Mama gulps down her multivitamin with the ABC (that’s apple, carrot, beetroot) juice she takes every morning. I wonder if that’s how she got those shiny dark-red dots on her arms — from the colour of the juice, you know. She gets back to the book which she’s been reading for a month — or maybe even longer. It’s a big fat book with the face of a crying man on the cover. I often see her stuck on one page for hours, as if she’s reading it five times over. She’s always been a fast reader, and everyone says I’ve got it from her. But I think I’ve gotten better than her — I finished two Wimpy Kid books in just five days! I want to join her on the patio but chasing after squirrels in the garden seems a better idea instead.
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We are at my grandparents’ (I call them Aja and Aai) place in a small town in Odisha. I know it is a big state in the eastern part of India from the country puzzle Avni got me for my last birthday. Every year, we spend a few weeks of my summer holidays here. I love the old villa with airy windows surrounded by so many coconut and mango trees. This is where Mama also had spent her summer holidays when she was a little girl. And just like her grandmother, mine too tells me bedtime stories. But they are mostly about gods and goddesses and to be honest, I’m not very fond of them. There are just too many gods, and I can’t remember them all.
I like Aja’s stories more because they are about faraway lands with golden palaces and brave kings. But these days he does not talk much and simply keeps to himself in his room. I want to ask him why he is so quiet and absent-minded all the time, just like Miss Sonia keeps asking Min-joon in school every day. Aja even looks older than the last time we saw him, and probably does not have much energy to chatter. Or anything interesting to say. Mama says he is close to eighty — now that’s some serious milestone!
Last winter Aja’s childhood best friend got sick and has been on bed forever. They have been friends since birth and are even born in the same month. Bruh, that’s like the best kind of BFF! Maybe one day I’d also have a lifelong friendship like that. I have met him many times during my holidays here. He used to be a real scientist and has sparkling white hair. Even his eyebrows are white! It’s funny and weird how he looks exactly like Albert Einstein (the most famous scientist in the world). Before his bones got all crumbly and weak, Aja and he went on walks every morning after which they would read the newspaper together. Mama has instructed me not to bother Aja with too many questions about his BFF.
Aja and I step out for our routine morning walk to the beachside. He waves his walking stick to shoo away two dogs that follow us. We rarely go near the water but there is a big crowd today and I am curious. Aja takes me along, holding my hand tightly all the time. His hands shiver a lot; it feels more like I’m the one who is doing all the handholding. When people see him approaching, they clear the way for him. Some even fold their hands and greet him, asking about his health. He simply smiles and nods at everyone. Surrounded by the crowd, we see a giant turtle in the middle. It hardly moves while everyone around it is busy clicking pictures and selfies. It is almost as long as me with a large green-blue shell. I tug at Aja’s arm and tell him the pattern on the turtle’s shell is made up of several pentagons and hexagons. He looks quite pleased with me and pats my back. Someone tells Aja the turtle is dead and that it was found accidentally caught in a fisherman’s net early in the morning. We return home earlier than usual for breakfast. Aai has made puri and aloo curry, my favourite.
Later in the day after we were done with lunch, Aja shows me the picture of a sea turtle in one of his glossy colourful books. It is labelled ‘Olive Ridley’ and is exactly like the one we saw at the beach earlier. He asks me to read the accompanying paragraphs loudly. Some of these turtles live as long as Aja! Whoa! That’s like superpower for animals. If it is true, I wonder how Aja’s BFF managed to break his bones so soon. Maybe he did not take his multivitamins regularly. I’m sure Mama can answer this, but she seems a little moody these days. I think it is the heat here that gives her a lot of migraines. I often see her resting in the dark bedroom for hours whenever she gets one. Anyway, I don’t think they are as bad as the leg migraines I get on the days I play too much cricket. Maybe I can ask Papa when he visits next weekend.
**
It is a Sunday morning though every day here feels like a Sunday. Watching the monkeys swing on the mango trees while Aai scolds them loudly is somewhat entertaining. Sometimes I wish there was an actual Aladdin’s carpet that would take me to more interesting places. But I think Mama would miss my morning hugs. Aai says I should be taking care of her, now that I’m a big boy. Mama says I should play more word puzzles with Aja. But I am only eight and this is my summer holiday!
The evenings here are the most boring. There is nothing much to do except listen to mosquitos sing in circles over my head. Mama has asked me to work on ten sums of two-digit multiplication and division every day. Easy peasy lemon squeezy! It takes me only fifteen minutes to solve them, but I must sit at the desk for another half hour or so. While I scribble on the last page of the notebook, I’m reminded of the dead turtle we saw the other day. I open my box of colour pencils and begin drawing all the details I can remember. Next, I draw a bottle of multivitamins and add a little dialogue box near the turtle’s head that says “Yummm!!!”.
In the balcony next to the bedroom where my study table is, Mama is chatting with her school friend who comes to see her every week. He lives in the same neigbourhood and always brings me candies and popsicles when he visits. Sometimes he brings books for Mama as well. Aai says he is some sort of doctor who cures people’s minds. In my head, I have named him Brain Uncle. I think he knows a lot of good jokes because Mama giggles like a little girl when she is with him. People who can make others laugh are super cool.
I hop into the kitchen for a snack and find Aai busy in the backyard with a pile of dry mango husks. She tosses the good ones into a basket next to her and throws the bad ones on a dirty sheet of newspaper. She calls me to sit by her side and asks if I would like to help her plant them. I like how she always lets me participate in the household chores. The only thing I don’t like is how she wants me to speak more Odia every time I’m here. She just doesn’t get it—every day is not Mother Tongue Day! This year in school, I sang a few lines from Rangabati, a very famous Odia folk song.
Anyway, I am busy munching on some chocolate cookies when Aja walks in with a small plastic bag. He drops the bag next to the heap of mango husks; it is filled with dark-brown soil and crushed twigs and leaves. When I look closely, I can see several white wriggly worms in there. Ewwww!!! Aja tells me the soil mix is called compost and that worms only make it healthier. He then asks me to write my name on a husk of my choice so that when its seed grows into a tree, we can name it after me. I can’t wait for the next summer holidays to meet my tree twin.
“What a cool idea, Aja! You know what, you could be my BFF too.”
“Of course, my dear boy, we already are!”
“And when I grow up, I too shall become a scientist. Look here now, how I’m about to give carbon dioxide to the plants so that they can grow quickly”.
I huff and puff noisily over the little tomato plants in the vegetable patch. Aja laughs his big noisy laugh, his little pot belly quivering funnily. Aai pulls me close to her and hugs me tightly with her chubby arms. The strong smell of minty talcum powder almost chokes me. I’m sure neither of them understands much about the life cycle of plants. Maybe I can make a good illustration and explain it to them tomorrow.
**
One evening Aja asks if I’d like to visit his BFF just to say hello and ask about his health. He will be happy to see me, and we can tell him all about the turtle we saw. I jump off the bed in minutes even though my Minecraft farmhouse is only half built. Mama and Aai also accompany us since it is the polite thing to do (something the elders keep stressing about). We all huddle into Aja’s old Santro because Aai’s knees can hardly take her as far as the gate. Mama, who is driving, blabbers a long list of dos and don’ts — “be polite”, “answer what the elders ask”, “don’t run around”, “it’s dark outside and they have a well in the backyard”, “let me know if you’re hungry” and so on. I roll my eyes but not before I turn my face away and pretend looking out the window.
We cross the muddy pond followed by the crossroad that signals our arrival to grandparents’ home during every visit. I see the ice-cream fridge in the neighbourhood grocery store being restocked. Aai saw it too I think because she asks Mama to stop for some kulfi on our way back. She winks at me and smiles her cute toothy smile. We are almost in front of Aja’s BFF’s house when we see a lot of people gathered outside the entrance. There is an ambulance standing next to the big metal gate. This is my first time seeing one up close; I had no idea an ambulance had doors that opened at the back. Mama parks the car next to it and we all step out in a hurry. Two men rush past us carrying Aja’s BFF on a long bed-like thing. Though his eyes are open, he looks as if he is lost in a dream. I can’t tell if he is awake or even conscious but when he sees Aja through the ambulance window, he lifts his arm and tries to wave. I hold on to Aja’s hand the whole time while my other hand is buried deep inside my shorts pocket. My turtle drawing has turned into a crumpled paper ball. The ambulance leaves within minutes after which we too head for home.
On our way back no one speaks a single word but just when we approach the grocery store, Aja asks Mama to stop the car. He turns back and smiling at me asks, “So, BFF, which flavour ice-cream do you want?” Like his hands, I can feel a tiny shivering in his voice as well.
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