We were all going out to look at the new house we were going take on rent. After the measles everything was starting to get back to normal and school had just started again. The new house was near George’s house and Appan’s office and it was also bigger. We could see the trains from the house. There was a big jasmine bush in front of the house but the garden and yard looked neglected and unloved. It was a two-story house but the upper floor had the exact same design as the lower and they intended to rent it out to someone else. The lower part was to be ours.
“Do you like the house?” Appan asked Vena and me.
“Hmm Hmm” Vena nodded
I wasn’t so sure. I liked having a friend near and watching trains from the house but I loved the bougainvillea tree in the old house.
“What about you, Leila?” Appan asked.
“This is good, I think we should take it.”
And so it was decided.
We moved the next week and settled in. Kousu came with us and Appan’s office peon Masilamani, visited regularly to run errands.
The first problem we encountered in the new house was bold crows; they flew in through he dining room window and flew off with food from the table, sometimes even when we were all sitting around eating. Closing the window made the room stuffy and we were all at our wit’s end when someone suggested that we trap a crow in the room kill it and hang its wing outside the window. Masilamani came to our rescue in the killing and trapping and soon we had a dead crow’s wing tied to the window and it worked, the crows would come swooping down take a look at their dead comrade’s wing and would fly off. I loved sitting and watching the crows take an about turn at the window and sit and watch for hours on end. Vena started talking and walking and was turning into a very opinionated and stubborn little girl. Her mornings invariably started with three hot idlis, she would wake and up in the morning, go sit on the door step of the kitchen and amma would the idlis and she sat their quietly finishing it all off. Then she waited for Appan to come home and the moment she heard the gate opening she would run screaming “Ente Appan Vannu, Ente Appan vannu (My Appan has come, My Appan has come). Appan loved hearing that. As the sun went down and bed time approached she would start saying, “ Appan poe, Appan enne idekkenda, Appan enne thodennda, Appan enne nokkennda (Appan go away, Appan don’t pick me up, Appan don’t touch me, Appan don’t look at me)” and every night Appan and I end up on a mattress on the floor and Amma and Vena on the bed, because Vena refused to let Appan anywhere near her after sunset.
“Do you like the house?” Appan asked Vena and me.
“Hmm Hmm” Vena nodded
I wasn’t so sure. I liked having a friend near and watching trains from the house but I loved the bougainvillea tree in the old house.
“What about you, Leila?” Appan asked.
“This is good, I think we should take it.”
And so it was decided.
We moved the next week and settled in. Kousu came with us and Appan’s office peon Masilamani, visited regularly to run errands.
The first problem we encountered in the new house was bold crows; they flew in through he dining room window and flew off with food from the table, sometimes even when we were all sitting around eating. Closing the window made the room stuffy and we were all at our wit’s end when someone suggested that we trap a crow in the room kill it and hang its wing outside the window. Masilamani came to our rescue in the killing and trapping and soon we had a dead crow’s wing tied to the window and it worked, the crows would come swooping down take a look at their dead comrade’s wing and would fly off. I loved sitting and watching the crows take an about turn at the window and sit and watch for hours on end. Vena started talking and walking and was turning into a very opinionated and stubborn little girl. Her mornings invariably started with three hot idlis, she would wake and up in the morning, go sit on the door step of the kitchen and amma would the idlis and she sat their quietly finishing it all off. Then she waited for Appan to come home and the moment she heard the gate opening she would run screaming “Ente Appan Vannu, Ente Appan vannu (My Appan has come, My Appan has come). Appan loved hearing that. As the sun went down and bed time approached she would start saying, “ Appan poe, Appan enne idekkenda, Appan enne thodennda, Appan enne nokkennda (Appan go away, Appan don’t pick me up, Appan don’t touch me, Appan don’t look at me)” and every night Appan and I end up on a mattress on the floor and Amma and Vena on the bed, because Vena refused to let Appan anywhere near her after sunset.
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