Quilling Peace

The doorbell rang and as Jayanti opened the door, all she could see were various roles of colourful papers, all tied together in bunches blocking the face and torso of the holder. There were two boxes kept at the feet, one sealed with brown tape and another openly overflowing with various tools which Jayanti could not even recognize.

“Move! Move! Side please,” the young girl made her way managing and balancing the bags along with rolls of papers in her hands, with her college bag on her back, another carry bag in another hand. She strode fast across the living room and climbing up the spiral stairs heading towards her bedroom. There was no clear free space to keep all the things she had brought in. The college bag hence went besides the computer table, the paper rolls on the bed which was already hosting unfolded bed sheets, few pillows, books, CDs, some gadgets with their chargers and long entangled wires. The carry bag in her hand landed inside the wardrobe which was almost full of her clothes and various things. The guitar peaked out from the wardrobe, which she again tucked inside and closed the door quickly. She paced back to the living room to fetch the two boxes she had left outside the door. But Jayanti had already carried them in and kept them on the dining table, and was reading the instructions given on the box of paper shredder.

Jayanti immediately questioned Siya, “What new fad is this now?”

“Oh mom! This is all for paper quilling. Small paper strips are rolled and made into various shapes to make designs,” Siya answered her keeping back the shredder inside the box and the glue gun which was lying on the table.

Her mom still had twisted eyebrows indicating her cluelessness regarding ‘paper quilling’. Siya explained further, “Mom! Don’t you recall the small necklaces Tanuja aunty gifted to the school girls during Navratri? Those were made by same paper quilling.” Siya was already on the last step of the stairs till she completed the sentence and walked away with the boxes.

The boxes again needed to find some space; one of them went below the bed and the packed one went out in the balcony which was attached to Siya’s bedroom. Bedroom it was by its official nomenclature; but her elder brother Raghav aptly called it a store-room.

The walls, floor and some parts of the roof were full with so many things that other family members wondered how such large volumes could fit in such a small room. The pink colour room had a large window exactly opposite to the entry door and besides it was the door to reach out to the balcony. In between the door and the window, the interior designer had placed a large study table with a book shelf and a chair. The idea was to keep some book, her desktop computer and few show-pieces. But the table now was crowded with the books everywhere, and on the shelf were various homemade crafts and hanging; some new ones seeing the light of the day and others hiding behind in dust. The window had a curtain with tiny hand embroidery and various hanging covered the window more than what the curtain did. Hangings made of mirrors, shells, woolen pompoms, beads, paper rolls and what not. The window panes were painted with miniature designs of animals and agricultural motifs with scenic landscapes that filtered in the sunlight and made the room flamboyant. A metal wind-chime decorated with feathers clanged as the wind blew in mornings and evenings. Between the shelf and the window, was a large metal emboss painting depicting a bride getting ready for her wedding with her girlfriends adoring and helping her. A ceramic vase stood on a tall pedestal next to the balcony door and was filled with multi-coloured flowers made of crepe, fabric and wool. The vase was hand painted and the pedestal had designs made with clay. Both the doors had elaborate hangings; one made of wooden motifs of the shape of musical notes and another of glass beads. Opposite of the study table was a single bed covered with a painted bedsheet and few paintings adore the wall above the bed. A large sand painting at the centre depicted an ancient temple and various small paintings surrounded it made of water-colours, acrylics, oil paints, pastels on various panels of wood, paper, canvas and glass. A noticeboard-like pinup arrangement was made where a collection of matchboxes and stamps lay. A heap of paper was also pinned on it, which had hand-written notes that served as reminder. To the left of the main door was a wardrobe, whose door was a collage of various stickers, magnets and cutouts. There were radium sticker cutouts on the roof, which would sparkle at night and made the whole roof starry.

Siya had decorated this room all by herself. Similarly, her arts adored other rooms too. But her mother had made it very clear that she would not be allowed to clutter other rooms as was done here. By the time Siya was opening up boxes, Jayanti walked in, “But why did you bring in more paper? We already have heaps of them in the garage boxes.”

Siya looked surprised, “I tried searching them in my room and didn’t find any.”

Jayanti grew furious now and made place to sit on the bed, reshuffling the heap of books that lay there, “But you had moved those boxes in garage in summer vacation. How can you forget it?”

“Oh sorry mumma! Totally forgot. I will use both papers for this new PEACE quilling frame I want to make for the college event.” She sat beside Jayanti and hugged her tight.

Jayanti shrugged her away, “Don’t start buttering me now.” She got up and stood akimbo and raised her voice a bit, “You know Dinesh uncle is coming tomorrow. So instead of helping me in cleaning the home and preparing nice food, you are creating more mess here.”

“Cool down mom! Peace!” she kept all things back in the box, “I will start working on this later. Let’s go and taste something that you have cooked for Dinesh uncle.” Siya winked and Jayanti tried not to smile.

Siya was a good cook herself and she learnt all basic recipes by observing her mom since childhood. Once she started cooking all by herself in high school, she started experimenting with traditional dishes and also tried on Continental and Chinese food. Jayanti would taste and appreciate her; but she never developed a palate for those foreign dishes. Raghav would munch on those gladly and their father Sameer liked those too.

But just like all the hobbies that Siya had developed, she eventually quit cooking too and would don on chef’s apron once in a blue moon when Sameer would request her dearly to cook something for him. Sameer worked in cargo shipping company and would usually be sailing for a stretch of 7-9 months and come home for a break of 1-2 months before being assigned on another route. He nurtured Siya’s various hobbies by bringing in tons of variety of paraphernalia from around the globe. But on very rare occasion, Siya would still be interested in it as she would have sailed onto a new hobby. Sameer thought it was cute; Jayanti disliked the whole mess this habit was creating.

Dinesh was Jayanti’s brother and was visiting them after many years. Early morning when he arrived, Siya was decorating the courtyard with a rangoli. She was very glad when Dinesh opened up the bag and presented her and Raghav with new dresses. Jayanti accepted the new sari after much of cajoling. In lunch, after savouring the kheer made by Siya, they all sat in the living room and Siya went back to her quilling project.

“What’s worrying you sis?” Dinesh asked after it was just two of them in the living room.

“It’s Siya,” she exclaimed, “I don’t understand why she behaves such. She keeps picking up different hobbies but never manages to stick with one.”

“So what’s wrong? It’s good that she is master of all trades.” Dinesh was puzzled.

Jayanti wasn’t very convinced with it. “It’s not good to keep changing mind so frequently. Life needs a stability and balance. I am accommodative of her. But in few years she will marry and go to a new family. What will happen then?”

Dinesh laughed, “Oh come on sis! She is just 16. Marriage is way ahead.”

“I know its long time for her marriage. But habits don’t change easily, do they?” she questioned him.

“Hmm… I understand your worry. But did you talk with her?” Dinesh wasn’t sure what to say. He sat beside Jayanti, “May be you should stop worrying about it and think in an optimistic way. All you need to do is channelize her hobby-shifting into something useful.” He was making a bit sense now but Jayanti didn’t know what exactly she should be doing.

Next few days, Jayanti pondered over what Dinesh said and Siya was busy shredding paper into strips, rolling them and making a large PEACE on the card sheet. Jayanti knew that Siya would finish this project in few days and maybe linger on YouTube looking for similar projects of quilling and then all the artifacts would catch dust while being dumped away and Siya would move onto a new hobby.

Last year Siya had a similar phase where she was very much keen into music. On her behest, and since Sameer was home then; and he could never put his foot down, Siya got a new guitar. 2-3 weeks of strumming the guitar and taking online classes was all Siya did. She would play few popular songs before she discovered her fondness in playing keyboard. She knew that asking for a brand new keyboard was foolishness and hence she joined a class where she could learn to play. She later downloaded apps on her computer and played keyboard on it.

The year previous to it was dedicated to collections and started when Sameer brought a few currency notes for her. She ordered Sameer to keep bringing such currencies. Then she collected matchbox covers, stamps, cartoon stickers and pasted them over her wardrobe. She also collected old greeting cards and the string formed out of those adored the corners of her parent’s bedroom.

Before the craze of collecting, was the drawing art that lasted for quite a long time and resulted in at least few painted articles in each room of their home. Siya would sit locked up in her room, try on various mediums and eventually come up with nice paintings. She even gifted a few to her school teachers on New Year. Once she was confident about painting on a paper, she moved to beautifying and spreading her art on curtains, bedsheets and sofa covers.

One day while Jayanti was still clueless, Dinesh called her and asked about why Siya doesn't spend much time outdoors. "She doesn't have as many friends as Raghav. Don't know why...!"

"So dear sister, that's what you need to do. She needs to spend more time with friends and people." Dinesh provided a simple solution and then Jayanti was able to think out a nice plan.

Next day she cleaned up the store room besides the open terrace and while Siya was in college, she shifted her art supplies out of the bedroom. The terrace was cleaned too and a large mat was spread on it. The enormous gulmohar tree planted by Jayanti and Sameer when then moved to this home almost a decade ago would give shade in the early evening hours. Raghav helped her to carry the old earthen pot up to the terrace where it was filled with fresh potable water and two glasses sat on the cover lid. He gave her thumbs up after all preparations were ready and hugged her, “Wonderful plan! I am sure she is going to enjoy this.”

Evening when Siya came back home, Jayanti rushed ahead of Siya asking her to eat some snacks and get ready, “You have lots of work to do today. Get ready soon.” As soon as she freshened up and had snacks, Jayanti held her hand and took her to the back courtyard where the staircase to the terrace was. Siya could hear some commotion but could not figure out what it was about. As they reached the terrace, Raghav’s sonorous voice raised up, “Silence kids! All sit down. Your Siya teacher is here and today, as the first day of your art classes, she will be teaching you how to make various animals in Origami.”

All the kids laughed and clapped welcoming Siya and she was surprised to see the 7-8 kids sitting on the mat holding colourful papers which Raghav was distributing. Siya turned to her mom, “What is this entire thing, mom? What is Raghav bhaiya doing?”

Jayanti smiled, “It’s a new class that you are going to take up. We thought that your beautiful art needs to spread more and Raghav suggested he would ask the kids in the nearby chawl to come and learn for free.”

Raghav joined them, “And then we are going to have your YouTube channel and a blog and also going to advertise for regular classes. Mom and I are going to tell all our friends and soon you can have the classes here.”

He turned towards Jayanti, “But she has to collect fees from other kids. These kids from the poor chawl can learn for free. But I am not going to fund her all tuitions ok?”

Jayanti and Siya both laughed and they all gave a group hug. Siya’s eyes moistened out of the joy and she went ahead teaching the kids starting with basic folds of origami with their names. Raghav brought out the large frame and hung it on the wall, facing the kids. It was a quilled piece of art work framed in glass reading PEACE with a flying white dove carrying an olive branch. After an hour, he huddled all the kids and Siya under the frame and asked all kids to hold up their origami animals while he clicked photos. Siya had the brightest spark in her eyes and the widest smile making her look beautiful. She had found a way to keep up with all her hobbies.

Raghav went on knees, “Everyone look here, one… two… three…. Smile!”