052 Christmas (2)

After making the crib at home, we went to church to help. Dad was active in church activities. Also, the youngsters in our area considered dad as a role model. So, our parish priest insisted on dad coming to help with the crib.

Later, mom decided to return home and dad wanted to go with carol. I didn't want to go home. I wanted to go with dad. So I simply hugged his leg as tight as I could. I also bit as hard as I could on his pants. In the end, they gave up and let me go with him.

I sat on dad's shoulders and went around houses. Many families gave me chocolates and some sweets. I stuffed all my pockets with them. I wanted to share it with my dear ones after returning home. When the carol ended, I walked home with dad.

It was midnight and silent except for the winds. It was dark except for occasional street lights and moonlight. But I insisted on walking as I didn't want to reach home quickly. I just wanted to walk with dad. We didn't talk. I just walked in front and dad followed me watching me walk carefully by the roadside.

We took a break from walking at our village centre. It was well past midnight and there was no one there. All the shops were closed. Even the village cats were missing. It was my first time seeing our village without any person. Dad sat beside me. I leaned on to him as I was tired.

The next day morning, I woke up between mom and dad.

I am sure that this is going to be a great memory for me.

Life is all about making memories and living in the present. Because we cannot stop time. Whether we like it or not, everything will pass and become memories.

After mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, mom stopped feeding us. They also decided to remove the glands. We found cancer in the first stage. So removing it before it became invasive was the right thing to do.

I wasn't really happy about it. Knowing that mom would never feed me really hurt me. She used to talk to me a lot while feeding me. She would tell me the story of the angry rock and flying elephant. Sometimes, she complained to me about dad or told me how Anu might burn down our house one day.

I knew she was having a harder time. So I behaved and didn't make it harder for mom. Priya also behaved well. But Prince and Anuchi made a bit of trouble.

You remember that Anuchi drank from mom once. Later, it became a habit for her to come to mom and request for 'one sip'. At first, mom allowed it. But later she said no to it. But Anu was naughty and she always found a way. She would sneak upon mom when she's feeding any of us and doing something else at the same time. Then she would silently distract the baby. Once the baby is distracted, Anu would take a sip and run away laughing.

Mom used to scold her for this. But mom kind of liked this prank. So she never properly punished Anu. As a result, Anu continued doing this. For her, that little prank was something she loved to do.

Anu was older than us kids. When mom stopped feeding us and they started preparing for the surgery, she realized that something was wrong. She started asking questions. So dad had to explain to her the whole situation. It made her sad. But there was a good result too. Anu consoled and supported mom through the process. She stayed with mom in the hospital and took care of mom in her own ways. It was a great relief for mom. It wasn't really about what Anu did to help her. It was the feeling that everyone was supporting her that made mom happy. You would be surprised by the wonders a good kid can do. Anu was a disaster factory. But she was the best daughter any parents can ask for. I cannot really blame my parents for picking her as their favourite.

Since then, Jeemma fed us at least twice a day. But Anu didn't join us with her prank as she only wanted to annoy mom. She wasn't really interested in the milk.

About six months later, something pretty bad happened.

Jeemma stopped feeding me.

I still remember how much I resisted breastfeeding during my initial days. Then later it became a part of my life. It was a special bond between me and mom. I and Jeemma also shared a similar bond.

When mom stopped feeding me, it was hard for me. But when Jeemma stopped feeding me, it was even harder. Because I knew that a phase of my life had come to an end. I didn't want to grow up. I wanted to be the little spoiled baby forever. I didn't want mom or dad to grow old. I didn't want Jeemma to get white hair. I wanted Anu to be the little girl with the dumbest ideas. I wanted Doodu to be the little puppy that I can pick up.

But time is a merciless beast.

It swallows everything on its way and moves forward without looking sideways.

Anyway, let's leave the depressing things and come to the present.

We went to church at the night on Christmas eve with mom. Dad was already at the church leading their activities.

As usual, we stayed outside the church during the holy mass. We four kids played in front of the church. Mom kept an eye on us and made sure that we don't get into any trouble. Anita's mother joined us. So Ani and her younger brother also started playing with us. I was happy to see her. Since it was the Christmas holidays, I hadn't seen her for a week.

"Aani... Hug" I asked Ani for a hug.

"Go hug your wife." She kicked me away. Since we were under the watch of our parents, she didn't say anything too outrageous.

"Hug?" I turned to Ani's mom Beena and asked for a hug. Since she told me to hug my wife, I wanted to get back at her.

"You..." Anita was furious. She chased me. I ran and hid behind mom. Her punches are no joke.

In the end, Beena aunty rescued me. She was also happy to get a hug from me. I pretended that I didn't see the angry glare from Aani.

About me and her, it was getting more and more complicated.

I was 99 per cent sure that Meera was my wife from my previous life. Also, I was sure that Ani was married to someone else before her previous life ended. I owed a life to Meera and something Ani. I really don't know what to do with my situation. As for which ship to set sail, I will leave it to fate.

After the mass, there were multiple events at the church.

There was a Christmas tree with lucky - draw gifts. It was an event aimed at raising funds for some charity. It was dad's idea.

The event was like this.

Numbers from 1 to 1000 were displayed on the board. We can pay 50 rupees and pick any number. (1USD = 75 rupees) Then the organizers would check which gift we get for that number. There was a secret list which had the list of all the prizes. This list was made randomly by the computer and it was kept a secret.

The usual prizes were chocolates and stationery items worth 20 rupees. This alone wasn't enough to attract people. So there were 50 cakes as special prizes. The priest made sure that these fifty were distributed evenly. He also announced it in the church to attract everyone to the lucky draw.

Mom gave us all fifty rupees each. Anuchi got an extra fifty for Doodu.

"Everyone, listen," Anuchi called us.

I knew this tone. This is the tone she always use to scam us out of our pocket money. Mom and dad pretended not to see it. I let her do it because I strangely liked being scammed by her.

"You cannot eat the notes. So if you give me the notes, I can get you chocolates. Who wants chocolates?" Anuchi asked.

"Achu..." I gave up my fifty rupees right away for a twenty rupee chocolate.

"Piya..."

"Pichuu..." The babies followed my example without any hesitation.

I knew what she was scheming.

If she wins the special prize, then she would get a cake. If she doesn't win, then she just has to pass the chocolate to us. In simple words, she loses nothing and there was a small chance that she would get a cake.

I was impressed. This is how scams should be. I'm really looking forward to what she would do in the future.

"Aani... If little kids walk around with money, some adults might scam it away from you. Why don't you give it to elder sister for safekeeping?" Anu asked Ani who was standing with us.

'What a dumb girl! Unlike us babies, Ani is an intelligent girl. She won't simply let someone scam her. On top of that...'

"Ok. But give me chocolate when elder sister wins." Ani agreed and passed the money to Anuchi before I could even finish my internal monologue.

"Huh?..." I was speechless. I don't understand this girl. Why would she let herself be scammed by Anuchi? She loves and respects everyone from my family except me.

"Achu... come with me." Anu grabbed my hand and went to the tree. Since Pripri were small, they stayed with mom.

But instead of picking a number, she just stood there and watched. People continued excitedly selecting numbers from the board. Occasionally, someone won the special prizes. The numbers on the board kept reducing.

Yet, Anu didn't pick any number and kept waiting.

"Me... Me next. I want 44, 47, 53 and 55." Anu suddenly screamed.

The attention of everyone around us instantly turned towards us. It was an embarrassing situation. But Anuchi completely ignored it.

Anyway, no one wanted to fight with a kid for not following the queue. Also, in our defence, we were there before all of them.

"44, Chocolate. 47, Chocolate. 53, Gum. 55 .... Special prize!!!" The priest announced the prizes.

There was a cheer from everyone. Anuchi and I were excited too. I never thought that we would be able to win the special prize.

We grabbed the prizes and went to our parents. They were also happy.

"I can sell this to you if you give me 250 rupees." Anuchi tried to sell the cake to dad.

"... Even if I buy it, you would be the one to eat it. So why should I buy it?" Dad asked. Unlike us, he had no plan to get scammed so easily.

"How can you ask your seven-year-old daughter to provide for the family? Shouldn't you be the one working and getting cake for your kids? Don't you have the responsibility....." Before Anuchi could finish, dad stuffed the money in her hands. It was pretty embarrassing for him to get scolded by her in front of our villagers.

Once she got the money, she dragged me to the Christmas tree again.

Just like before, she continued watching.

"Now me... I want 121, 122 and 138." Anuchi again asked for coupons. Although we had the money for more, she bought only three coupons.

"115, toothpaste. 122 special prize! 128, Chocolate" This time, the priest wasn't as excited as the first time. But the people cheered as we won another special prize.

Unlike before, I noticed that something was wrong. Knowing how Anuchi's mind works, I was somewhat sure that it wasn't a mere coincidence that we won two special prizes.

"I want 185, 191 and 197." Anuchi picked numbers again.

And we won one more special prize.

This time, there were no cheers. Instead, the people around us started noticing that something was wrong.

"I want 235, 341 and... ouch...." Anuchi wanted to buy more. But before she could finish, the priest grabbed her by the ear.

"Let me go. This is not fair. You are showing partiality." Anu protested.

Despite her protest, the priest dragged us to our parents.

"Take your daughter and go home." He told dad.

"Why?"

"She is counting the special prizes." The priest said.

"What?" Dad didn't understand.

"She's keeping track of special prizes..." The priest started explaining.

We slowly understood the situation. Whenever she noticed many coupons are sold and a special prize is not found in a 20 coupon range, she would buy all the remaining coupons as there is a high chance of at least one special prize in 20 consecutive coupons. This was possible because the priest made sure that the 20 special prizes were distributed evenly.

Let me give you an example.

Assume that 17 coupons between 120 and 140 were sold and a special prize didn't appear. Then there is a very high probability of one special prize in the remaining 3 coupons. Whenever Anuchi found a situation, she bought all the remaining coupons in the range.

Fortunately or unfortunately the priest realized this before it was too late.

"I have stopped the lucky draw temporarily. I will change the system and restart the event in ten minutes. Before that, take this hell-burner away from here." The priest seemed angry. I cannot blame him. Unlike school, Sunday school is a lot more liberal. So the amount of troubles Anu creates is also higher. Anu created a lot of headaches for the priest. So he gave her the nickname 'Hell-burner'. This means if she reaches hell, then hell would be burned down.

"Sorry for the trouble. Please take this cake back." Dad tried to pass the cakes to the priest.

"No no no... I won it." Anu opposed the idea.

"I don't want to take it back. It would be a good lesson for you... and me"  The priest denied taking the cake back.

I was shocked and amazed. Anuchi knew only the most basic mathematic operations. She hadn't even heard of probability. Yet, she used simple logic to find the special prizes. In a way, it was pretty impressive. But at the same time, it was scary. Because she had the natural talents of a gambler.

Anyway, we got to keep two cakes. Anu gave one cake to Aani as a Christmas gift.

After returning home, Anu went and ate a second dinner before sleeping. Since it was Christmas, Jeemma had advised Anu to practice a three day lent. So, Anu didn't eat any meat for three days. Although it was just three days, it was a big deal for her. So she ate some meat just to satisfy the 'feelings of her belly'.

The next day, we went around distributing cakes to our non-Christian neighbours. We also visited many Christian families and saw their cribs and wished them.

Every family offered us cakes.

I ate so much cake that even my poop smelled like plum cake the following morning.

It was the best Christmas in my both lives combined.

_______________________

Happy new year

Wish you a wonderful year.

Please remember me in your prayers.

Use masks and stay away from crowds. Things are going bad everywhere pretty fast.

Thank you.