Mummy said the baby would be just like Alisha, but this one was even smaller, moving arms and legs around like an upturned fly. Sonia Aunty was preparing to change the baby’s clothes. Aaliya’s nose twitched automatically expecting to be offended when the diaper came off.
Instead she let out a gasp and her eyelids rose and her pupils dilated as the sun tilted and its rays fell onto the edge of the bed. ‘Super power! This baby has superpowers. Wow! Mummy, Mummy, look the baby has super powers…’
‘You can put Alisha down here’, Sonia Aunty pointed to the centre of the bed, moving clothes to make space for Alisha who was asleep, oblivious to her own lack of any super powers.
The two mothers were talking, but Aaliya could not understand how they could chat quietly with a super hero in the house. She sat down beside the baby, wearing a cream one piece now, with a unicorn pattern. Aunty was patting his chest and his eyes slowly drifted shut. She wanted to touch him, tell him he was special, that she would take care of him. But she was scared, and as she laid her chin on the bed with her palm sandwiched in between, she felt sleepy too.
‘Aaliya, get up, we are going home,’ Mummy’s voice came from a distance. ‘Get up, let’s go. You can sleep in the car. Now, say bye to Sonia Aunty and thank her for the food’.
The sky was pink on the way home. Aaliya ate her paratha and chicken in the car with a napkin tucked into her frock and the tiffin box under her chin. Another frock spoilt and she would get no new clothes, Mummy had warned. She was content that disaster was averted for now. With her head resting against the window, she played with her baby sister’s toes.
‘Mummy, what will be the new baby’s name?’
‘Sonia Aunty is still thinking of a good name for him, dear. What name would you suggest?’
‘Superman’
Nasreen smiled.
‘Superman! That’s nice. I will let Sonia know. And what will be the baby’s superpower?’
‘He already has a super power – do you not know that?’
‘I am sure he does dear. I am sure he does’. Mummy’s voice trailed as it usually did when she was going to go into one of her thinking moods. Aaliya reached out to the bottle of water tucked behind the driver’s seat, in front of her. Her thumb hurt trying to flip it open Finally, she used her teeth to pry off the lid. The water inside was a little warm. She jumped as the car jerked over a speed breaker, almost spilling all the water over herself. Thankfully, Mummy was still looking out the window. Aaliya quietly shut the lid and put the bottle back. Her fingers lingering on the beige leather seat.
‘Do you think he has the power because he is rich?’ She spoke aloud, tucking the bottle in deeper into the pocket.
Nasreen reached out and stroked her eldest’s head. ‘Of course not beta. All babies are born with super powers.’
‘Alisha does not have any … because we are poor.’
‘Who said we are poor?’ Nasreen asked, glancing at Sonia’s driver to check if he could hear them.
‘We don’t have a car, or a big house like Sonia Aunty’, replied Aaliya.
‘Those things don’t make someone rich or poor. It’s all the love we have to share. And how can I be poor when I have a gem like you right here?’ Nasreen disguised the lump in her throat with a smile, and tapped her daughter’s hand as both gazed out of the window. The car stopped outside Alisher store. Home was 21 steps away, 16 straight and 5 after turning left at the corner around the butcher’s. But now that she was 6, Aaliya wished to make the distance in 15. 1 ... 2 ... 3 ...
‘Finally! I was wondering if we were to get dinner today,’ Dadi exclaimed as the family walked in.
Aaliya ran to her grandmother.
‘Dadi, Dadi. We met a baby with super powers today! I have decided to call him Superman.’
‘Superman huh? I hope his super power will be to make sure that you too get a brother.’
*
Aaliya loved the rains, the water drops on her arm, the sound of a million others crashing down…. Mummy would not allow her to go out in the rain and get wet. Two days later though, she managed to sneak a rain bath after all. Papa was at work and Mummy had gone to the doctor. Dadi’s head was resting against the wall as she sat on the couch, drooling gently, Alisha asleep on her lap.
She ran to the terrace, still in her uniform, and jumped around in circles till her head felt dizzy, and Mummy came and pulled her down. The next day, she awoke shivering.
After four days she was quite ready to get back to school and meet her friends but Mummy said she had to stay in one more day. After breakfast, she sat counting crayons when the door bell rang. It was Chachu! He came by only sometimes these days. He used to stay with them, but had moved to be closer to his new office. She remembered she had to tell him something, and ran to the living room. At the door, she hid behind the curtain, peeking. Chachu was sitting across from where she stood between the door hinge and the curtain. Papa sat on the other side, she could not see him, but he was the one talking as Chachu leaned in, elbows resting atop his knees, left leg shaking vigorously.
‘I have made it quite clear to them’, continued Papa, ‘nothing less than six. We are being very reasonable. You won’t find such a boy anywhere. I told them, I am also a father of two girls, and no amount would be too much for a happy life for them.’
Chachu nodded and looked towards the door where Aaliya was. His eyes squinted ever so slightly as he leaned back and looked at Papa.
‘I heard someone has been very naughty in this house and went out dancing in the rain.’ Aaliya felt her cheeks get warm. ‘Come here now. Won’t you even say hello to Chachu?’ He patted his leg while beckoning her. Aaliya let go of the curtain and walked in and Chachu picked her up gently and placed her on his lap.
‘It’s okay ... even I used to get wet in the rain and then your Dadi would chase me around with a stick. Except I would run faster, and by the end she would also be wet in the rain.’
Aaliya chuckled, imagining her Dadi drenched. She glanced at her father, who was already engrossed behind a newspaper. ‘C’mon, let us go get some chocolate. You must be bored at home.’
‘But will Mummy allow it?’
‘What? I didn’t hear that. Whisper quietly in my ear, I won’t tell anyone.’ He said to her.
Aaliya leaned in, cupping his ear with her hand. ‘Will Mummy allow?’
‘Don’t worry about Mummy. I’ll talk to her’, he whispered back. Then with a peck on her cheek he put her down and called out.
‘Bhabhi, I am taking Aaliya out for a walk. It’s nice and sunny, it will do her some good.’
Mummy came into the room. Aaliya’s heart skipped a beat and she reached out for her uncle’s hand. ‘Go’, Mummy said darting a quick look at Aaliya before looking up at Shakeel, ‘but don’t be too long…’
Aaliya was already out the door, and as her uncle joined her, Mummy called out, ‘No ice cream!’
She looked up at her uncle and grinned, he smiled, winked, took her hand and stepped out into the lane. ‘Which chocolate do you feel like eating?’
‘Don’t tell Mummy, promise?’
‘No I won’t. Don’t worry. In any case, your Mummy said no ice cream, so chocolates are allowed, right?’
‘No, she won’t understand. She doesn’t understand anything. You know – she didn’t even understand that Sonia Aunty’s son had a super power.’ They crossed the butcher’s and turned left. At the end of the lane was a road where Aaliya’s school bus picked her up from. Across the road stood a petrol pump with a huge shop full of all kinds of chips and chocolates and treats.
‘I told them I would call him Superman. He will grow up to be just like you, won’t he Chachu? With his super power?’
‘What super power is that?’ He mouthed, and scanned the busy road. She thrust her fingers into his, as he reached for her hand.
‘The same one that you have – your third hand. He had it too, just smaller.’
Shakeel took a step back and moved Aaliya to one side of the road, away from a tree which was a makeshift bus stop.
‘What?’ He kneeled in front of her as a bus came to a screeching stop. Aaliya winced at the sound.
‘I saw it, when Sonia Aunty removed his diaper, between his legs, his third hand. Do you think his power too will increase if I touch it?’
‘What did you tell your mother?’ For the first time Aaliya heard her Chachu’s voice deepen.
‘Just that. That he has a super power, and that I will call him Superman. But she just did not believe me. Are we not getting the chocolate?’ Aaliya was a little scared, looking into her uncle’s eyes as he knelt in front of her, grabbing her arms.
‘Aaliya’, his spoke slow and heavy, ‘I thought we had promised to not tell anyone. There will be no super power if anyone finds out. That is the only reason you are allowed to touch it.’
‘But I didn’t touch his third hand…’
‘Who else did you tell about this? Who else?’
Her eyes welled up as her uncle’s voice rose and he gave her a slight jerk.
‘N … no one … maybe Dadi … bbut she also didn’t believe me…’
‘You’ve been a very bad girl Aaliya. I told you so many times, and you promised, that we would tell no one about it. Didn’t you?’
‘I am sorry,’ she said tasting the tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘I am sorry Chachu, sorry.’
Chachu looked around. Some passers by were beginning to glance at them.
‘It’s okay … it’s okay. Now stop crying. Promise me you will never tell anyone about this again. No one, get it? Good.’
Aaliya nodded and wiped the tears. Her Chachu picked her up in his arms and smiled.
‘C’mon. Let’s get you that chocolate. Actually, let’s get chocolate ice cream. After that, we’ll go to Akshey bhaiyya’s house. He is not home right now. We can watch some tv there and you can tell me what you want for your birthday. Would you like that?’
‘Yyes’. She picked up the edge of her frock and wiped her nose with it. Still sniffling, she then attempted to clean the stained frock. Looking up, she saw him gazing at the frock and then her.
‘Don’t worry about the frock. We will take it off and clean it at Akshey’s house. But don’t tell anyone that you had to go to Akshey’s house to clean it, okay? Otherwise Mummy will find out about the ice cream too.’
‘I won’t. I promise,’ she asserted, wrapping her arms around his neck as they crossed the road, still sniffing but relieved that he had forgiven her horrid mistake.
Outside the shop at the petrol pump, he kissed her on the cheek.
‘Now because you have been a good girl, maybe you’ll even get a chance to play with the third hand. You would like that, wouldn’t you Aaliya? Just always remember, it’s our little secret.’
*
Shahnaaz Khan is an educator and researcher, working at Shiv Nadar School, Noida. Her research has been on identity based violence in India and South Asia, with a TEDx talk on the same. She is currently working on addressing prejudice and hate through education.