H 1327. Chapter 1: Megha [Part 1]

JANUARY

1st , Thursday, H 0045

      Megha Sureshi here, filling in the first entry ever in this completely new journal, ironically on the first of . It has been nearly a month since I moved in to live with my cousin from my father’s side, Kiran Sureshi and her housemate, Hamsika Kaur. There are still heaps of work I’ve got to do to get things settle here. There are boxes of clothes to unpack, packets of chitki and ladoos to put away, racks of books to dust, and floor to sweep. Well, to our defense, it was not intentional. It was the matter of time. The three of us were not at fault in this matter.

      Kiran and I had just returned from Karjat to visit Dadi. Dadi has been sick for a long time. It has not been a surprise for us that Dadi had fallen ill. It is a surprise that Dadi had survived her years of almost a decade. Dadi Sushmita, the lady of the Sureshi household, our great-grandmother. Techincally, it would be our parent’s Dadi, but since we were not raised in India, we kind of did not get the direct cultural education, so, we are both stuck to call Dadi, well, Dadi.

      Hamsika Kaur is no different. Her excuse of not being able to clean up the house is just about the same as ours. For some reason, her Dadi had made a somewhat threat to disown her from the family heritage if she was not to return to Punjab for her cousin’s wedding. She previously had made it clear to us that she decided not to attend the wedding of her cousin whom is about ten years older than her, and the fact that this is his second marriage. She said that the wedding would be majorly attended by senior citizens whom happen to be her Dadi’s best friends from her classical singing class. Hamsika’s Dadi is her grandmother, by the way. Then, she had to run over to Pak Cik Wang to settle the house rent. Then, there were bills to settle, appointments to look after that makes up all the excuses she could not afford to settle the house.

      Pak Cik Wang. The landlord. For someone his age, I’d say that he is too anxious. I secretly think he is always on the suspicion of one day all three of his tenants would run away and flee to India without paying the house rents. That old man worries too much. This house of his that he rents us, now, this is the big deal. It is anciently beautiful. He wouldn’t let us take down the painting and the artificial bamboo around the house for some unknown reasons. We don’t mind. I think it looks cool with the Victorian look of the house. To think of the chances of renting Victorian house in this kind of neighbourhood and at this kind of price, I’d say Lady Luck is in the favour of us.

      New year, new house, new things to do. Though I don’t think I’ll be putting up any new resolution like Hamsika does. She even has a list of resolutions from her childhood, a checklist. If there’s anything that anybody should be amazed by Hamsika Kaur, it is her willpower. Most of her resolutions on her checklist were ticked. Kiran has made a checklist too. Her resolution this year is a bit over-zealous on getting the saloon she shares with Hamsika to be the hit of the town. 

      All that I have to say on this mundane New Year’s night is, I got a funny feeling that this year would be a bombshell. Pen off, Malaysia. I’ll write again next time.