idli

Shut the door 

THUD

My mother, my uncle and my grandmother turned to look at me.My mother asked,

‘Why are you panting, did you run?’

I stood there in shock, breathless, steaming

My mother standing at the kitchen table, turned to her strippingleaves from the stalk, uncle sleeping on the sofa flipping channels, mother glanced at me again,

‘Why did you run?’

There was silence.My grandmother was busy cleaning a pot.

‘I was grabbed’

Silence

My mother took a deep breathIt was my uncle who broke the silence,

‘The roads are very dangerous these days no?’

He said to my mother. Got up from the sofa and walked inside into a room out of sight. I was standing there. All I could feel was my cheeks, they were turning hotter and my ears, they were experiencing a kind of ringing which I prided myself for having every now and then as I believed it to be and still do to be the sound of the universe.My grandmother was scrubbing off any dust she could find on the pot.My mother, stripping the leaves from the stalk asked me,

‘Do you want upma or idli we have both?’

i never liked upma

‘Idli’