Everyone at home asks me about that. Everyone. It’s like I’m some sort of a freak in a circus of deformed human beings. My teeth didn’t grow after my milk teeth fell off. It was because of all the medicine they gave me when I was an infant to save my life. I had pneumonia and my kidneys were swollen when I was just six months old, I said, and then breathed in heavily.
She was the first one outside my family who I’d told about my “false teeth”. I didn’t want them but there was nothing I could do when my Dadi agreed to the dentist’s recommendation. At 13, I was probably the only kid in the whole wide world to have dentures.
Without realising, tears began to stream down my face. Masuma got up and came over to my side of the table. She gently nudged me to move in and sat beside me. She held my hand again and pulled it to her mouth and kissed it. I pulled my hand away.
Masuma stop doing that. Everyone is looking, I whispered. She seemed oblivious to everyone’s presence. Fortunately, nobody had seen her peck my palm.
You cry so easily, she said.
Without realising, Masuma became the best thing to have happened to me. I’d never had so much fun in school, and for that matter anywhere else. At home, my mother continued to fight her inner demons and was in a world different from ours. My sister was busy with her dolls and her playhouse.
My Dadi knew instinctively that something was going on and asked me: Who’s she, Sharad?
What, Dadi?
You’re very pleased with yourself these days, very happy. Nothing at home has changed, so it must be at school. And you’re 16, so it has to be some girl. Who’s she?
I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dadi.
She smirked but didn’t say anything.
I hadn’t mustered enough courage to walk with her after school. Sultan could well be on the prowl and I didn’t want to take any chances. But I’d started to reach school early just so that I could be with Masuma for a little longer before Mrs. Iyengar came to the class. She always ate before the class commenced and always shared her food with me. Without realising that I was doing so, I’d been eating lamb and chicken for several weeks. And only came to know of it when Mrs. Iyengar asked all those who were vegetarian to raise their hands. I raised my hand and Masuma pulled it down.
You’re not a vegetarian. You eat meat, she said.
No, I don’t.
Yes, you do. You’ve been having my food that had meat in it. And you love it, she said and laughed.
It was true. I loved the food she gave me.
Although she was new to the school, she made friends quickly with many. And soon thereafter, we went to National Park, bunking school. The kiss was unforgettable. I wanted to kiss her again. For me, we were no longer merely friends. For her nothing had changed. She still fed me her snacks and still joked about my “false teeth”. I was hoping for some tenderness, but she was as rumbustious as ever.
1 Comment
So sad