The Monster

This is not my earliest memory of Ma, but one of my most vivid. Ma was a small person and hardly what you would call scary. When I was a little girl, maybe about 6 years old, my cousin, Jamuna and I were literally attached at the hips, running around the house, getting up to all kinds of mischief. One day we  thought it would be a great idea to scare Ma when she comes out of the shower. Except I guess looking back, a 6 year old and 7 year old trying hard to stifle their giggles and hide is probably like an elephant hiding behind a small bush. Obviously, Ma heard us entering the bedroom and decided to turn the tables on us.

She always had long, straight hair up to her waist that she would comb out straight after her shower. But that day, she came out, bundled all that hair in front of her face in a massive, massive bun so that we could not see her face at all, went, “Roar” and came charging at the two of us. How we screamed and screamed and then ran as fast as we could. I can still hear Ma’s laughter following us to this day!

After that, it became a bit of a ritual between us. Every time Jamuna came over to stay, we would pretend to hide in the bedroom, and Ma would come out with her hair covered and charge at us. By now, we were no longer really scared but we would still scream and shout, and then all three of us would collapse in a heap of laughter.