057 Collector

The schools closed for summer vacation.

My first year in school also came to an end. I was sad about it.

I can no longer share letters and sweets above the wall with Anuchi. Also, I won't be able to see Anita or Meera.

By the way, I had been feeling a bit bad for Anita's little brother. Even in playschool, he spent the entire time with his elder sister.

Priya was completely independent. She went and made many friends. Prince wasn't as independent as Priya. But he still went and made many friends. They were also sad that the school was closed.

Ever since the school was closed, we were making life extremely hard for mom. Taking care of four kids was no easy task. Mom reduced the time she spent in the bakery. She didn't have the peace of mind to work with us kids at home. Actually, I didn't want to make it hard for mom. But whatever we did, things just went wrong. I was already used to this happening.

In the morning, I went to check the 'egg'. According to Doodu, there was some motion inside the egg. I think he is just playing along Anuchi. But I just decided to keep an eye on the egg. Because my family is a bit... weird. I am someone who returned from the future. My sister can talk to our dog and the dog is too intelligent. We also had a ghost elder sister. So anything was possible.

"This... this is Pichu's," Prince screamed from our room. In the morning itself, Prince had started fighting with Priya.

"Kariayacha... please check on them," Mom asked dad to check the kids. Usually, they don't interfere in our fights. But if Prince and Priya are fighting, they would interfere. Because the kids are too young and still doesn't know the difference between right and wrong.

Remember how Anuchi fought with Doodu and bit his tail? At that time, Anuchi was just 3 years old. She didn't know right and wrong and she truly hurt Doodu. The kids are at the age. So mom and dad to keep an eye on them.

"Piya like it." Piya was holding one end of a cloth and pulling.

"No. This is Pichu's" Pichu was holding the other side.

"Pichu, Piya, what are you two doing?" Dad asked while crouching down.

"Pichu's shirt," Prince complained.

"Piya, why are you taking Pichu's shirt?" Dad asked Piya.

"Piya like it." She replied as she stuff the shirt into her trunk.

Since I was growing up, dad wanted to buy a trunk for me. We had a good almara. But dad somehow came to the decision that kids must have their own trunk. I think it was because of his hostel life during his school days. Dad and I went to buy the trunk. I was a mature boy and dad was courageous enough to take me out without mom around. Going out with dad is very fun.

Anyway, we ended up buying three trunks and the kids loved it.

I checked her trunk to see what else she had collected. And I found something unexpected.

"This is mine." I pulled out a t-shirt from her trunk.

"And this too..." I found a shirt that belonged to me.

"Stop." Piya tried to stop me. But she was late.

Soon, all of us were checking the contents of her trunk.

Anuchi found two frocks, three skirts and a t-shirt that belonged to her. Dad found two of his shirts. Mom found the shall.

"Piya, this is not right to take something that belonged to someone else." Mom admonished her.

"Piya asked before taking," Piya answered while trying her best to get the clothes back from us.

Mom and Piya continued talking and soon we realized the full story.

Whenever Piya liked a piece of clothing, she would ask us permission to wear it twice. Naturally, we all allowed it. But the catch was that she only wore it once. Since she had permission to wear it twice, she didn't return it. Instead, she hid it safely in her trunk.

"Are you happy now?" Mom asked dad.

"Of course. I am proud." Dad was pretty happy that Piya could count and use it.

Mom was angry. She had been complaining that we are all growing up similar to dad. According to her, only Pichu was somewhat similar to mom.

"Waaa.... Pi.. Piyyaa... like... waaa" Piya started crying.

"Hug" Pichu offered a hug. Piya hugged him. But she continued to cry.

"You... you can have my shirt." In the end, I gave my shirt back. She grabbed it right away. A smile appeared on her face. Still, she continued to cry.

"You can have one frock." Anuchi returned a frock.

Mom and dad also returned one piece of clothing each. Dad's shirt would reach Piya's foot. She used to use mom's shall as a saree. It was childish. But we all loved it.

"Pichu's... too" Pichu gave her a pair of trousers.

Wait a second!

She took Pichu's shirt. Not trouser.

I looked at Pichu.

The shameless boy was standing there butt naked! While we were all giving our clothes to Piya, he took off his trousers and offered that.

"Pichu... Put on the trousers and give her the shirt in your hand." Mom ordered.

"But... Pichu like the shirt." He didn't want to give up the shirt.

So mom interfered and eased the situation.

Piya has a special liking for the clothes of others. She loves the wear my shirts. Her favourite is Anuchi's frocks. I cannot really blame her. Because I also like Anuchi's old clothes.

We have an old wooden almara. In that, there is an entire section for the old clothes of Anuchi. Whenever mom opens it, it creates a creaking sound. Once we hear that, I and Piya would run there and start searching through the old clothes.

I and Piya came to a deal that I get Anuchi's old shirts, t-shirts and pants while Piya gets the frocks and skirts. Her old clothes But unfortunately, mom didn't like the deal. She wanted to save the old clothes. She didn't give it even for charity. Whenever some charity was collecting old clothes, she would buy and donate new clothes. She held on to all of our old clothes like they were some precious treasures.

In a way, I understand her.

I too like the old clothes of Anuchi. All clothes of Anuchi smells like her. It also feels special to wear it. That's one main reason I like old clothes of her.

According to mom, all of us got our own smell. Pichu and Piya got many similar clothes. Mom finds the owner just by smelling it. I cannot do that. But I can identify dad's smell. His comb also got the same smell as him. Mom got the same smell as her hair oil. She used to smell like breast milk. But not anymore. It's a sign of us growing up and I don't like it.

Anuchi was becoming mature. She was causing fewer and fewer disasters. The babies became kids. They were allowed to sleep with me during our afternoon naps. I really loved it. But there was one issue. Both of them would sleep on either side of me. Then they would hug me. And I wasn't allowed to sleep on my sides. If I turn to the left, then the one on my right would start fighting. If I turn to the right, then the one on left would start fighting. So I was left with no choice but to sleep on my back.

At night, I sleep with Anuchi. Piya and Pichu still slept with mom and dad. They weren't old enough to sleep with us. But the main reason was that our parents weren't ready.

Last week, one night, I and Anuchi started fighting at midnight.

Around 2 AM, I hugged her with my leg. She woke up and didn't like it. So she threw my left away. I got angry and tried to hug her with force. In no time, it became an all-out war.

It woke up mom and dad. Mom got angry. She came and spanked me. As for Anuchi, her punishment was no TV for two days.

After that, we went back to sleep hugging each other. As for mom and dad, they had to put the kids back to sleep. We ruined their sleep.

Doodu got bigger for almost every dog house dad got for him. He now sleeps on a mattress in our room. He was used to us making trouble.

Dad was getting busier and busier with the election.

He decided not to contest in the election. Only a very small number of people knew the truth behind it.

Remember Mathai Chacko? The guy who did the scam of using public money to build his own business?

When his scam was exposed, his political career came to an end. But he wasn't ready to give up. Three months ago, he secretly met with dad and made a deal.

Dad's party, KDF was contesting in 7 constituencies. According to dad's calculations, they were supposed to win only 2 seats and fail in the remaining 5. So dad and Mathai Chacko came to a deal. In our constituency, dad was supposed to contest. With dad's popularity, he was guaranteed to win. But he decided not to.

Instead, the opportunity was given to Mathai Chacko's son, Joseph M K. Dad nominated him as the party's official candidate.

Joseph M K had actually joined the KDF club about one year ago. He used his dad's money and contacts to organize many events. In the last one year, he managed to become popular in our area. Dad knew this. But he couldn't do anything about it. Officially, the KDF club had no relation with the KDF party. Also, Joseph was an active member and had a high influence among the youth. So restricting him or kicking him out was a very bad move.

In a way, he was similar to dad.

To justify dad not participating in the election, dad conducted an internal election in the party. Dad got elected as the party secretary. In truth, the party election was a drama. With dad's reputation, there was no one who could defeat him. The only possible opponent was Johny uncle. Fortunately, he was loyal to dad. Dad used the position as the party secretary as an excuse not to contest in the public election.

Mathai Chacko used his connections and money to support KDF. Although he was a politician whose political career was over, he had contacts with many small political parties, religious leaders, businessmen and many influential people. He used everything to support KDF.

Although KDF was a small party, it could influence state politics. If KDF were to become a part of the ruling party, then Joseph M K would become a minister.

This is the crazy thing about politics.

There are no permanent enemies or permanent friends in politics. Most of the time, enemies are more trustable than allies.

As usual, the election campaign was full of tricks and manipulations.

I think I have mentioned this earlier. Dad had aggressively invested in business all over our place. Jeemma also did the same. There was something I didn't know.

They had bought the majority of the local tv channels and local evening newspapers. The only local tv channels they couldn't swallow were the ones owned by colleges.

Whenever dad was nearby for the campaign, we all went to watch. Jeemma attended almost all the events. Thanks to the growth of the party, we no longer had issues with funding. But Jeemma loved to see her brother on the stage. We were used to her behaviour.

It was truly awesome to see dad making great speeches. His voice and speed of talking increased and decreased. People clapped and howled. Dad knew how to handle the crowd. Also, it was sweet to see mom's expressions.

She was Proud. At times, she was excited. She tried her best to hide it. But her face betrayed her efforts. She was even blushing in between.

Though dad and uncle Johny were not participating in the election, they were the most active in the campaign. Mathai Chacko didn't appear anywhere near the campaign.

Dad had no shortage of volunteers. KDF club was independent of the KDF party. But almost everyone was dad's fan. Also, there was a large number of people working in the companies invested by dad and Jeemma. Dad never asked them to become volunteers. But months of brainwashing was enough to make most of them join the political campaign for their boss voluntarily.

Finally, the day of the election came.

We went for holy mass in the morning and voted in the morning itself. Unlike the previous elections, there were media people who came to take pictures when mom and dad voted.

The next day of the election, we left for highrange. To meet our grandpa.

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