Stealing Nasreen by Farzana Doctor

Author:Farzana Doctor
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Inanna Publications
Published: 2013-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

SALMA AND SHAFFIQ SLEEP fitfully after their lovemaking. The next morning they awake to their younger daughter tugging at the sheets and threatening to get into bed with them. Still naked from the night before, Salma’s modesty overpowers her honesty. She manages to trick Shireen into leaving the room with a “go find your surprise in the kitchen” while she pulls on a dressing gown. She passes Shaffiq his pajama pants and he takes them groggily, struggling with them under the covers.

“Where, where is my surprise, Mummy?” Shireen yells as she re-enters her parents’ bedroom.

“Oh, that’s right! I haven’t made it yet! I must have dreamt that I made the thuli in my sleep. I’d better put in on the stove now.” Salma prepares the wheat dish very irregularly, and somehow it has become her younger daughter’s favourite breakfast.

“Quick thinking,” Shaffiq whispers to his wife.

“Thuli! Thuli! I’ll tell Saleema!”

“Yes, go wake up Saleema,” Shaffiq says, getting out of bed.

“I’m awake already. And I heard. Who wouldn’t have, with you yelling like a maniac all the time,” Saleema says menacingly to her younger sister.

“Saleema, Mummy is making thuli for us! Aren’t you happy?”

“I don’t want any. Thuli sucks,” she says, testing out the new word she has heard recently, in fact, just this past Thursday, in the playground.

“What did you say?”

“She said Thuli sucks,” Shireen reports obediently.

“That is not a nice word, Saleema. Don’t ever say that word again!” Salma responds predictably to Saleema’s provocation.

“It’s not a bad word. Everyone says it.” Saleema sniffs defensively, while her eyes well at the possibility that her mother might be angry with her.

“Shaffiq, where are these children learning such things! What are they exposed to at school? You know the education system here is very different, so substandard compared to Bombay.” Then turning to Saleema, “In my family, we did not talk back to our parents and we did not use bad language!” She faces Shaffiq again, “the children are so different here!”

“I just meant that I don’t like thuli anymore,” Saleema whines, a few tears escaping.

“Why do you say that Saleema? You always liked thuli. Why use this language?” asks Shaffiq. He puts his arm around her and rubs her small, stiff back.

“I don’t know. Can’t we get any Fruity Flakes or Frosted O’s or something like that? No one in my school eats thuli.”

“I like Frosted O’s too,” Shireen says, her tone conciliatory.

“I’m making thuli. If you want something else, then you will have to make your own breakfast. And why are you so concerned about what everyone else is eating, anyway? Those kids are different from you. Their families are different. It makes sense that they eat different foods,” says Salma, now in the kitchen, noisily opening and closing cupboard doors.

“Saleema, I’m sure there are other children in your class from India. I saw them when we came to your music night. There were plenty of kids like you.”

“Yeah, and they’re the geeks, at least the ones that just came from India.

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