, who was silent for a long time, screamed, "Anu spoke her first word!"

Both the ladies looked at me unbelievably. "What did she say?"

"Atha," he replied in a small voice.

the familiar-scent lady cried, "She told Atha! I carried her for nine months-"

"Akka stop your melodrama. It doesn't suit you."

"Shut up Arun! It is because of you-"

the honey-bottle lady showed them her open palm. Both of them became silent. I looked at her in awe. How does she manage to do that?

"Chaitra, because you kept doubting your child, she proved you that she can learn to speak but she took her revenge by not telling Amma first. Whatever happened was good."

"What good?"

"She will grow up in Bombay-"

"Mumbai," Arun Mama corrected.

"Yes, yes, Mumbai. When I had taken my cancer ridden mother for treatment, it was still called Bombay," she puffed her chest. She looked at me for a moment and said, "I don't think you will teach her to tell Amma and Appa, like they do in Manavendra's side?"

the familiar-scent lady shook her head. "Then people will think we are Tamilians. I have no personal enmity with them but why can't others understand that Tamilians, Telgites, Kannadigas, Malayalis and Tuluvas are not the same.

They freak out when I tell them we are Telgites from Karnataka. They are like no how can you speak both Kannada and Telugu? No matter how much I explain to them that it is the same as you people knowing Hindi and Marathi, they don't seem to get that idea. I don't want Anu learning Amma or Appa."

"Then what about Amma and Naana?"

"No! Nana in Hindi means grandfather and Manavendra is quite apprehensive about it."

"There's still a pronunciation difference," Arun Mama observed.

"No need for that. That's another headache to make people understand that pronunciation thing."

the honey-bottle lady looked at me once again for a brief moment. She declared, "From today onwards, Anu will call her parents Mummy and Daddy."

Arun Mama shouted, "The court headed by Mrs. Aadarshini Reddy has decided that from hence, Anika will call her parents Mummy and Daddy."

While everybody was laughing, I didn't know it would become the most irritating thing. Every time the familiar-scent lady would walk near me, Arun Mama would scream, "Mummy!". Or Whenever the honey-bottle lady would be cooking and I enter the kitchen, he would start screaming, "Ammamma!".

It was after many days I saw a person, whom I would call moustache man, came and Arun Mama would say, "Daddy!".

Glossary:

Atha: It has two meanings- one mother-in-law and other being aunt (bua in Hindi, to be more specific). Here they are referring to Anika's aunts.