Dump No Allegations

Varuni saw a herd of cows, walking along the moonlit path, towards their shed. The brown patches on the milk white skin of the cows, made them look like small pastures of land on earth. Varuni had always found pleasure in giving shape to the patches. She always saw rabbits, trains or an inverted Australia in the patches on the skin of the cows. It was her job to milk two of the five cows they owned, at the break of dawn. She would talk to them about miscellaneous things. She would tell them how her teacher had scolded her, how she had a huge crush on the boy sitting in front of her, and how she hadn’t even bothered going to school on a couple days when she just felt like ditching classes. She knew it was all in confidence. They were her best friends. 

They always cocked their heads, chewing hay and waited patiently for Varuni to milk them. Sometimes, they even gave their approval or disapproval in between chews by making moo sounds by which, Varuni always understood what they meant. 

Varuni lived on the outskirts of Chandigarh with her parents and little sister. She knew that her aunt planned on coming to her house, for the weekend. She had two days to think about how she could be a hospitable and good hostess. Their village didn’t have many guests. And the guests they did have were city folks who were wary of the other families. Her aunt was planning on coming to their house with her preteen daughter. She was supposed to be a couple months younger than Varuni but Varuni had never met her cousin. Whenever her aunt visited, she always came alone. She liked her aunt and they spent a lot of quality time together. But her aunt had last visited her a couple years ago. Her uncle had died a long time ago. She had gone to his funeral and that was the last time she had actually gone to Chandigarh. She was told that her cousin was in mourning and had not been allowed to meet her. Her parents had forced her to leave and the family of three then, had returned to their village. 

The last cow that was herded into the shed made out a loud call before disappearing into the shed. This caught Varuni’s attention. She turned and saw her father lock the door to the shed and hang the key back on the loop in his pant. He turned and walked towards the house; it was eerily quiet that night. Varuni could almost hear her father’s footsteps as they made their way towards the house. The front door opened and her father entered the small but cosy farmhouse. Varuni watched as her father made his way to the couch she was seated on.

“Hello,” said her father settling down beside her. 

Varuni turned to her father. “Hi, when are Aunt Rema and cousin Prathiba coming over?” she asked, anticipation obvious in her eyes.  She had been wanting to meet her cousin ever since her mother mentioned their arrival. The fact that somebody similar in age to her was visiting them, made her excited and eager for their arrival. 

“They will be arriving on Saturday morning. But we don’t know if your cousin would be as friendly as you are expecting her to be. Your aunt might be my sister. But she needn’t have a daughter as nice and friendly as you.”

“Why would you say that Papa? Have you met her?” asked Varuni wide eyed.

Her father sighed.

“I just have a gut feel Varuni, that’s it. What would I know? I could be completely wrong too.”

“But you are always right. Tell me Papa, why would she not be friendly. Am I boring?”

“Not at all, you are the most interesting person I know. Maybe I am boring, so I think she is not friendly.” 

“So, you have met her?” asked Varuni again.

“Meeting is a complicated thing.” 

Her father left the room hurriedly. She heard the steps creak under his weight. Why would her father think her cousin wouldn’t like her? She just couldn’t understand. Maybe she wasn’t meant to. 

Varuni went back to the window and stared up at the stars that shone high above. Her mind was full of questions. She wondered if the stars knew the answers.

The two days went by quick and her aunt and cousin arrived. Varuni went to the doorstep to greet them. Her aunt got off the passenger side and her cousin from the back. A man got off the driver’s side of the car and walked towards the rear end of the car. Varuni recognised her aunt, she watched her cousin closely. She watched her jump off the car and help the man unload their luggage. 

Her aunt had already made her way towards Varuni and hugged her tightly. “Do you remember me?” she asked, smiling at her. 

Varuni said, “Yes I do. I have been anticipating your arrival. I am really glad to be able to have you as our guest.”

 Her parents who stood on either side greeted the woman with a warm hug. The man made his way and greeted the couple with a hand shake and patted Varuni on the head. He smiled at her and Varuni’s parents led their guests into the house. Varuni’s sister stood on the first-floor balcony and watched them make their way inside. She was the shy one in the house and stood timidly waiting for someone to look up. Her cousin walked in with the couple and sat on the couch. 

Varuni pulled her mother aside, as she made her way into the kitchen and asked, “I thought that only aunt and Pratibha were visiting us. Who is that man with them?”

“That is your aunt’s friend,” her mother walked into the kitchen ushering her to go to the living room.

Varuni watched her father offer their guests coffee, made with indigenous coffee seeds and freshly milked cream. Their guests graciously accepted the fresh coffee after a long drive. 

Varuni sat opposite their guests and wondered whether she should start a conversation. She noticed her aunt staring pointedly at her and turned her head towards the kitchen. She saw her mother frying something in the oil, probably some snacks for their guests. 

The man was talking to Prathiba and she seemed to enjoy his company. Finally, her mother came to the living room with a plate of assorted vegetables fried in gram flour. 

She placed the plate on the small table in the living room.

“I hope you had a nice ride here,” she said.

“We did. I really like your place. It’s so calm and away from all the bustle of the city,” said the man, smiling. “Beautifully designed house too,” he said, his gaze wandering around the living room. 

“Would you like a tour?” asked her mother. 

“Why yes, I would,” said the man getting up.

“Rema, you want to join us?” he asked.

“No, I have seen the place. You go ahead Dev,” said her aunt.

“Of course.”

Her cousin joined Dev, for a tour.

Her aunt asked, “So, how is school and life here?”

“It’s good, thanks for asking,” said Varuni.

“That’s nice. Do you help around? The place is quite well maintained. Must need a lot of work.”

“Yes, my father always fixes all the damages himself. And my mother makes sure that the house is maintained well in terms of what where is at all times. I do help with milking the cows and feeding them.”

They conversed until the rest of them came back

***

During dinner, Dev asked Varuni, “Have you ever been to Chandigarh?”

“Yes, I have. But it was long ago,” she said.

“You should come again. I have a feeling you would like it.”

“Sure, maybe during summer,” she said, looking at her parents.

“Absolutely, I could take you to the Rock garden. There are a lot of sculptures there that are made from pieces of glasses, tiles and such. Are you interested in art?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I paint. Would you like to see some of my paintings?” 

“Yes, definitely.”

After dinner that night, Varuni heard her parents and aunt walk into the master bedroom. Dev was still downstairs, with Prathiba. She had not had the chance yet to meet her cousin properly. She was looking forward to it and was happy that Dev was there too. He was friendly and would probably help break the ice.

As she made her way towards the stairs with her paintings, she heard the words, “He mustn’t know Bhaiya. That would lead to a lot more complications.” Her aunt had said this. 

Varuni, not in the habit of eavesdropping, didn’t think much of this and went down to show Dev her paintings. Had she waited, she would have heard the story of her life. 

She walked down as her aunt continued, “Dev is the first man I have fallen in love with. He obviously knows that I have been married before, but he does not know how I was widowed. You know that I had had enough and could take it no longer,” she broke down in tears. Her sister-in-law, put a protective arm around her. 

“I can’t tell him that I had to give up one of my daughters to be raised by my brother’s family. Had my husband known that I had given birth to two daughters, he would have hit me harder. I couldn’t see my daughters grow up like that. One, he managed to hit only me; two, I don’t know. But I really wanted to meet Varuni and Dev insisted on joining me.”

“It’s okay Rema. He would probably understand that you had to give up Varuni.”

“Would he also understand that I am a murderer?”

There was an awkward silence.

“He is a research scientist whose main thesis is on Genetic similarities in twins. He would want Varuni to move back with us. I would love that too, but that is not neither fair to Varuni nor to the two of you. She seems so happy here.”

“If Varuni wants to move back with you, we are okay with that. Do not worry about us,” said Varuni’s mom. Her husband nodded his approval.

***

Dev looked at all her paintings patiently and even commented on how nice each was. Her cousin also admired all the paintings.

“These are really beautiful. Prathiba paints too, you know,” said Dev.

“Yeah, but they are not this good,” said Prathiba.

“No way, you are really good,” said Dev.

“Your paintings are so real,” said Prathiba to Varuni. 

“Thanks, do you have any of your paintings with you now? I would love to see them,” said Varuni.

“No, I don’t.”

“Oh.”

There was a brief pause.

“You guys look pretty similar, you know?” said Dev. “Proves you are cousins. You have the same jawline. Fun fact, you share almost 12% of the same DNA,” said Dev.

“Why?” asked Varuni. 

“Because you are first cousins.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” said Prathiba. “He keeps talking about this kind of stuff. It’s part of his job, he always says, to justify himself. He has even spoken to a lot of twins. He says that twins are sisters and brothers, unless they are identical.”

“That’s true. You and your sister are similar to fraternal twins in terms of DNA,” said Dev.

They spoke until their aunt cut them off and said, “Time to sleep.”

The next morning, Prathiba joined Varuni in the cow shed. 

“The weather is so nice. Do you always wake up this early?” she asked Varuni.

“Yes. I do this before going to school on weekdays. Habitual I guess.”

After a half hour in the shed, and Prathiba basically in awe of her cousin’s skills with the cows, the two girls walked back in with a pail of milk each.

Dev took the pails from them and took them to the kitchen.

The table was being set for breakfast and the two girls picked a chair next to each other.

Dev sat opposite them. “Nice start for a day, ain’t it?” he said. 

“Yeah, I have never seen cows being milked before,” said Prathiba. 

“Remember, you said something about sharing DNA yesterday. How do you find that out?” asked Varuni, looking at Dev. There was a loud crashing sound and a plate full of parathas fell on the floor. All of them turned to see that Varuni’s aunt had dropped the plate. She was facing away from them and was cleaning. Varuni’s mother came to help her.

After breakfast, Varuni’s father took her to the market along with his sister.

“Can Prathiba and Dev join us too,” she had asked.

No, had been the curt answer. 

Back home, Varuni’s mother and sister entertained the remaining two guests. Dev had noted that Varuni’s sister looked like Varuni too, but Prathiba looked more like Varuni.

Varuni’s mother had to admit, he was good. 

When Varuni returned with her father and aunt, she had been ushered to the kitchen by her mother and father to help prepare dinner. Her aunt had taken Dev to the cowshed to look at the cows. Once table was laid, Varuni’s mother was quick to start the conversation. They talked about the rock garden in more detail. She then asked about the parks in Chandigarh, the traffic and their house. Dev told them that he lived a few blocks from Rema’s house. And the minute talk about his job started, the topic was changed again.

 As soon as breakfast was over, Varuni was again called in by her mother. Dev was taken outside by Rema again. Prathiba joined Varuni and her mother. They spent some time talking and then played a few board games, the four of them, Prathiba, Varuni, her sister and mother. Lunch was also eaten separately, in two groups. Rema joined Varuni, her sister and Prathiba this time, and the other three had their lunch indoors. 

The four of them had their lunch by a small pumpkin shrub in the garden. They spent the entire time talking and laughing. 

After lunch, they continued to remain outdoors. Dev took his car for a drive around the village. He wanted to see the life and markets in a non-city background. 

The girls and Rema played run and catch and tennikoit. They went in finally for a drink. Rema looked outside and noticed that Dev wasn’t back. She did not want him near both the girls at the same time. He might put two and two together. 

They gulped down the ice tea that Varuni’s mother had prepared and sat down on the dining room chairs.

“Can Varuni come back to Chandigarh with us mom? She said that school was off for the next week, they were renovating the classrooms,” said Prathiba.

“Well, I don’t know honey. We have to ask her mother,” said Rema looking at her sister-in-law, talking with expressions. 

“Maybe next time, who will drop her back?”

“Dev wouldn’t mind dropping her back. We could all drive back together,” Prathiba pushed.

“We will try to make it in the summer,” she said, trying to stop the child from persisting on that topic.

“But why can’t I go mom?” asked Varuni.

“I’m sure Dev would have other things to do than drop you back.”

“Actually, aunty, Dev researches the DNA in twins. He can maybe talk to us, first cousins, and advance his research to other fields too. In fact, I would suggest it to him.”

Rema lost it. “You will do no such thing. Dev will stick to twins and he will not do experiments on the two of you, not on my watch.”

“Okay, sorry,” said Varuni quickly. 

Rema’s face blushed a bright red.

“No, I am sorry. I shouldn’t have screamed that way. Dev will not be doing DNA tests on you because his research is on twins right. New additions might disrupt his present work.”

Thankfully, Dev’s car arrived outside to change the mood in the room. 

The adults in the room figured that it was no use trying to keep Dev away from the girls. He was just charismatic with children. The girls had already gone to the front door to greet him. He had brought back biscuits for them. They just decided that one of them would always be around the room to make sure that the conversation remained balanced and nothing unwanted came out. Varuni and Prathiba had a right to know the truth about their relationship but they were too young, barely twelve. 

The family was leaving the next afternoon and decided to let them spend as much time as possible, together. 

Dev and the girls were chatting and laughing on the couch, munching on the biscuits he had bought. Even Varuni’s sister sat with them and spoke with Dev, despite her shy character.

The next day, after lunch, Dev loaded the bags into the trunk and gave Varuni and her sister a hug and shook the hands of the other two. Prathiba also hugged the girls and told them that she would miss them and hoped to see them again, soon.

The three of them got into the car as it moved out of the plot, on reverse gear. They waved their goodbyes as the car hit the rood. Varuni stood with her sister and parents. The twins would be told the truth and Dev would find out that they share not 12% but 50% of their DNA, eventually, maybe in six years’ time. Until then, they would live with their respective parents. But the truth about Rema’s marriage, would be her brother, sister-in-law and her own little secret.    

PS: The first letter of every word in the title read DNA :)