048 Ragi farm

Have you seen little chicks following their mother crying 'chwick chwick'?

I am experiencing it now.

Two little babies who always follow me around calling me 'Achu'.

They grew up pretty well in the past few months.

A few months ago, we celebrated mom's birthday. This time, dad passed the cake to Prince and Priya to let them ruin it. After all, this had become a custom at our house. Later we cut the messy cake. Dad joked that if they try, then they can have another ruined cake the next year. Mom glared at him and he went silent.

A few months later, Prince, Priya and I celebrated our birthdays. The kids turned one and I became a two-year-old boy. Anu realized that it was a big loss for her if we celebrate all three birthdays on the same day. So she convinced our parents to celebrate our birthday on different days. I and Doodu supported the idea.

So, although we were born on the same day, we celebrated three birthdays on three different days. Dad was even careful to pick cakes that Doodu could eat.

Slowly the kids started walking. They also started talking more. One of their most favourite words was 'Achu'. Whenever Anu was not around, the kids would follow me around calling me 'Achu'. You have no idea how happy I was. Two kids following me around calling me 'Achu' all day was exactly what I had in my mind when they were born. They were so attached to me that even mom was getting jealous.

"Achuu... Achu" Prince came to me running.

"What is it, baby?"

"Poopoo..." He replied pointing somewhere.

"Did you poopoo?"

He nodded vigorously.

I checked. He had indeed pooped. That too on dad's digital weighing machine.

Priya was properly potty trained. But Prince simply rejected the potty seat. He was adamant about pooping the wrong way. He had already pooped inside dad's shoe, Anu's lunch box, on Doodu's tail, Jeemma's shoulder and many more places. Even my toys weren't spared. We were all helpless when it came to training him.

I went to report mom about the poop.

"But she hit me." Anu was complaining to mom when I found them.

"Why did she hit you?" Mom asked.

"That... We were playing. Then Arjun said something. Then I said something. But he said something. So I pushed him. He pushed me. Then I punched him on the belly and... and kick his leg. Just for that, she hit me and Arjun." Anu finished her story.

I was dumbfounded.

Mom was speechless.

Doodu sighed and covered his face.

"Why did you fight with him? Aren't you two friends?"

"Yes. But he said something."

"What did he say?"

"That... I forgot."

"..."

After listening to her a bit, I understood the situation.

Anu and Arjun were for fighting for some reason. Both the kids don't even remember the reason. Then, Arjun's grandmother spanked and scolded both the kids. Anu was proud and couldn't accept it. So she came to complain to mom.

"She is a very old grandma. Don't fight in front of her. Even I might get scolded by her." Mom gave the most practical advice to Anu.

"No. She shouldn't spank me. Only Jeemma can spank me." Anu wasn't happy.

"No. Jeemma shouldn't hit you either." Mom replied in a feeble sound. She was simply helpless. Jeemma normally wouldn't punish us. She is like a grandma who spoils us. But if we get too naughty, she would spank all of us kids. Mom wasn't happy with this. But at the same time, mom couldn't do anything. Even dad might get spanked by her if he doesn't behave. (Just kidding. Jeemma stopped it after dad turned 12.)

As for this grandma of Arjun, it was even more complicated. She was very old and her memory was failing her. She could no longer make new memories. Somehow, she ended up thinking that Arjun is her son. So she was taking care of Arjun like her own son and treating everyone else as strangers. Including her own son.

The strange thing is that this old woman with no proper memory taught Arjun to walk the right path. He learned from her and never swayed from the right path. In my previous life, when Arjun was about twelve years old, this grandma died. I still remember him dressed in ceremonial clothes and crying loudly. This is a future I cannot change.

"Fine, if you won't help, then I will teach her a lesson."

"No. Don't make any trouble for her. She is someone, who deserves respect." Mom warned Anu. But mom clearly knew that she was going to get revenge.

So mom contacted Arjun's mom, Lekha and warned her about the trouble. She agreed to keep an eye on Anu.

Nothing happened for two days.

But on the third day morning, mom got a furious call from Lekha aunty. With no other choice, dad took me and Anu to Arjun's house. Doodu also followed us.

Lekha aunty was waiting for us at the gate. She glared at Anu.

"Are you making a lawn?" Dad asked seeing the front yard covered in pale green grass.

Lekha aunty didn't answer. Instead, she continued glaring at Anu.

Anu was covering her mouth to suppress her laughter.

I realized that something was wrong. So I entered the front yard of the house and inspected the grass. It was planted uneven and the grass was too weak and pale to be a lawn. Doodu also smelled the grass.

That's when I saw Arjun.

He was crouching in a corner of the front yard and plucking the grass one by one. He was stealing looks at us.

"She did it." Lekha aunty finally answered dad.

"She made the lawn?" Dad asked confusedly.

"It's... not a lawn."

"Then?"

"Check yourself."

Dad wasn't offended by the rude behaviour of Lekha aunty. He was familiar with her and she had helped dad and Jeemma a lot when they were alone. Dad came inside and inspected the grass.

"Ragi?" Dad asked.

"Ask your daughter."

Dad looked at Anu for an answer.

Anu slowly told the story in between her laughter.

She was angry and wanted to take revenge. So she grabbed two pockets full of ragi from our home and came to Arjun's house. She then slowly dropped all that in their front yard. Ragi was a small seed called finger millet. It was ground to make baby food for us. So we had a lot of it at our home. It was small like mustard. So just two pockets full was enough to make a mess.

It rained the previous day. So all the ragi seeds sprouted and filled their front yard with green saplings.

Anyway, we all got punished.

I don't even know why I was included. I and Doodu complained a lot to Anu as we plucked the saplings. Arjun also complained.

We didn't have to pluck the saplings for long. We somehow managed to finish one corner of the front yard. Then Lekha aunty told us to stop.

In truth, there was no need to pluck them. Because ragi won't grow in our climate. So the saplings would die within a day or two. Still, dad forced us to pluck some of it as a punishment.

Once the punishment was over, we went inside Arjun's house and played there for a long time. We also ate breakfast from there.

I acted cute in front of Lekha aunty and managed to get some sweets that she was hiding for her son. Then I acted even more cute and got more sweets. Finally, I called her 'mamma'. That's the name Arjun calls her. That's when she realized that I was scamming her. She kicked me out and grabbed Anu to play with her.

Lekha aunty spent some time putting makeup on Anu. She wanted a daughter very much. She loved putting makeup on Anu. She did Anu's hair and eyebrows. Then she put earrings and necklaces on Anu. Those were cheap ones she got from roadside shops. But Anu loved it for the bright colours.

Most of the times Anu went to Arjun's house, she would return home like this. Mom wasn't entirely happy with this either. But as usual, she couldn't do anything about it.

Arjun's parents were a lot older than mom and dad. They had to wait a long time before the birth of Arjun. Also, they helped dad and Jeemma a lot when they were younger. So mom and dad had to be respectful when dealing with them.

Weeks and months passed. Anu reached the next class in school.

Prince and Priya (we call them Pripri) grew up pretty well. We created a lot of trouble for our parents. We also fought a lot among ourselves a lot. At first, I could overpower both of them easily. But at some point, Prince started following Priya's orders. Then they started teaming up and I couldn't defeat them. In the end, I was left with no choice but to run to mom complaining. Unfortunately for me, mom achieved some enlightenment and stopped caring about our fights.

Anyway, I was happy seeing them grow stronger every day.

Meera and Anita became friends. At some point, I stopped worrying about it. One was my ex-lover and the other was my wife. At the same time, they were not yet my lover or wife in this life. It was getting more and more complicated. So I decided to ignore it.

Lakshmi aunty, my potential mother in law visited us regularly. Our situation was similar to a Malayalam movie in which the hero marries the daughter of his ex-lover. Except Lakshmi aunty was just my crush, not my lover.

Jeemma's husband Jijo uncle also visited us regularly. They had sold all their business abroad. So he didn't have any plan to go abroad. Also, he was a very lazy person. One day, he invited all of us and gave us a party telling us that he was retiring. But Jeemma was furious and threatened to kick him out if he doesn't get a job. In the end, dad arranged for him to manage a bakery dad owned.

A few months ago, dad finally agreed to accept half the inheritance from Jeemma. Just like that, in one day, we became rich. Dad wasn't entirely happy with that. But after mom was diagnosed with cancer, dad changed his mind.

In other news, the local body election was over.

Dad's party won many municipalities and almost all the panchayats in our constituency. Dad didn't compete in this election as well.

After the election, dad started aggressively investing in small scale businesses in our area. The money came from Uncle Johny and Jeemma. Within a few months, a large number of products in the market had 'KDF' on the label. Dad used the excuse that they were trying to help local businesses grow. The KDF club also promoted it as the products were produced locally and provided more jobs to people from our area.

The original owners of those businesses saw a steep increase in their business as they were getting free promotions from the KDF club and Uncle Johny. Uncle Johny was a member of the parliament. So his words regularly made it into media. With his support and the club's support, many local small scale businesses started growing.

At the same time, we were also getting a portion of their profit. People also developed a feeling that anything with 'KDF' on the label was something made local and good for them. This was a kind of brainwashing. This was something great and scary at the same time.

Another important incident was that someone tried to steal Doodu.

In the morning, Doodu went missing. When mom noticed it, she checked the security cameras and found two strangers catching and taking him away in an Omni van. Fortunately, the cameras got the number plate.

Mom called the police. Within two minutes, they found the details of the van as well as the identity of the thieves. Half an hour later, they found the thieves in a hospital. One guy had a deep wound on his shoulder and couldn't move his arm. The other guy had his fingers in the pocket. Fortunately for him, the doctors were able to sew it back later.

The police questioned the thieves. By then dad also arrived. Strangely, dad decided not to file a police complaint. At first, I was confused. Then I realized the reason. Doodu had already injured someone during that kidnap attempt a year ago. Something similar happened again. If things like this come to the news, it won't be good for Doodu.

We spent the entire day looking for Doodu. The thieves gave us the location where Doodu escaped from them. We checked all nearby houses. Dad also circulated his photos in all the local WhatsApp groups.

In the evening, Anu came home and didn't find Doodu waiting for her. Mom and dad tried to hide it from her. But it didn't work. Anu found that Doodu was missing. She lied to herself that Doodu was hiding to prank her. She checked every nook and cranny of the house. Then she went around calling for him in our plantation. Once she accepted the truth, she started crying. She wanted to leave right away and search for Doodu. Seeing her cry made me also cry.

By then, we got the news that he was spotted in front of a restaurant in a village just 3km away from our house. By the time dad reached there, he had left the spot. Then we got a call from Anu's school bus driver asking whether our dog is missing. He was familiar with the big dog that waited for Anu every day. He found a similar dog sleeping behind the school bus and just wanted to make sure.

Dad asked for a friend who was nearby to check it. By the time the friend reached the school, Doodu had reached our home. You have no idea how happy we were to reunite with him.

Dad didn't file an official complaint. So the thieves weren't arrested. Many policemen helped us search for Doodu. Dad thanked them 'properly'.

As for the thieves, they were scared out of their lives when they realized our dad's political background. I don't know what happened to them later. All that I know is that they were begging the police to arrest them.

After that incident, dad increased the security at our home. He hired two guards.

Those two guards were familiar to me.

They were someone who betrayed us in our previous life. One of them even harmed us.

That means I have finally met one important villain from my previous life

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Thank you