Didi
“Nishi, this is your Uncle.” said Urmila, as she introduced her cousin Prashant to her daughter-in-law.
Nishi touched Prashant’s feet out of respect.
“Stay happy my child. I am your mother-in-law’ cousin...”
“Uncle, I am seeing you for the first time but I have heard a lot about you. Mom always talked about the time that she spent with you in her childhood in the village. One time, you even hurted her ...”
“Yes, it must be thirty five years ago. I might have been eleven years old. I and sister whom I used to call Didi who is your mother-in-law now, grew up together in our village. Sister was just a few months older to me but was always more mature. I don’t know how girls become solemn so quick but boys never get even a fraction of in his whole life.”
“Uncle, I am interested to know what happened at that time?”
“Nothing as such. Those were days before Holi. Sister was tapping dung cakes on the second floor of the house which were to be used in pyre of Holi. I also went up to the terrace and noticed that a beehive had formed near the stairs. I immediately told sister that I would break the bee hive to collect honey and asked her to go down."
Didi said “Prashant, wait for a few minutes. There are some more dung cakes to be tapped. And by the way, this is not your cup of tea!. It is too risky.”
I did not listen to her and threw a stick stright at the bee hive. The bees got disturbed and started attacking us furiously. I escaped down the stairs but sister was stuck. The vast number of bees pounced on her. Hearing her cries, the all family members present in the house rushed up to the terrace to rescue her. They wrapped her in a blanket and brought her down. I got scared and ran away from the village. I thought that I will get a good thrashing from the family members.
“Your sister would have got very angry on you!”
“Not at all, sister was falling unconscious frequently. There was no doctor in the village. She was being given some pepper heated in water. Sister would wake-up and then fall unconscious often. But whenever she got up, she would say “Please don’t scold Prashant. Call him now. I just want see him here before me.”
“And then...”
“The family members found me in the village and got me home back. As per sister’s wish, no one said a single word against me. After a few minutes, I stood near sister with my head hung in shame and tears in my eyes. Even in such pain, Sister was happy to see me. Sister recalls those moments even now and laughs at it. But I feel bad at my ignorance.”
“Come on, take some snacks”, said Prashant as he saw his sister come over. He turned his head a bit and wiped away the tears.
