Maggi
A short story
Seher sits alone on a swing in her society’s park. Aditya has teased her again today; he always teases and calls her ‘maggi’ whenever Seher’s Mumma is not around. Seher came to the swings to get away from the kids who are playing ‘Posham Pa’ at some distance. She feels lonely, but then she feels someone push the swing; she turns her head to see it is her older sister, Meher. Seher screams in delight as she flies into the sky. Seher plays on the swings until the sunsets, and Mumma comes down to take her home.
When they reach home, Mumma gives Seher a glass of milk. Seher doesn’t like milk; she wishes she could give it to Meher. Then she holds her breath and gulps everything down at once. Mumma is busy today; she doesn’t even sit with Seher for dinner. Seher doesn’t like eating alone, so she goes to the kitchen and finds a plate for Meher. She gives Meher some of her daal-chawal too. At night, Mumma reads to Seher, and Meher lies beside her. Seher feels a warmth in her chest whenever she lies between Mumma and Meher.
In the morning, Seher does not feel like going to school. Why can’t she stay home and watch TV? Mumma tries to convince her to get ready, but Seher refuses. Then Meher offers to walk her to class. Seher loves this. Meher had walked her to class on Seher’s first day of school, and it was like having her own little secret. Seher had lifted her head and walked proudly through the hallway that day. Sometimes, she imagines what it would be like to have Meher in school all the time.
When Seher returns home, Mumma shows her a new dress. Seher had wanted a pink-and-blue fairy dress for her birthday, and Mumma got her one. Seher cannot contain herself; she wants to wear the dress all the time, she wants to go to the playground wearing it, and show all the kids how amazing her dress is, but Mumma says she has to wait for her birthday to wear it the whole day. How far is her birthday? A week? She counts on her fingers, that’s seven days!!! That’s forever!!! Seher decides she will wear it whenever Mumma is not looking. And so when Mumma is in a meeting on her laptop, she asks Meher to keep a lookout, and wears the dress. She twirls around in front of the mirror; she wants to see the blue wings at the back, she wants to see how it looks when she turns in it. She only wishes her hair weren’t like Maggi. ‘But then we won’t look like sisters,’ Meher says. Seher looks into the mirror again; she and her sister have the same hair, she is so happy. But then she wonders what kind of dress Meher would want for her birthday. What kind of cake would she like?
Mumma walks in as Seher is thinking these things, sees her in the dress, and is furious. This is not done, this is Seher’s dress, she should be allowed to wear it whenever she wants, she wishes Meher was here, would she have saved Seher from Mumma’s scolding? Well, if Mumma is going to be angry, Seher will be angry too. So she yells at Mumma that she hates her, and flops onto the bed. She won’t talk to Mumma, and she won’t come out of her room ever agian. When Mumma is gone, Meher pats her on the head. Seher has resolved she won’t talk to Mumma ever again, and she would not wear any dress she gets her. But she worries about whether Mumma will cancel the birthday party. And what if she never talks to Seher again? Her stomach growls, she looks towards the kitchen, and the smell of pasta wafts in. Seher realises she is starving. Meher nods, but tells her she shouldn’t wear the fairy dress to dinner, she might drop something on it. Seher sees the logic and changes. When she goes to the kitchen, she doesn’t know what to say to Mumma. Meher nudges her, “Say sorry.” Seher gives in, and Mumma hugs her.
After dinner, it is again Seher, Mumma, and Meher on the bed. Mumma is telling another story today, but Seher is only thinking about her birthday party. She asks her how many people will be there, if she will have balloons, and what kind of food will be there, and will she call Aditya and his Mummy too? Finally, she cannot control herself and asks, “Mumma, when is Meher’s birthday?” Mumma doesn’t answer for a bit, then she says, “It was last month.” “Why, don’t we celebrate her birthday?” Mumma answers slowly, “She left before we could meet her.” “How long was she here?” “A very short time.” “Can I see her picture one more time?” “Seher, it is late.” “Please, just once.” “Alright, just this once.”
Mumma and Seher go to Mumma’s cupboard from where Mumma takes out Seher’s baby book, from a small pocket inside the cover Mumma takes out a small black page, which she holds up to the light. Seher can now see a white shape in the middle that hardly looks like anything, but Seher just knows it is her big sister and smiles, imagining her curly hair.