69 Family

Days passed too fast.

The next one to join us was Chachan's eldest son and family. His kids were a lot older than us. So they took the responsibility of taking care of us. As a result, the trouble we caused reduced drastically.

His kids were cool. The eldest one was named Sam. His speciality was magic.

"Achu, I heard that you have some girlfriends?" He asked me.

"Two," I answered proudly.

"Is that why you are wearing bangles on your ear?" He asked as he pulled out a set of bangles from my ear.

I was stupefied.

I knew he was going to pull some trick. So I was keenly following his hand movements. Yet, I didn't see how he did it.

He wasn't done.

He pulled out a doll from underneath my T-shirt. I was left baffled.

When he was a little boy, he used to show silly magic tricks. Although those were silly and easily seen through, no one exposed them. Instead, they pretended to be amazed and supported him. Now, years later, he has started performing on stage and no one could see through his tricks.

Everyone got their own gifts and their own magic trick.

"I knitted a scarf for you." He turned a ball of string into a beautiful scarf for chachan.

"How did you do that?" Chachan was amused.

"It's magic."

"He did knit it for you." His mother added.

"Really? You are such a good boy." Chachan was happy.

"Thank you." He smiled embarrassedly. He was weak against compliments.

"You know what, you can have my ring when I die." The old man promised him the ring.

"Noo... You promised me the ring." I protested. I knew that he was going to give the same promise to other kids too. But I wasn't expecting him to do it so soon.

"Well... You are not the good boy I thought you were. So you cannot have the ring."

"Is it because I said your wife would play with my other grandfather?" I asked loud enough so that everyone else in the room would hear.

"You... Why do I have such an unfilial grandson? You are never getting the ring." He decided to cut me from the list completely.

"Grandfather deserves some punch." I launched at him with my fists. No one tried to stop me.

"Hahaha... You are a few years early to be fighting me." Chachan grabbed my fist easily. He also greeted my headbutt with his own head.

We wrestled a bit. After a few minutes, he locked me completely.

"Eat a few more years' jackfruits before fighting me again you little rat." Chachan looked really proud for winning against a four year old kid.

I was actually satisfied with the result. My aim was never the ring. It was to make sure that I continue being Chachan's favourite grandchild. After the wrestling, I was sure that I was still his favourite.

But in the eyes of others, it looked like I lost.

To console me, Peter uncle gave me the gift he bought me. It was a small bicycle. I loved it.

Once the magic show was over I went out to play with our cousins.

"Achu, come here." Little Anu called me. If you don't remember, she is Jeemma's youngest. She is one year older than me.

"What is it elder sister?" I went to her. She was playing alone. Although she was just one year older than me, she wanted me to call her 'elder sister'. Disobeying her wasn't a good idea. I had learned that the hard way.

"I made lunch for you. Eat." She pointed at the 'lunch' she made.

She was playing kitchen. She had used mud, leaves and flowers to make a grotesque that looked like a meal from hell.

"Hmm... Okay." I agreed and sat down.

I pretended to be eating while throwing the mud over my shoulder.

"Done." I finished the 'meal' as fast as possible.

"Why is there some leftover? I woke up at five and worked like a slave to cook all these for you. I am only asking you to finish what is on your plate. Why can't you at least do that? Nobody in this family has any respect for my hard work." She started screaming.

I immediately finished the leftovers.

"I... I don't talk like that. She learned it from some movie or something..." Jeemma tried to explain. She was embarrassed.

"Yes. We know." Chachan nodded while suppressing his laughter.

"I am telling the truth. If they misbehave, I just spank them."

I knew she was telling the truth. Actually, everyone knew. But we all just loved seeing her all flustered.

Anyway, I ran away when Little Anu was distracted. She was on my list of women around me who must not be offended.

The first on the list is obviously Anuchi. If someone offends her, then that person will simply run out of luck.

The second on the list is Piya. if she is angry, she would start punching. To make things worse, I cannot really fight back. Because she is small and I'm scared of hurting her.

Anita is the third one on the list. I know I haven't said any of her shenanigans before. But she is no angel. She simply puts me in trouble for no reason. She enjoys seeing me getting punished.

The list continues with mom, Little Anu, Anita's mom, and many more.

Just to be clear, Jeemma is not on the list. She is a typical village mother. If she gets angry, she would spank us. Other than that, she cannot hold a grudge. She would forget all her anger in just a few minutes.

One more day passed.

On Maundy Thursday, the last member of our family joined us. It was chachan's eldest daughter. She was a nun. She was in a convent not too far from our place. So appa and Jijo uncle went to bring her home.

When Jeemma and Appa left highrange for the first time, she took care of them. At that time, Appa was only four or five years old. So they respected and loved her a lot.

We all bonded really well. I made sure that I was a good boy in her eyes. I pressed her leg and danced for her.

She was truly like a lovely grandmother.

We also took the big family photo.

Chachan sat in the middle. Jeemma, Chachan's eldest daughter, chachan's eldest son and his wife sat on either side of chachan. Other elders and our tall cousins stood behind them. We kids sat in front. Doodu and the cat sat on the sides.

It truly looked like a family photo from the past generations. The feeling of being a part of a big family was truly wonderful.

On Good Friday, we all went to church together.

There were many people looking at us curiously.

I also saw the jealousy in the eyes of many seniors. After all, most of them didn't get to spend their holidays with their kids and grandkids. Compared to them, chachan was truly blessed. All his kids and grandkids came to spend time with him.

Easter was fun too. We went around and distributed cakes to our neighbours.

We also visited the house in which appa and Jeemma were born. It was currently owned by someone else. Since the house was getting old, he was planning to demolish it. He offered to sell the house to Jeemma for almost half the standard market price. Still, she rejected it.

I know why she did that. Since it is not a fun story, I will tell it another time.

The Monday after easter was a big day for us.

It was the day of the election result.

For the past week, we had done our best to avoid the topic. But we couldn't stop the flow of time.

Finally, the day came to us.

_________________________

Hii

I got Covid.

I am currently teaching at an entrance coaching institute in my state. It's called Brilliant study centre. New batches of students have joined and they are all good. I also got warden duty. So I barely have time to write.

On Saturday morning, I felt I had a fever. So I left the institute and checked for Covid. Then I came home and waited for the result. By Sunday afternoon, I got the result that I was positive. So I finally got to finish the chapter and publish it.

Also, just one more chapter before we return to the school life of Achu.

Please vote and share the book with your friends.

Thank you.