The week with Dadi had been very busy. Shweta and Shruti both went running in the morning and returned home sweating and huffing, much to the amusement of their mother.
"I didn't for the life of me think that I would live to see this day. But here I am." She said jokingly after Shruti told her proudly that they'd both walked an extra kilometre that morning.
But because it's Sunday, they've both curled up back in their beds after running and taking a shower. There's nothing like catching up on lost sleep. Shweta and Shruti are fast asleep in their respective bedrooms and their mother is curled up on hers with her Kindle. It's a calm morning today. The previous evening had been rather stormy and at night the rains had poured heavily. The monsoon, it seemed, had officially begun.
Shweta's period is officially two weeks late now. Complying with her mother, she's still got another two weeks to wait. But she is still worried and cannot help but wonder if all the pregnancy tests are wrong.
Shweta's phone rings. The loud wailing of I will always looooove youuuuu. Wakes her up and she sits upright on her bed, feeling very disoriented.
"Hello?" She says, her voice sleepy and hoarse.
"Good morning Shweta." The upbeat and extra cheerful voice almost sings through the phone. It's her aunt. Her mother's elder sister Sonia who is currently in Canada, visiting her only son who happens to work there.
"Hello. Maasi. Good morning." Shweta yawns into the phone.
"What is this? Haven't you woken up already?" She asks Shweta.
"No, I haven't, Maasi. It's Sunday today and it's just six o'clock." Shweta says, leaning against her bed and her eyes slowly start to droop. There was no point in telling Maasi that she'd fallen asleep after her morning run. There was only so much laziness that she would willingly admit.
"Well. Lazy girl. But leave that nonsense. And tell me, how are you?" Her aunt asks, her voice extremely sunny and cheerful.
"I'm fine, thank you for asking. What about you? And how is Sharad bhaiya?" Shweta asks, inquiring about her cousin who worked in Canada.
"I'm very happy and I'm really enjoying my time here. Sharad, he's just back from work." Her aunt says.
Shweta's frazzled for a moment before she realises that her aunt is in a different time zone.
"How is Canada?" She asks this time her sleepiness has decreased.
"Oh, it's wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! I wish you, your sister and your mother were here. You would love visiting this place just as much as I have!" Her aunt replies, enthusiastically.
"Hm. Maybe next time, I'll follow you." Shweta laughs into the phone.
"Yes. But all that is fine. Your mother tells me that your period is suddenly missing?" Her aunt dives straight into business.
Of course, Shweta thinks. Her mother has obviously told her about the entire debacle.
"Oh. Yes." Shweta says, rather glum to be reminded about it. It had slowly started to fade from her mind and now her aunt was reminding her of it.
"Well. Don't worry much about it. Your grandmother is coming to visit you. If I were not in Canada, I'd have come for a visit as well. But your grandmother is going to come there with your uncle. She can't travel alone, you see." Her aunt says.
"My uncle knows that my period is missing as well?" Shweta almost screams into the phone.
"Well, he asked me why he suddenly needed to take your grandmother to meet you. I had to tell him. But what are you fretting about? It's normal! Your uncle is not some idiot who doesn't know what periods are." Her aunt replies, matter-of-factly.
"Well. I know that. But is it necessary to tell half the country that my period is missing? What will you and maa do next? Call the prime minister of India? Besides, why are you sending Nani here? It's not like she's going to bring my period packed with gift wrappers." Shweta says, rather rudely.
"What nonsense, Shweta! Why on earth would I call my beloved Prime Minister about something trivial like your period? He doesn't need to know everything about his citizens, you know. Poor man, he works so hard. And you make jokes about him!" Her aunt was an avid supporter of the current prime minister.
She had specifically opened a Twitter account just to shower praises upon him and keep tweeting about him. She was forever in the hope that someday, he would retweet one of her tweets. Shweta wasn't sure if that would happen because her aunt didn't only shower praises on the Prime Minister. She was positively vindictive towards anyone who didn't share her opinion and frequently got into fights. Her aunt, though a usually sweet and kind-hearted woman had somehow managed to become a political cyberbully. And as much as Shruti and her own son had tried to discourage her, she remained adamant at being a troll.
"Besides, I'm sending your grandmother because she wants to meet you. She thinks she can solve your period problems herbally. But don't tell your mother about the herbal solution part!" She's going to yell at me. Her aunt says.
"Well okay then. But make sure you don't write mean things on Twitter. It's not right, maasi. Everyone is entitled to their own ideas." Shweta says, not knowing what else to say.
"I'm never mean! Those idiots are mean to our Prime Minister." Her aunt says and Shwetas cause about different opinions is lost.
"Don't aggravate her! Her political views are far too radical for you to be listening to right in the morning. Heaven knows I'm exhausted of convincing her to adopt a more liberal attitude. Or at least give them the benefit of doubt!" Shweta can hear her cousin Sharad's voice on the line.
"Hey. How are you?" Shweta says warmly. Sharad is one of her favourite cousins. Not that she had many. Just twenty-five.
"I'm very good. What about you? I hear that you're having some problems?" Sharad says into the phone and Shweta can feel her face heat up in embarrassment.
"Uh. Just here and there. I'm okay. So, tell me, how is your girlfriend?" Shweta asks, hurriedly trying to divert him from asking about her ovarian health.
"Oh. Well, me and Preeti? We aren't on very good terms. We've both decided to take some time apart." Sharad whispers into the phone. Shweta finds it comical how Sharad, a twenty-six-year-old man, still had to hide his relationship from his mother. But then Shweta remembers her own mother's reaction and swallows a gulp. No, it was best not to piss off her mother or her aunt. They could both fly into a rage and turn the whole house upside down.
"Oh. Maybe it'll work out that way then. Who knows it might do you both good?" Shweta says, trying to sound upbeat.
"Yeah. Look, I need to go. My mother's calling me for dinner. Oh, and she's saying something." Sharad pauses for a bit.
Shweta can hear her aunt yelling; her voice a bit muffled.
"What is she saying?" Shweta asks, unable to make out her exact words.
"Well, she's saying you need to eat dalchini to get your period back. Works wonders apparently. But don't ask me how. I wouldn't know." Sharad says.
"Goodbye, Sharad. Have a good day." Shweta says through gritted teeth and falls back on the bed.
Did her family not know that gynaecological issues were not to be shared with everyone? But clearly, her family was parading around telling crystal ball readers and cousins from abroad. Honestly, Shweta thinks angrily, I wouldn't be surprised if they passed a bill in the Parliament regarding my period at this rate.
******************
"She's only trying to help you. All of us are. You cannot get mad at such things, really. It's rather unbecoming of you. You're not a child anymore. You've grown up and its high time you started behaving like an adult." Seema says disapprovingly.
The three of them are seated at the dining table with aloo parathas on their platters.
Shweta, clearly disgruntled says nothing but tucks into her breakfast. She's had enough with these lectures. She sits sullenly, knowing that another word out of her mouth will just end up leading to a half an hour-long lecture.
"But maa. She's got a right to be annoyed. Not everybody needs to know that her period is missing. We are creating a big issue out of a trivial matter." Shruti tries to defend her sister.
"So, people showing concern is now annoying? What makes you think you don't need family by your side?" Seema argues and it's a lost cause. She's taken a seemingly normal cause of a missing period and wrapped it up in family sacrifices and concerns and dramatizing the entire matter.
"Of course, we need a family by our side. Just not for everything." Shruti argues.
Seema huffs and gets up from the table. "Well, then you can call your grandmother who's already on the way and tell her not to come. Since you don't need a family! Then you can get out of this house and live without family." She says.
"Geez. What's gotten into her?" Shruti rolls her eyes and says as soon as their mother is out of earshot.
"Righteousness, apparently," Shweta says, bitterly.
"Why do they have to make everything a huge drama and read into my words and take out meanings I didn't say or even think of?" Shruti grumbles.
"She's just still mad at me. Heaven knows how I can make it right again. It's not like I'm happy about it. I feel guilty as shit. And I'm trying to make it better but she's still mad at me. First, it's our father and then it's me! I get her point of view. It's just that sometimes I wish she would let go and see mine as well! All my life I feel like I've been walking on eggshells around her. Don't do this or maa will be angry. Don't do that or you'll be just like your father! I have half of that man's genes! And no matter what I do I am still going to be half of him whether I like it or not. I get it, she doesn't. She made sacrifices and she didn't abandon us and I honestly think she's absolutely great for all of that. It's just sometimes she's almost too overbearing. It's been over two weeks now and she's still so grouchy. Can she trust me a bit more? It was just sex, you know! I didn't say I was going to elope with him. I just wish she would give me a bit more liberty! She can't just confine me forever. But it's selfish to ask her for more when she's given us everything already, I suppose." Shweta says, softly. Her eyes looking downwards.
Shruti doesn't say anything. Shweta looks up and realises that her mother has returned and has heard her entire monologue.
Don't be a silent reader! A bit of encouragement would make my day!
Edit 22/11/22: Thankyou for all your encouragement
Either way,
Much love,
shortgirlbigbook â¤.