I See My Mom Again
Rupa Mahi and my two young cousins came to pick me up at the airport.
Rupa Mahi and Dhon Moha lived in
Guwahati with their children, and I was going to spend the night with them
before leaving for Diphu in the morning.
Vinod was twelve and Abhay
fourteen. They were both rather shy, even though they had chattered away
nonstop on my last visit. Vinod was dark, thin and wore glasses. Abhay was chubby
and I dearly wanted to pinch his cheeks, but I reminded myself that that wasn’t
seemly, given that he was taller than I was. Rupa Mahi was still beautiful – more plump now, but she reached over and
hugged me as she used to when I was a little girl, and I felt like a little
girl again, and wished I could cry into her arms till my troubles drained out.
The air of Guwahati was stultifying.
I always felt oddly lethargic and apathetic whenever I was there. It was
beautifully green after the dry environs of Gurgaon, if you could ignore all
the trash on the streets. I sat in front next to Mahi and looked eagerly around at how much the city had changed
since my last visit. Vinod and Abhay lost some of their shyness and eagerly
pointed out new malls and restaurants.
I had an early dinner and
went to bed. I was in Abhay’s bed in the brothers’ room – he would sleep in the
spare bed in the living room. It was only nine and not even Vinod’s bedtime
yet. I called Raghav but we had only talked for a couple of minutes when Vinod
came in a few minutes later and lay on his bed, just a few feet away from my
own, so I said good night to Raghav.
At six the next morning, Dhon Moha and Rupa Mahi drove me to the bus stop. The kids
were asleep, so I couldn’t say bye to them. I hugged my uncle and aunt and got
on the bus to Diphu.