Miss La Di Da and Other Stories by Shobhaa De

Author:Shobhaa De [De, Shobhaa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: null
ISBN: 9788194628934
Publisher: S&S India
Published: 2020-08-15T04:00:00+00:00

MISS LA DI DA

‘Hey!’ I didn’t know what to say to her after that. She stared at me in such a hostile way while I stood there, at the head of the small garden, wondering what I had done to offend Miss La Di Da. Our kids were friends, okay? We were neighbours… sort of. I mean, we weren’t neighbours-neighbours in the old sense of having grown up together in the same complex or anything. Our kids went to the same school. We were all fucked with the home schooling shit. I needed help, man! Why would she behave like this? Goddess syndrome, or what? Glaring and ignoring me, like I was a turd she didn’t want to step on.

Gawwwwd! These bloody women! I had met a few of her type during those boring and pointless PTAs. I hated meeting my boy’s teachers and listening to the same old shit about his inattention in class. Okayyyy, that’s why he is in your fancy, pricey school! You deal with it, na? But this Miss La Di Da was giving me serious grief, I tell you. Why? What the hell, man - the bachchas played in the sand pit together, they shared tricycles and balls, their nannies were besties, and the snacks from my kitchen were far more imaginative than those banana chips and roasted peanuts she packed for her sweeties - two lovely little girls, who had inherited their mother’s aquiline good looks, but mercifully, not her imperious temperament.

I was back in my old bachpan ka home to take care of my parents during the lockdown. It was just me and my boy, plus his nanny. And my folks with their staff. As a single father, living with other people, even my own parents, was going to extract a huge price. I was not used to hanging with anybody these days. I preferred to be alone, with my music, poker, telescope, books. I watched old movies and kept going back to Bresson. This was my chosen world… after… never mind after what. I was not ready to accept the ‘new normal’, because frankly, nobody knew what the hell it was! All that big talk and those fake posts - rubbish. Everything these days was abnormal if you ask me. Maybe this snooty chica was also abnormal. The thing is, had she been a little nice, we could have helped each other with the home schooling shit.

And then, there were my parents. But I had not factored in this crazy development, okay? The last time I had lived with my folks was over 20 years ago. This was awkward! But, they had nobody else to turn to - my sister lived in New York, and she was dealing with her own Covid-19 shit there. My parents were sweet people - benign drunks who minded their own business and played bridge for relaxation. Now, without their regular foursome, they were getting on each other’s nerves. And I didn’t want to play umpire. I was dealing with my own shit.

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