The clock struck five and the alarm blared out. Reluctantly I got up from my bed and covered the two feet between my comfortable bed and my unattractive study table, which I had freed from clutter, the same morning. I was pretty determined to make the best use of the evening and memorize every incident and date printed in my history book so that I could at least pass in tomorrow’s examination. I sat down on the uncomfortable chair and sniffed the scent of the stale pages of my course book. This was the evening to study for the examination as I had spent the weekend catching up my missed television shows. I picked up the three-hundred paged book, looked through the contents, and found the chapter on ‘Mauryan Empire’.
And to ruin the perfect moment, my indifferent aunt and uncle called. To my utter shock my loquaciously loud aunt announced that they’d be arriving at my house in another ten minutes to meet my parents, who at the moment in reality were enjoying the action-packed movie in a nearby theater. My stingy aunt terminated the call before I could relate the situation and left me perplexed. Though usually I am quite excited at their arrivals as I come to know about family gossip, I was furious this time.
And then they arrived, before the specified ten minutes, throwing me into a frenzy to put on a fresh shirt preferably a one without any food stains. Finally I answered the door and suddenly I was engulfed in my relative’s sweaty hugs and kisses all over my face. Reluctantly I led them in. Being overly informal, they preferred my bedroom rather than the drawing room. Within minutes my room turned into their personal living space. After offering them water and sweets, I retired to the kitchen to drink cold water and subside the growing anger inside me.
Going back, I related the situation to them stressing on the fact that I had to study for my examination. Expressing a little disappointment over my parent’s absence, my aunt turned a deaf ear to my requests of studying and said that I could spare a little time to spend with my ‘lovable’ uncle and aunt. And what followed can only be expressed as ‘emotional blackmail’. I was desperate to leave her clutches.
As the clock struck seven, I pleaded with my aunt to let me study. Half-heartedly she allowed me to do so and gladly scooped my study material and migrated to my parent’s bedroom. Hardly had I read the introduction of the chapter when my ignorant uncle came and switched on the television, put the cricket match on and turned the volume up pretty high, forcing me to exit the room.
Hoping to find the living room empty, I was disappointed yet again. My aunt had decided to prepare lots of oily snacks in the kitchen, adjacent to the living room, while loudly humming ‘pre-historic‘ Hindi songs. I tried to bear it, but eventually I was fed up and I called up my parents who should have come back long ago. To make matters worse, my father had run into his childhood friend and they were now in a restaurant with him at a dinner party. This means that I was left alone to study for my examination while entertaining the guests.
Since, I was left with no other option and finding the bathroom the only isolated and peaceful place I was forced to camp in there with my history books. Busy in their work, they soon forgot about my existence and I had finally achieved the quiet I had longed for the entire evening. I only have a faint idea of the time my parents took to return and forced my uncle and aunt to leave me alone to study in my room. After nearly four hours had passed since I had first sat at my table, I was back again. But as fate would have it, I fell asleep as I was exhausted from the activity filled evening.
