WHERE IS THE FAMILY?

WHERE IS THE FAMILY?

“Betty bought some butter, but the butter was bitter, so Betty bought some more butter to make the bitter butter better!” Arnav said that in one breath, mumbling most part of it and Tanvi giggled her heart out. Her cheeks had grown red and eyes almost watery. As soon as she stopped, giggling, Arnav use to start again and Tanvi used to giggle louder than the last time. They were having a great time and God knows for how long they were doing it. Their happiness was interrupted by a yelling sound coming from their parents’ bedroom. “Shut up!” “You shut up!” “How dare you?” “Don’t interfere in my personal matters!” “You don’t try to poke nose in my business too.” “You are such a loser!” “Get lost! Shut up!”” The yelling went on and on.

The expressions on Tanvi and Arnav’s face changed rapidly. They forgot their laughter and were now feeling scared. Tanvi had covered her ears as she could not listen to that pitch of the voice. Arnav stood up, held Tanvi’s hand and both of them walked into their bedroom. Arnav slowly closed the door of their bedroom. He calmed Tanvi by making her comfortable on the bed and playing her favorite cartoon on the TV. He turned the volume up for obvious reasons. He sat next to Tanvi, holding her tightly, he caressed her till she got involved in watching her favorite cartoon. Arnav felt stressed and he experienced a slight heaviness in the head.

Arnav was 7 years old and Tanvi was 4years old. Their parents, Mayank and Raveena, had been constantly fighting when at home. Both of them were working at senior positions in the I.T. industry. There work load and office commitments kept them away from the house, kids and each other. There were maids and baby-sitters employed to look after the kids. They use to spend very little time at home and that too fighting and disputing. This was a quite regular for Arnav and Tanvi. In fact  despite his age he use to take good care of Tanvi and even Tanvi use to be very comfortable with Arnav around than the parents. This continued for quite some time. There was no stopping.

 

One day both Mayank and Raveena received a message from the school. It was Arnav’s class teacher. She has called both of them to the school for a parent teacher meeting. After coming home during the dinner time Raveena told Mayank that they have been called to the school for a meeting tomorrow at 2.00pm. Mayank silently eating his food acknowledged and asked Raveena to go as he had some important client presentation scheduled. Raveena told him that it was mandatory for both the parents to attend. Mayank asked her to make some excuse of he being out of town for business. Raveena’s nostrils flared, her voice became transitioned into a medium high pitch. “Damn it, he is not only my kid. When are you going to do something for him as his father?” “Now don’t get started Raveena.” Mayank cautioned her. “I know what you do for him. Don’t try to create a scene here.” Raveena wanted to say a lot, somehow she controlled herself. She clinched her fists, pressed her lips together, took a deep breath and in a dramatic way, using a very low tone of voice and slow pace said, “I am telling you for the last time. We both are going to Arnav’s school tomorrow. Period.” And banged her hand on the dining table. Mayank gave a very disinterested look and stepped into the balcony for smoke.

 

The next day both of them managed their work priorities and made an effort to reach the school by 2pm. Raveena was early 10mins and was waiting in the parking lot for Mayank. Mayank arrived 10 mins late. Parked his car in haste, got down, looked at Raveena and signaled her to come along to the main school building. Arnav was in class second and his class was on the first floor. They both asked the peon the way to the class and walked up the steps. While doing so they did greet a couple of teachers climbing down the stairs. They searched for the division B for class two and found it finally. As they arrived at the door, they saw Arnav’s class teacher Mrs. Shaheen Maniyar waiting for them. As soon as she saw them, she stood up and went up to the classroom door to receive them. “Good Afternoon Mr. and Mrs. Gupta. Please have a seat.” Mayank and Raveena settled down on a bench, a little uncomfortably.” Mrs. Maniyar asked them if they had any idea about why they have been called for this meeting. Mayank and Raveena gave a blank look in reply. Raveena with a little hesitation asked the teacher, “I hope Arnav is doing ok with his academics and behaving himself in the school.” Mrs. Maniyar promptly said, “Oh absolutely! I am not worried about his academics. He is smart child. There is something else.” The teacher took a long breath and a pause. Now Mayank and Raveena had started to worry a little. A little concern started to appear on their faces. They were wanting to know what it was that the teacher had to say. They waited desperately for the teacher to make her next statement. Mrs. Maniyar, in a very gloomy tone said recently I came across something which I need to show you. She got up, went upto the cupboard where all the notebooks were stacked. She skimmed through those books and pulled out a rectangular shaped book, most probably a drawing book and brought it to the table. She placed it facing Mayank and Raveena and started turning the pages. As she was doing it she told them that two weeks back the drawing teacher asked the kids to draw a picture of their family. And she stopped at a page and pointed at the picture saying this is what Arnav drew that day. Mayank and Raveena looked at the picture. The picture had two figures, sitting next to each other tightly hugging each other by the shoulder. Arnav had drawn two downward arrows from the two figures. Under one arrow it was written in big block letters with blue rayon “ME” and below the other arrow in big block letters with pink color “TANVI”. Mayank and Raveena couldn’t believe their eyes. They looked at it in a shock. They stared at each other for while then at the drawing and back again at each other.

 

The teacher intruded their shock state and told them that the drawing teacher had reported this to me. So last week one fine day I had a word with Arnav.

“Arnav, can you tell me what did the drawing teacher ask you to draw?” “A picture of a family” said Arnav. He was nervous, staring down at the floor and muttering. “So why did you draw just two figures? And who is Tanvi?” “She is my little sister.” Replied Arnav. Mrs. Maniyar asked, “But where is the family?” Arnav slowly looked up, gathered a little courage to face the teacher and with a cold look said, “That is what I want to know teacher. Where is the family?”

 

The conversation with the teacher went on for quite a while. Mayank and Raveena stepped out of the school building deeply dejected and shameful. That’s one picture was a tight slap on their very existence. They both realized it was going to be a long drive home.

 

 (C) - Rahul Shinde   05/06/2020       https://tinyurl.com/y8o9cccj