Daddy: IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE FOOD, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!
OKAY
Amma: I don’t know what to do, this child never feels hunger, she never eats anything!
I like rice and sauce
I like thayir saadam
I DON’T like dirty burny burny sambaaaaaaar, sss… burns so badly
Daddy: It’s got a little extra chilli, that’s all. It’s EXCELLENT! Go! Get out, live like a street urchin. NOBODY will give you food
Amma: It’s past one. It’s so sunny. If she goes out, she’ll just go and play in the garden and get sick
I AM GOING
I ran to my cupboard
Daddy: Haha! The door is here! Why are you going there?
MY BAG!
Bhaiyya: What bag?
SCHOOL BAG!
Daddy: HAHAHA!
Bhaiyya: Haha, what will you do with your school bag?
I WILL TAKE MY SCHOOL BAG AND GO AWAY!!
Bhaiyya: Okay, bye
Didi also started laughing, hee-hee, like donkey
I DON’T LIKE YOU! I HATE YOU!!
I AM GOING TO WEAR MY NEW NEW BLACK SHOESES!
I took out my shoeses and sat on the sofa to wear
Daddy: Don’t put your shoes ON THE SOFA!
Amma: Hsss, don’t say…
I am angry with Daddy
I put my one shoes on sofa
Daddy made angry face. Daddy stood up
I put my one shoes down
Daddy is making angry face
I AM ALSO ANGRY
Bhaiyya: Baai-baai
I WILL NOT SAY BYE BYE!
EVVER
BYE BYE!
Door is locked from up
UP THERE
Who locked?
Didi and Bhaiyya are eating food.
I am katti, I won’t say to anyone
I WILL SIT HERE ONLY
Amma caught my hand, not here, from up over here
She made me to sit on the table
Amma: Wait, I’ll get food
I WON’T EAT FOOD
DIRTY BURNY FOOD
(sniff)
Amma: Not for you kondhe, for me. If I don’t eat, how to unlock that door? No strength in my hands, see, my hands won’t go up
NO NO! YOU DON’T EAT FOOD! NO FOOD FOR YOU!
Daddy shouted: STOP! STOP YOUR BLOODY SCREAMING!
Daddy banged the table like this with his hand open
My whole body shaked, shakeded. I became scared.
I cried
I cried and cried so much
All water was coming from my face.
My eyes
My nose also
Nosey was also coming
My mouth also
Amma: She is hungry… She just doesn’t know how to…
Daddy: Arre, infants know… YOU! I CAN’T stand the sound of crying. DO YOU UNDERSTAND??
Amma: I’ll handle… she’s so tired, poor thing
Daddy: YOU SHUT UP! STOP supporting her when she is wrong! Now you will feed her. I hate it when you feed her.
Amma put one new plate. She mixed thayir saadam. She put little sambaar
Amma fed me
I ate little
Then I put my head on my Amma’s lap and went to sleep
I didn’t wash my mouth also
My book of short stories , The Violent Potter, is about how children feel within a family ‘system’ and how love works, sometimes outside the system. It’s available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
Link to buy: https://www.amazon.in/dp/9390266688/ref=cm_sw_r_wa_apa_fabc_KECBKJ6HSKZ6QR5F331W