The first thing I remember about Supriya was her morbid fear of thunderstorms, she would be the first one to run upstairs to close the windows when it rained.
Supriya had come from Valyachan's village around the time I was 5. Though she was about 9 years older to me I addressed her by her name, no one told me that I had to call her chechi. She had come to live there, help Valyamma with some minor chores and to go to school. She took the after noon shift, as it was possible in government high schools back then, just so she could help with the house work in the morning. In the evenings she would sit in the veranda and read from her text book aloud, Aniechi or Miniechi would sometimes help her with her lessons.
"Try not to fall asleep, girl," One of them would yell when they saw her resting her head in the parapet and drifting away.
Supriya was always cheerful, I do not remember her ever being moody or homesick. The only things that upset her were the thunderstorm and poor grades. Thunderstorms of course were evil and scary and poor grades would result in harsh scolding from Valyamma.
In the evenings we shared our study time in the veranda. I would write my alphabets and do my addition and subtraction, while she read Cherusseri and Wordsmith. I was told not to distract her, she had a lot to study, she was in class 9. But Supriya and I communicated in sign language and smiles.
When the power goes out and the darkness surrounds us, we would scream partly with excitement. "Enough with the book.."
But Supriya would be soon made to light a candle and go back to her stack of books. She would sit there by the candle light, looking nervously at the sky. Leaves would rustle and the wind would sing the songs of the rain. The tiny flame, the only light in the veranda would be flickering away .She would try to protect it with her palms. When the first streak of lighting hit the sky, lightening up the guava tree and the roof of the outhouse, she would scream and run inside.
Supriya and Aniechi were good friends, they were almost the same age and they did the house chores together. In the night she would spread a mattress in Aniechi's room. She went back to her village most weekends and holidays. If she didn't I would haunt her asking silly questions and just talking silly, disturbing her in whatever she did. Once we saw some weird looking caterpillars and made up a song about them, few other times she told me brilliant stories about some village superstition.
Supriya passed her SSLC with first class, she went on to do a masters in Economics. I do not know what happened to her after that. And what I do not know, what I do not get to hear keep troubling me. I hope everything is alright.
Supriya had come from Valyachan's village around the time I was 5. Though she was about 9 years older to me I addressed her by her name, no one told me that I had to call her chechi. She had come to live there, help Valyamma with some minor chores and to go to school. She took the after noon shift, as it was possible in government high schools back then, just so she could help with the house work in the morning. In the evenings she would sit in the veranda and read from her text book aloud, Aniechi or Miniechi would sometimes help her with her lessons.
"Try not to fall asleep, girl," One of them would yell when they saw her resting her head in the parapet and drifting away.
Supriya was always cheerful, I do not remember her ever being moody or homesick. The only things that upset her were the thunderstorm and poor grades. Thunderstorms of course were evil and scary and poor grades would result in harsh scolding from Valyamma.
In the evenings we shared our study time in the veranda. I would write my alphabets and do my addition and subtraction, while she read Cherusseri and Wordsmith. I was told not to distract her, she had a lot to study, she was in class 9. But Supriya and I communicated in sign language and smiles.
When the power goes out and the darkness surrounds us, we would scream partly with excitement. "Enough with the book.."
But Supriya would be soon made to light a candle and go back to her stack of books. She would sit there by the candle light, looking nervously at the sky. Leaves would rustle and the wind would sing the songs of the rain. The tiny flame, the only light in the veranda would be flickering away .She would try to protect it with her palms. When the first streak of lighting hit the sky, lightening up the guava tree and the roof of the outhouse, she would scream and run inside.
Supriya and Aniechi were good friends, they were almost the same age and they did the house chores together. In the night she would spread a mattress in Aniechi's room. She went back to her village most weekends and holidays. If she didn't I would haunt her asking silly questions and just talking silly, disturbing her in whatever she did. Once we saw some weird looking caterpillars and made up a song about them, few other times she told me brilliant stories about some village superstition.
Supriya passed her SSLC with first class, she went on to do a masters in Economics. I do not know what happened to her after that. And what I do not know, what I do not get to hear keep troubling me. I hope everything is alright.
