Mirror, Mirror by Andaleeb Wajid

Author:Andaleeb Wajid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2020-03-13T00:00:00+00:00

19

The next morning, I woke up at my usual time. I had to do yoga and get ready for college.

There was a knock on my door. I got out of bed and opened it. Raghu was standing outside, wearing trackpants and a t-shirt.

‘Dude, come jogging with me,’ he said.

I frowned. I wasn’t comfortable exercising outside. ‘Uh . . .’

‘I know you have college but it’s still early. You Bangalore guys are so lucky with these parks you have. I can’t believe you want to sit cooped up in the house all the time,’ he said, wrinkling his nose.

‘I do not sit cooped up,’ I protested. ‘Fine. I’ll join you in five minutes.’

To my surprise, the whole family was out, waiting for me. Huh?

‘Fresh air is good for the baby and your Ma,’ Aunty V said as she tied her shoelaces.

Papa, who never did any sort of exercise, looked grumpy. Ma smiled as she sat down on the low storage bench that housed all our shoes. She was breathing heavily, though we hadn’t even begun walking.

Papa did something very sweet. He knelt down and helped Ma wear her shoes before she asked for assistance. She couldn’t bend over these days with her stomach protruding so much.

Raghu, who was at the door looking impatient, looked at me—and there it was. That strange, charged moment again. I couldn’t look away. He smiled at Ma who was coming up behind me, panting heavily.

‘I’m going to slow you all down,’ she said, shaking her head as we left the house and Papa locked up behind us.

‘No one’s in a race, Chitra,’ Aunty V admonished her.

It was a lovely bright morning and the morning sun was just perfect for a walk in the park. There was one just around the corner from our house, but I’d never bothered going there. It seemed like a multitude of aunties and uncles were walking briskly or slowly in circles around the park’s walkway.

‘Come on!’ Raghu urged me as he broke into a jog. Reluctantly, I joined him and we left our parents walking slowly on the path as we jogged together. Raghu was taller and I had to struggle to keep up with him. By the time we had done five rounds, my calves were protesting and my lungs were screaming. I was sweating buckets.

I saw that Ma and Aunty V were sitting on one of the benches and Papa wasn’t with them. I slowed down near them and Raghu frowned.

‘You’re done already?’ he asked as he slowed down too. He was sweating too but apart from that, he seemed perfectly fine. I could barely talk as I collapsed on the bench with Aunty V and Ma.

‘You go on,’ I said wheezing.

‘Here,’ Ma offered me a bottle of water and I gulped it down gratefully.

‘Easy,’ Aunty V said, patting my back.

I was going to kill Raghu, I thought, as I saw him jog away. I liked to exercise at home, and I had thought I was fit with my yoga and my exercise apps that I used to work out every day.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.