Hi guys! I am back after 3 months of writer's block and procrastination. Originally the plan was to publish this chapter at least by 15th December, 2021 (fictional birthday of Anika). Mentally I am at a place where drawing has become more relaxing than writing or reading books. When I had started writing out on Wattpad, writing seemed more relaxing than drawing so tables have turned. I have also started re-writing another story of mine which hopefully will get over soon and I can publish it here. To make up for the delay, I have written this extra long chapter of 2.6k words. Hopefully you guys will like it!

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"Anu, what about this dress? Did you like it?" Mummy asked. I looked at it, uninterested. There was this blue and white dress that I had liked but Mummy pushed it away telling it's not good. Even I pushed it away the dress she showed me now and said, "It's not good."

Daddy suggested to the shopkeeper, "Okay, bhaiyya, none of these. Kuch aur dekhao."

The shopkeeper nodded. He started showing some other dresses. Then there was this dress, a red and black one which I liked better than blue and white one. This was a black top with red and black spotted sleeves. The skirt was in a similar pattern too. I hugged it and Mummy asked the shopkeeper, "What type of skirt is?"

"Medam, this is mermaid skirt," he said.

Instantly, she took the skirt from me and started stretching it. She asked, "Trial room?"

He pointed to a desolated tall rectangular box. I took the dress and went inside. The box was smelly and there were other cloth boxes stacked up, leaving very less space for both me and Mummy to fit in. So it was only me, changing into that dress. The top was little loose which I didn't mind. But the skirt was a good fit, since I usually wear baggy clothes due to Mumbai's weather. The skirt would fit till my knees and then it had a little flare.

Mummy made me turn back and commented, "From back. . . your shape is seen."

"What shape?" I asked, curiously. Till now I had learnt about shapes – rectangle, square, triangle, circle and its 3D forms. I was curious to know which shape she was talking about.

"The shape of your bum!"

I looked at her, astonished. "Who will look at that?"

"People will always look at that!"

I was too dumbfounded to answer. So, what if people will look at it? Before I could ask anything, the trial room door was opened and I facing Daddy. He said, "The dress is very nice."

Mummy made me turn back and showed my 'shape', not only to Daddy but all others who had come for shopping. Within a matter of seconds, it was decided that the dress I was wearing will be my birthday dress. The dress turned out to be pretty costly but Daddy paid the money before Mummy bargain the price.

The silence between was piercing as we stepped out of the shop. The plan Daddy had was to cross the road, walk further to eat some dhoklas and samosas from a famous shop. If this had been communicated properly, there wouldn't have been any confusion. It is also necessary to understand why confusion should be avoided in Thane roads.

Every hour, in the narrow roads of Thane, buses pass. No, it's not one bus or two buses; around 4-5 buses pass, one behind the other leaving almost no gap between them. This makes very difficult for a person to cross the road. Holding my hand, Daddy crossed the road. But this thing was not communicated to Mummy.

As a result, by the time she realised we had crossed the road, the buses arrived, blowing horns. Daddy held my hand tightly, I was scared. What if my hand turns blue? Until the buses passed, he looked very tense. Between the buses, we could spot Mummy looking at us anxiously. When the buses left, Daddy held my hand and we quickly crossed the road.

He said, "Next time don't do that, what if someone kidnaps you and sells you? How will I find you?"

Mummy replied, "It's not that I did purposefully! If you wanted us to cross the road, you could have told us beforehand."

Very quietly, we walked until we found the shop. It was not a big deal finding the shop as there was a huge line in front of it. We had split into two groups – Daddy standing in the line, Mummy and I catching seats. After a lot of searching, we found a small table with two chairs. After sitting on the chairs, our next job was to find another chair for Daddy.

We didn't find any, so when Daddy got the plates, I had to sit on his lap. I didn't mind it except when his bony legs started poking me, I felt like standing and eating. This was not possible because the table was quite tall. We quietly devoured the plates of samosas and dhoklas. The burgundy meetha chutney served with samosas was the best for me.

Soon we licked the plates clean and left for our house. The best part for me was the drive on Airoli bridge. Seated on the petrol tank of the bike, I felt cool breeze hitting my face. It provided much needed respite from our shopping in such a sweaty crowded place. My happiness was short lived, I started feeling too cold. There was nothing much we could do; we had forgotten our small bag having sweaters at home. I didn't know that I would be celebrating my birthday coughing.

*

15th December, 2003

Before Mummy could wake me up, I was already wide awake, coughing. As expected, my day started with birthday wishes, dialogues of how great it would have been if I didn't have cough. I mean I do know it would have been great! It does sound frustrating when you are reminded of the same thing once in every fifteen minutes.

Today, I was woken up little early, as washing my hair was a must. It was a little irritating to have my hair dripping water on my dress and shoulders.

"Mummy, why should Anu wash hair today?" I asked. I wanted to laugh because we were in bathroom and my voice seemed tad funny.

"Today is an auspicious day, that's why," she answered, rinsing my hair with shikakai.

"Auspi-auspi, Mummy what was the word?"

"Auspicious," she said, pouring mug filled to brim with water on my head.

I started coughing but once it subsided, I repeated, "Auspi- auspicious. What does that mean?"

"It means good day. Like today is a good day to wash your hair."

"Why?"

"Because six years ago, you were born on this day," she replied, shampooing my hair.

Well, it is another story of how I didn't close my eyes when another water mug attack happened. This resulted in shampoo entering my eyes and me rubbing them vigorously. After a lot of cold water splashing, I came out from bathroom.

"Arre baap re! Anu, you didn't sleep properly? Your eyes are red like a devva," Daddy remarked.

Mummy warned, "Don't call her devva on her birthday." Patting my hair with a towel, she narrated, "So, some shampoo went into her eyes. . ."

On occasion of an event that happened six years ago, Mummy had made some gulab jamuns as a sweet dish and instant noodles as breakfast. I was wearing the red and black mermaid dress. That's the name I had given to the dress. Saddest part was even on my birthday, I had to eat breakfast quickly as I had to attend drawing classes.

"I don't want to go to drawing classes today," I pleaded.

"Oh, so you want to waste your father's hard-earned money?"

"Anu always goes to drawing class. Anu doesn't want to go today."

"Okay then, what about the chocolates you wanted to give to your Drawing Teacher and other children over there?"

"Fine, I will go to drawing classes," I replied. There was no way I could win an argument against her.

Unexpectedly, Vamsi was little late today. It was my turn to go to the other building and call his name. Our house was in A Wing or the first building one finds when enters building through main gate. Next to ours was B Wing where Vamsi was staying. Right adjacent to it was another gate leading to two row houses and a not well-maintained garden. There was a huge gate to enter those row houses.

"Vamsi, come down, we have drawing classes!" I screamed.

"Give me five minutes, I will come down." He screamed back. I couldn't see his face properly, because his house was on fifth floor. The building was quite silent in the mornings. Soon enough, he came down. This was a golden chance which I couldn't let go of.

"Vamsi, I didn't expect you to be this late. I mean came at sharp 9:45 am while you didn't. I am sure you were sleeping-"

"My mother is not well, so I got late. I am sorry," he cut.

Exactly that instant I felt sad. Why did I have to comment like that? Also, another reason for feeling sad was my dress wasn't complimented. Only when we went to drawing class, he got to know and wished when I distributed chocolates. While walking back, we had a silent walk. I quickly went upstairs to home and rechecked the textbooks and notebooks according to the timetable.

The good thing was I didn't have to change my clothes and my school allowed students to wear coloured clothes on birthdays. I ate pulav and left for school with Mummy. The school was pretty much the same – teaching, break, teaching. Oh, I had to eat my lunch quickly so that I could distribute chocolates to everyone. Also, embarrassingly, birthday song was sung by my classmates.

I was most excited for the birthday party that was going to be in evening. No sooner did I came home, my face was washed, hair was brushed, face smothered with talcum powder and a small black dot was in between my eyebrows. The living room looked different, table was moved, diwan was covered with a special cover reserved for special occasions and plastic straw mats were laid across.

The doorbell rang. Mummy asked worriedly, "Why have guests started arriving? Is it 6 o'clock? When will your father come, Anu?"

Upon opening the door, Mummy heaved a sigh of relief as it was Daddy holding a big plastic cover in his hand. The cake was here! Hurriedly, she kept the cake box on the table and warned, "Anu, do not open the box until I say."

I nodded. Honestly, this was the most difficult part. When we had visited cake shop two days ago, my cake choices were waived off as 'not good'. The cake was then selected by my parents and I was too angry to look at it. Within a few minutes, Mummy went to comb her hair in bedroom while Daddy settled in bathroom. I knew this was the golden chance to check the cake.

I carefully peeled out the transparent tape on the box. Slowly lifting the flap, I looked at the cake. I was disappointed, it was such a childish design. No seriously, who decides a teddy bear face cake for a six-year-old child? My parents! I quickly closed it and tried to paste the tape back. Sitting on the diwan, I looked at my feet. Tomorrow when my friends will ask what was the cake shape, teddy bear shape will no be good. Why Mummy and Daddy no listen to me? Anu selection of pretty flower cake good. This look bad.

I was pulled out of my reverie when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, I found Diya Aunty, Saswath, his sister Tanya, Anjali Aunty and Samarth. Ah! I do not want they in party. When Mummy had asked if there any people I didn't want to call, I said their names and she was aghast. "Anu, they are more than friends to us; they're like family friends. You should be happy that they are coming."

With a big smile pasted on my face, I welcomed them, returned a thank you when they wished me. Mummy greeted them and they all laughed like it was a funny conversation. Anu sleep before party. The same thing of smiling and replying thank you had begun to everyone who had started showing up. This also included Vamsi, his brother and Mahesh, his sister, Kamya.

Once considerable people were gathered, Mummy announced, "Children please gather around, we will cut the cake now."

So, children did gather around the cake, leaving almost no place for me to stand. Daddy made some space for me to stand near the cake. He did notice that the tape was sticking loosely. He whispered, "Did you open the box and see?"

My original plan was to deny these accusations. But I muttered back, "Yes Daddy. No tell Mummy?"

"Okay," he smiled back. Mummy caught me smiling back.

"Why are you both smiling?" she asked. Both of us shook our heads. She looked away, little angrily. This was a difficult situation. I would have love to let Mummy in our secret but if I did, I might have to face some scolding. I blew the candles, Mummy and Daddy held my hand as I was using knife to cut the cake.

Then comes the most awkward part – my friends singing the 'Happy birthday' song. I am pretty sure I had turned red with embarrassment. Followed by this comes my face plastered with smile as I received gifts from everyone. After every gift, I would reply a 'thank you'. Along with this, Mummy was in the kitchen, dividing and portioning the cake so that there would be enough for all and some second servings too. With that, samosas, chips, chocolate and rasna were to be given.

This plate was not some random things Mummy came up with. It was based on a detailed survey where she continuously observed the type of food served in birthdays. How did she conduct the survey? This is where I helped her. Since, I was the one visiting different house to attend birthdays and my inability to complete the plate of food served aided in her research. There were ones who went an extra mile with the plate. Mahesh and Kamya's mother had added dhokla to this plate.

That's how I had discovered dhokla and there's no going back. Of course, this was ruled out from my birthday party because food wastage would increase. Daddy promised to buy a plate of dhokla after my birthday gets over. I ask Daddy when he buy, today or Sunday. Mummy didn't allow me to serve any food to the guests because there were high chances that I might spill the food.

Anjali Aunty asked, "Anika, you should help your mother, right? How can just sit like that?"

I answered, "Aunty, Mummy say she do. Anu might drop."

"You're now six years old! How can you sit like that is something I can't understand?"

Dejected, I went to kitchen and narrated to Mummy. She muttered, "How can she talk like that? Especially on Anu's birthday."

I took a plate but she stopped me. "No, Anu, today is your birthday. Go and enjoy. You don't have to serve anyone."

But I was taking this plate for myself! I went and sat down on the straw mat. She handed over the plate of food. It didn't matter to me whether Mummy gave the plate or I took it, the food in the plate mattered to me most.

Within an hour, people started leaving that's when I had to give return gifts. The survey had also revealed that return gifts are very important and have to be innovative. After a lot thought, Mummy decided a simple pencil box with a pencil, an eraser and a sharpener would be sufficed. But adding sharpener was becoming costlier. So, it was removed. To avoid conflicts, she decided there will be only two colours - blue and red. There were many rules decided, like siblings will be given same colours and so on. Mummy would hand over the return gifts based on the child in front of me and I had to hand it over to them.

Finally, when everyone left, I changed my clothes to a cotton frock, I felt out of energy. Before Mummy could ask if I would eat sambhar and rice, I had slept on the bed, with lights on.

Notes:

Rasna: A tangy soft drink concentrate that is supposed to be mixed with water and served.

Dhokla: Yellow fermented steamed spongy legume (chickpea/pigeon pea, urad dal and rice) cake, cut into cubes and with a tempering of oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, coriander and occasionally grated coconut; usually served with green chutney

Thank you for reading!