Uma Iyer has dreamt of Molu, a mischievous six-year-old for almost a decade now. She shares with the young readers of Unboxed Writers, ‘Meet Molu,’ a yet to be published first book of hopefully what would turn out to be a Molu and Tushka series. Agni, or ‘Molu’ as she is commonly referred to, is a six-year-old girl whose life revolves around her parents, her friends and her puppy, Tushka. The book is a view of the world around her, through her eyes and consists of 12 chapters. This is chapter 10.

Main Characters:

Molu: Six-year-old girl, brown skin, big black eyes that shine and sparkle, curly hair, extremely curious, chatter-box, loves chips, ice-creams, water and Tushka, usually dressed in shorts and t-shirts, occasionally considers wearing summer frocks.

Tushka: Approximately five-month-old puppy, black as the night with brown eyes, of indefinite lineage, tends to cock her head to one side when Molu speaks with her, loves chips, ice-creams, water, balls and Molu, wears a neon green belt around her neck with a bone medallion.

Etc. Characters:

Amma: The mother

Appa: The father

Bibi: The maid

Coco: The cat next door

Binny: The boy next door

All Fall Down!

I got a surprise from my Rohan Maama today. He sent his friend with a big, very big gift. It was all packed in shining happy birthday gift paper and it had a red bow also. Maama is silly only; my birthday is over long ago. But I am always happy to get surprise gifts.

Inside the big box, there were a lot of things. Maama had gone to Africa for some photography something; he is very clever like that. You know Africa has many, many wild animals and they all keep running in one giant ground. I saw it on TV. My Appa keeps watching it again and again. The animals also must be tired of running so much.

I have got one white colour t-shirt with a lion on it which says ‘Pride of the Jungle’, six poster colours in big tubes (Amma said thank god for washable colours… I told her to thank Maama, she said he thinks he is God anyway), many brushes, one sketch book with four different colour paper, one pencil box with a zebra picture on it, one box of wooden pencils with animal shaped tops and a book on wild animals of Africa. Inside the book they have one CD also and some postcards with very beautiful photos of Africa. Maama has also sent a new ball for Tushka. It is fully squishy and pink and bubblegum flavoured. I bit it a little to see if Tushka will like it. It was nice, but now Tushka has chewed it a lot and it is all sticky. Maybe if I wash it, I can take another bite.

Amma doesn’t like me going to the bathroom to wash things. She says I make a big mess. I really don’t, only somehow my footprints comes all over the floor and then Bibi goes mad and complaints to Amma and tells her she is really going to leave us this time.

I know Bibi is only joking. She cannot go only because she has been with us for many, many years. Appa says she was part of Amma’s dowry. I asked him what dowry means, he said it means extra baggage. He also quickly asked Tushka and me to go for a walk with him. Amma only laughed and made pretend angry faces.

Jo uncle and Binny were there in the park. Tushka loves Jo uncle because he always rubs her stomach and gives her toffees to eat. Binny had brought his cycle; he can ride it without the extra wheels. Very fast. I sat behind him and we went round and round and that silly Coco came and jumped in front of us and all of us fell down. Appa said it was Tushka’s fault and not Coco’s because Tushka tried her new bark suddenly near Coco’s ear and Coco got scared and ran without seeing. Silly cat. Always frightened of silly things. Tushka is so small and she was only trying to tell Coco a secret. Binny got a big scratch on his elbow and one near his ankle and I got one very big cut on my palm. How am I going to write in school tomorrow?

The Dettol water hurt a little bit when Amma washed my hand with it, but I washed the pink squishy ball with the remaining water.

It doesn’t taste like bubblegum anymore now. Must be because of Dettol.

Uma Iyer is a writer, a mother and a freelance consultant for marketing communication to several organisations. She was raised in Mumbai and currently lives in Delhi. Her retirement plan includes two dogs, many books and a shack by the sea.