Chapter 2 Celebration

 

 

My glorified arrival at Mylapur was for two perfectly valid reasons. First, it was my parents’ 25^th wedding anniversary, a silvery celebration of years of toil and togetherness, of years spent tolerating each other for reasons beyond understanding. Clearly, for some folks like me, marriage has always been beyond normal comprehension. Anyway, the second reason was my brother’s confirmation ritual. It is a ritual in Christianity which signals the acceptance of people into their fold. Or so I think it is.

 

Being the elder one, I was always considered to be the first one to undertake this ‘acceptance’ ritual. My parents had what you can call a ‘nervous breakdown’, when I first told them about my decision not to follow any religion. I think they seemed content with the fact that at least Dave is going through with it. It gives them the satisfaction of knowing that they did in fact raise their kids well.

“So what’s the plan for the anniversary party?” I ask Dave who seems lost in a space created by flowers, lights and glazed paper.

“Huh? Oh the party… yeah, lots of things on my mind right now. You mind getting that chair for me?”

“Sure”

“You know, Ma seems pretty upset that you renounced your religion. How does one renounce his religion anyway?”

Cheeky little bugger.

“Let’s not go there, alright? Here you go”. I signal to him the completion of my grand task.

Dave and I work at different IT firms in the same city, a couple of hours from Mylapur but we hardly ever meet each other. I’m largely to blame for that; the poor chap calls me often to meet up in the evening.

“So are you performing anything today? There’s going to be quite a gathering you know.” said Dave visibly excited.

“Are you serious? A performance? Like a stage show? Count me out”. I shudder at the very thought of embarrassing myself in front of complete strangers.

“Suit yourself.”

I intend to do just that my friend, I tell myself. Suddenly, my soliloquy is broken by a loud thud. Dave had dropped an old box from the attic.

“Oops! Clumsy me.” said Dave smiling wryly.

I saunter over to help him with the box. His smile had now started showing a marked radiance.

“Look at this”, he motions to me showing an old photo of us together in our uniforms.

“First day of school, we look like dweebs”.

“Hey come on. Ma maintains that this was our cutest phase”.

At this point he’s holding the photo like a doting parent would hold his newborn.

“This is her isn’t it?” Dave asks me mischievously wagging another photo.

I freeze when I see the picture in his hand.

“I can’t believe they have a copy of this!” I scowl, snatching the photo from him.

Maya. It is ironical how life can come to haunt you at any time it sees fit. This sadly, was one of those times.

 

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