Muthu!!" exclaimed a voice as Muthu entered home from school. “How you have grown! When I saw you last you were in nappies. You even wet my sari, do you remember?"
Muthu did not know who or what came over him. He seemed engulfed in darkness. He was enveloped in a tight hug from this aunty from nowhere who was acting very familiar with him.
It annoyed him thinking how people assumed they would be remembered when he had seen them whilst a baby. But he realised it was just enthusiasm and well meaning excitement.
Once he was out of her grasp, Muthu quickly regained his composure and smiled and wished her. “Sorry aunty I do not recall. But I was a baby, right?" He looked at his mother for help.
“Meet Moushmi aunt y, Muthu. She has come on vacation from Kolkatta. Her father was posted here and she went to school with me for a couple of years. Later I dropped out, but she studied and went to college. She is now a famous doctor in Kolkatta!"
Muthu nodded and looked at the lovely pakodas laid on the plate beside Moushmi aunty and his mother. He just could not resist reaching out for one.
To that his mother *chastised him, “Wash your hands first Muthu! How many times do I have to remind you?" Moushmi aunty looked at him sympathetically. “Your mother was not always this responsible and strict, you know Muthu?"
“No, my Amma is not strict. She is reasonable," immediately Muthu jumped to his mother's defense. While he and his sisters would argue with their mother in private, they always stood by her whenever any non-family member was involved.
“Ah! I see you have trained your son well Kutty!" laughed Moushmi aunty. Muthu's face reddened as he saw his mother's eyes twinkle with mirth. “Yes, Kutty that is what we called her. I come from a family of tall people you see," she explained.
Moushmi aunty pulled out a sepia-toned photograph from her purse. It had two girls a bit younger than him. They were skipping and laughing at a private joke. “My father took this snap. See, we were nine years old then. A bit younger than you are now.
