Memories of a Little Girl Called Dolly! (XIV)

One fine day, Dolly visited our home. As usual, we had placed important things out of reach of her and were alert regarding her visit. The moment Dolly greeted us formally as usual and was about to settle down to play, Ronak entered our home asking, “Dolly is here?”

Then having seen Dolly, he also came to play. But Dolly pulled her brother out of our home and began arguing with him in the balcony. She asked with a finger pointing toward him, “Mummy has told us not to come here together. Then why did you come?”

Usually Dolly woke up late. So Ronak would wake up early and come to his Mummy Aunty for pampering. Dolly would not even know when Ronak would come. On this day, Ronak had gone with his father somewhere in the morning. Thus he came at the same time as his sister and wanted his quota of pampering.

Ronak tried to convince his sister, “Aaj ek din dono khelenge na.”

But Dolly was not ready to be convinced. She pushed him down on the balcony and started hitting him. She began to pull him upside down to take him back home. Mom and I tried to separate them. She insisted on punishing her brother. In her home, whoever would do wrong would become a ghoda and her mother would keep a record of their behavior. Only those who had done less mischief would receive monthly gifts. Though both were almost like twins, their mother would handle them well despite her problems.

Then I told Ronak to say sorry and become ghoda. I also winked, so he knew there was something waiting for him. Then he became ghoda for Dolly. But he went so fast that both tumbled and fell. Ronak was smiling. Dolly did not know what to do. She kept looking at her Mummy Aunty. One of the parents of a child in our building had told Dolly’s mother that her kids are Gunda Bachchas. We remembered that.

Mom told Ronak to go to Didi, i.e. me and took Dolly inside the house. With Dolly out of sight I gave Ronak some chocolates and jellys, which he liked very much. He was very happy and went back home. He had taken revenge on Dolly, which he could not do at home.

I had to go for a dance rehearsal so I was getting ready for it. Our teacher had insisted that we should apply complete make-up and then come because she had encountered some students, who would become aware of the make-up and would not emote properly during the performance. When Dolly saw that I was applying make-up, she immediately asked for “Ppowwlal. (Powder.)”

Mom would have kept a large packet of powder with a very little in it especially for her. She gave it to her and said, “Use this fully. It is for you only.”

She applied all of the powder at one go on her face and pulled her eyes down to try to frighten Mom saying in a threatening voice, “White Panda!”

Mom caught her in her arms and said, “Mera Aghori Baba. Saara sharir mein bhasma dala.”

Mom let her play for some time and then wiped the extra powder off her face.

More to come…

To be continued…