"Ammamma where Thatha?" I asked.

She looked at me and sighed. "He is in the photo, bangaru."

I looked at the photo which she pointed. The photo was hung on a wall of her room. What does it mean that he is in photo?

"I want him here. No photo," I demanded.

She cupped my face and explained, "It's not possible, Anu. How do I tell you this? Okay, he is not with us."

"Where did go? He go office like Daddy?"

She exhaled deeply. "No Anu. He is with that Devuda."

"Why with Devuda? Anu wants to play with him."

She stared her palms. "It is not something that's in my hands. I did everything that was in my limits. But I am no one to change the fate."

What is she saying? She is only wearing bangles in her hands. What is not in her hands?

She asked, "Why did you remember about your Thatha suddenly?"

I admitted, "I saw Ekant go Thatha. Anu also wants to go."

She shook her head. "That explains why you would start crying when you would see either Ekant, Kranti and Bhargavi with their Thatha."

I looked at her. Why is she shaking her head? What does it mean? But now that she took all the names, I remember playing with Ekant, Kranti and Bhargavi. They are the kids who stay next door. But they come to their grandparents occasionally. Ammamma tells that they go to their houses but isn't this their house? I guess I will not understand the big people's logic. It is clear that whenever they arrive, their Thatha takes them to the park. Except for school, I hardly go anywhere. Now that Arun Mama, Mummy and Daddy go to their respective offices, I have no one to pester to take me.

The same day afternoon, I saw Ekant going out with his Thatha. That's when the whole conversation begun. I sat in the portico, playing with moulding clay while Ammamma sipped her tea. Ekant returned with an ice-cream, sticking his tongue out at me. I stared at him with anger. But he crossed the limits when he sniggered, "I have a Thatha while you don't."

I felt very sad. When tears were about to drop from my eyes, I saw a familiar bike coming towards our house. My thatha! The same old tall man, who would stealthily slip some chocolates, had arrived. Ammamma had explained that usually children have two sets of grandparents.

Jumping, I rushed down the stairs. Poor Ammamma had to leave her tea and rush behind me. Before he could get down from his bike, I screamed, "Thatha wait, Anu wants go bike!"

He smiled broadly. Ammamma admonished, "Your Thatha travelled such a huge distance. Instead of calling him inside the house, you are telling to go on bike ride!"

I replied, "Thatha no problem, I want bike ride!"

She sighed, "This girl thinks that Hosur in just a stone's throw away! I am sorry but she is very stubborn."

Thatha replied, "That's not a problem. She is just a child."

He lifted me and made me sit on the petrol tank of the bike. Placing my hands on the bike handle, I screamed, "Let's go Thatha!"

While Ammamma was shaking her head, Thatha kick started the bike. We could have gone on a long bike ride like Daddy and I would but we were stuck in traffic most of the time. I narrated him the hard time I was facing in this school.

By the time we returned, Mummy was standing with her hands folded in front of her chest. Sheepishly, I got down from the bike. She said, "Why didn't you let Thatha take some rest? He would have been so tired. What's with the bike ride? You could've gone with Daddy or Arun Mama."

While climbing the stairs I saw Ekant peeping from the window. I screamed back, "See Ekant, I have Thatha! He knows how to ride bike."

Mummy muttered, "So all this was about this."

After the bike ride, Thatha came into the house and sat with us. It was during the conversation, I saw Ammamma staring at Mummy. She's looking as if Mummy did something wrong. Even Mummy needs to be scolded. I was waiting for Thatha to leave so that I could actually witness Mummy getting scolded. I am not going to lie; I was pretty happy. But Thatha took his sweet time to leave and I was tired of waiting.

After he left, I waited for sometime but all I could see was Ammamma and Arun Mama checking Mummy's neck. Though it seemed they were poking it, Ammamma nearly tried to choke Mummy by holding her neck. I screamed, "Ammamma!"

"Don't worry Anu, I am not doing anything to your precious mother. She's my daughter first, then your mother."

I screamed, "No, she is my Mummy."

Soon enough Arun Mama joined Ammamma's team and we were debating; no, we were fighting. Then Arun Mama declared, "I was there in my Akka and Bava's marriage but you weren't even there for your parents' marriage. So, your Mummy is mine."

I had asked this question many times – why wasn't I there in Mummy and Daddy's marriage. Everyone said that I wasn't born. What does not born mean? They said that I wasn't present. Then Sahay Mama told me that I was angry that Daddy was marrying my Mummy. It seemed that I wanted Daddy to marry a Mummy that would scold me less. While everybody in the room laughed that day, I didn't understand what he told.

When Arun Mama told this, I started crying. Why was I crying? I don't know.

Then Mummy, who had gone to freshen up, came running. "Why is that you always have to cry? Are you really my daughter? It's all because of your Ammamma and Mama's pampering that you have spoiled to this extent. Why can't I come home and relax a little bit? All I hear you is crying because of that school. Why can't you adjust a bit? It's difficult to get admission for Junior KG class, nobody understands this, not even your Daddy. How many things-"

Ammamma admonished, "Just because I asked you to take half day leave to go to hospital doesn't mean that you start telling your worries to your child. She is just four years old; how will she understand that in how many schools we had tried?"

Their conversation dragged until Daddy came home. Daddy said something due to which it seemed to drag even more. Is this why I didn't go to my parents' marriage? In between the conversations, Mummy had fed me my dinner. Slowly, I pulled myself to the room to sleep.

The next day, everything seemed pretty normal. The school was scary like always. But today to pick me, instead of Ammamma, Arun Mama had come. He gave a watery smile which I didn't understand why. We went home where I my clothes were changed; I was fed my lunch and I was put to sleep. After sometime, I heard a commotion. Drowsily, I opened my eyes to see Sindhu Akka, Sahay Mama and Kavin Mama who were there with their rmothers.

Ignoring them, I walked around the house but I didn't find Mummy, Daddy, Ammamma or even Arun Mama. I felt scared but Sindhu Akka was sticking with me the whole time. As the evening started growing dark, I was worried. Where is Mummy? She usually comes by this time. Then we all heard the doorbell ring. It was Ammamma and Arun Mama. I looked behind them but I couldn't find Mummy.

Suddenly, all of them looked at each other and started talking in a language pretty similar to Telugu. I tried recollecting the name of language. . . Kannada! Mummy had promised me to teach it when I would grow little older. I didn't understand the details of the conversation that transpired but I knew it was something serious.

Translations:

Bangaru: An endearment word in Telugu. The actual meaning of Bangaram is gold but it is also a word of endearment in Telugu. Bangaru is kind of a short form to Bangaram.

Devuda: God in Telugu

***

Before you guys jump on me for leaving you with a cliffhanger - sorry, I just wanted to make a comeback with a bang! Do leave your thoughts in the comments. Actually I wanted to condense the whole thing into a chapter but it didn't seem to fit well. Hence, I ended up splitting it.

Thank you for reading.