A lot had changed now. The family had traveled all the way south to Chennai, India. Who knew we would fall in love with this city and later settle down here? The beaches, the idly, the chutneys, the dosa, the amusement parks and the peace this city offered just mesmerized the three of them.
This time around the mini-me experimented a lot with herself. She was a makeup buff and crazy for artificial long nails. She learned Tamil and became quite fluent in it. Though she felt weird at first she caught up pretty soon. Her initial few days in school were not as pleasant as her first school, maybe because of the new language. Slowly she managed to blend in as if she’d been a part of this school all her life. The school was called the Holy Cross. There is a reference to this in the future hence the name. She was doing so well at school she was directly promoted to first grade. She also became an event manager for a day. She organized her parents’ anniversary party with the garlands of flowers and cake.
I remember scenes from those days. I guess now I can switch from my little self to I. I remember how my mom used to come to school during the lunch break and we had like a mini picnic in the school park. I remember how one day I found little chicks in our neighbor’s backyard and brought one back home as a pet. I remember how I would step up on the standstill scooter and pretend like I’m riding it. I remember how much I loved my cycle and would ride it every day in the streets. There was this green dress that I really liked. It had two long strands of cloth hanging loose to tie a knot which I preferred to chew instead. They looked like Kakdis, a thinner version of cucumber. And thereafter that dress was named the Kakdi dress. I also remember leaving school mid-year because we had to shift to Patiala, Punjab, India. That was the longest summer vacation ever.
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