Lying in the fields Rajjo struggled to drive her mother’s troubled face out of her head. She took in long deep breaths. She knew they were looking for her at the house.

Her mother had known when she had heard and seen Rajjo throw up in the backyard as she took off the laundry from the clothesline. Immediately she had enquired about her period and Rajjo had turned her panic-stricken eyes away. Before her mother had reacted, Rajjo had taken off. She was having trouble breathing as she ran. They knew!

It had been a month and a half and Kashi had not called. She could hear Rano calling out to her. Rajjo did not move. She did not have the strength left in her to do anything.

Rano screamed yet again, ‘Kashi has left a message! He is going to call back in an hour!’ Slowly, the words seeped into Rajjo’s paralysed brain. Breathing quickly, Rajjo got up and shot away towards the local tea shop. He was going to call her in an hour! It was going to be all right!

A slow smile spread across her face. Jubilation she could barely contain. She had a weird taste in her mouth; it tasted like metal. It was relief perhaps. She knew it was going to be all right!

She waved at her podgy brother running after an overloaded tractor carrying bright green fodder. The tractor was loaded to maximum capacity and it looked like it was heaving under the weight of the bundles. It was a surprise that it could move at all.

Sheru stopped in his tracks wondering why Rajjo was laughing and so happy all of a sudden. Either she had lost it completely, or things were going to be normal at home and they could get the TV repaired!

Happiness surged again and Sheru was hungry to celebrate with a feast already. He had to tell his mother how happy Rajjo had been, and maybe that would earn him a snack! He hurried home with the good news while Rajjo ran all the way to her black deity.

She hurriedly offered a prayer of thanksgiving, promising to devote her life to him for this favour. She promised to be his ardent devotee and then she ran like the wind.

While Sheru reached home with dreams of earning a snack, he found his mother screaming at Rikki and completely out of sorts. Her eyes were red and puffy from a bout of crying. She spotted Sheru and screamed that she wanted Rajjo brought home right away. Sheru ran out of the house before anyone else could. Forget the snack, he doubted he was getting any dinner tonight. He went as fast as his podgy legs would carry him to find his sister sitting outside the tea shop, her hands and legs twitching.

‘Mother is wailing and screaming like a hyena! Go home!’ Sheru apprised her of the impending calamity.

‘You go. I am right behind you.’