Footprints

  T erms and Conditions Apply   The phone was ringing.  The shrill sound echoed throughout the ground floor. It had an eerie ring to it. Mostly because the flooring was entirely made of white marble tiles but also because, we weren’t expecting calls anymore. We heard Appa pickup. I nudged my brother and he nodded reassuringly. He was never the first-one-to-freak-out types anyway. “No Ma’am, none of us have left the house,” Appa could be heard . “We thought it was better to stay inside rather than go outside and get infected or infect others,” Appa sounded calm. Then, some moments of silence, followed by, “Oh, yes please I’d like to have a copy, just in case.” The suspense was killing me; I put down my phone on the kitchen counter and walked, more like  nearly skipped to Appa ’s room. Amma and Abu followed suit. When I entered his room, Appa seemed relieved. I raised my eyebrows at him. “What?” Appa asked. “And?” prodded Abu. “Results will be mailed.” ...

   Incubation  I had put it there.  Appa ’s frown between his eyes disappeared. “So?” I blinked twice. “So? That Aunty was the one who gave me that envelope. She’s the one who tested positive right?” Appa shook his head. “No, no. She’s not the Panchayat member I was talking about.” “What?” My voice was unbelievably calm. “Yeah. This one is someone else.” Appa said dismissively. “But she must’ve given it to this lady and she’d given it to me na !” I wondered out loud. “The local health official had called me yesterday and had described everything,” he said affirmatively. “The one who tests positive is the primary case. Everyone who comes into direct contact – as in within less than 6 feet distance or remained in close proximity for more than 10minutes to her becomes secondary.” He pointed a pen at me. “So YOU become tertiary, while I am mostly a secondary case.” Oh. I didn’t know how to respond to the lengthy truth Appa had just told me. “Do yo...

  The Envelope    “Hey Dad,” I barged into my father’s office room, all excited about the big sale that was happening on Amazon. “Have you seen these bass buds? They look so…” my voice trailed off. Appa , leaning on his reclining chair, looked up at my face when I entered his quiet work-from-home corner. There’s something in his eyes that is amiss , I thought as I stopped mid-sentence and stared at my parent. “Objection Your Honor, there is something wrong with the defendant.” I said. “What makes you say that?” He cocked an eyebrow at me. “Well, for one, you’re not irritated by me barging in on you while you’re working,” I smiled, “and that doesn’t happen too often, you know.” “Objection over-ruled,” he smirked. I narrowed my eyes. He straightened himself and I braced myself. ‘Oh, I have a bad feeling about this,’ my heart said. ‘Shut it!’ my head hissed. “It turns out,” he began, “that one of our church members who was present at a meeting last week has tes...

  August 2007  2:00pm    I stared at my mark sheet. Eleven-and-a-half on thirty it read in red ink at the top of the papers I was holding in my hands. My eyes stung. Keep it together! The noisy classroom did nothing to help my emotions. I looked at the supposed embodiment of knowledge near the blackboard. After giving me an earful, she was now pulling the ear of a fellow classmate. A bright orange saree with a sequined border, a larger-than-her-face bindi (transl.: ‘a decorative mark worn in the middle of the forehead’ in Hindi) and big spectacles on her nose completed the scary teacher look. Ofcourse she wouldn’t have meant to look scary but that is how my history teacher looked to me, then. “Did you pass?” My best boy-friend pulled my hair from behind. I glared at him and his grin vanished into a pity smile. “Sorry Dude!” he patted my arm. I shrugged. “She gave the topper three marks and me half-a-mark for the same answer Da. ” I shook my head again. “I wo...

  It was crowded in the banquet hall foyer. I was among friends and family – especially my cousins who I hadn't met in almost nine years. It was a warm day and I was happy. This wedding was probably the last of my father’s generation in my grandmother's family and it was a bitter-sweet moment or moments, I must say. I looked at my little sister – Jojo. She was smiling ear to ear as she greeted our relative one by one. This was one of those moments where we just hugged and hugged and hugged our people. My brothers were speaking animatedly over something they saw and the youngest pulled my sister aside saying, "Is that Ben Achachan (transl.: elder brother in Malayalam)?" My sister's eyes widened. "Where?" she asked. "There," he gestured towards the parking lot. He didn't look so sure anymore. "Jose! That wasn't nice," Jojo said. "Was that a prank?" she dug his ribs. "Ow!" he flinched and made a face. ...

  09:25pm  I was putting away vegetables Appa had bought from the market. I looked at the clock. 9:22pm. Almost an hour after I texted him. I sighed. I didn't know what he was thinking, feeling or doing anymore. He hadn't attended any of my phone calls or responded like he usually did to any of my messages. Infact, he had said he didn’t want to talk to me; on more than one occasion. So I had decided that I would wait. Wait for him to say something; anything at all. I knew I hadn’t been fair to him the night before and I had apologized for it too; only, I tend to do that a lot. I guess he’s heard so many apologies from me that he’s finally got tired of them. My gut churned out of the blue and I had the sudden urge to check my phone. I put away the last of the vegetables into the refrigerator and I rushed to my bedroom, leaping two stairs at a time. The green LED on my phone was blinking slowly. My heart jumped and I smiled. He must have called. I unlocked my phone, drawing our...

(Statutory Warning: If this is you, enjoy the ball Cinderella!)  She was a silent one. I didn’t see her even after being a full time scholar for two weeks. Why I noticed her that day was because of the way she reacted to a senior who attempted to mock her. “You don’t understand,” a senior was talking to another senior. The day was hot and it must’ve done nothing less to people’s tempers. “Sometimes, talking about dieting and exercising and taking a break from all of this actually reduces the tension around here.” The senior had gestured to all of the room with that last word. “Why are things so difficult for you? Don’t think so much. I mean look at some people here – like Devi. She doesn’t have to bother about her figure. She just doesn’t even eat, so less weight and less tension!” the senior had smirked in her direction. Out of the corner of the room came a meek, yet adamant voice. “ Didi, (transl.: elder sister in Hindi) if you want to say something to me or about me, I th...