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 nine.

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

The Puppy Ate Brinjal

Soumya had come on Sunday to play with Binny and me. She said Tushka was growing big just like her brother. She likes her new school, but they have only two swings and gray-and-white colour uniform. I don’t like gray colour. Amma says we should all have only black or brown colour uniforms because anyway my yellow and white uniform ends up like that. Everyday she asks me if I had rolled in the mud. I am not silly like Tushka to do that. Bibi has gone on holiday for 15 days to her village; otherwise she would be asking me silly questions instead of Amma.

In Soumya’s new school, they have two swimming pools, one for small children and one for big children. We only have one but it is very big and very deep. It has blue and green tiles all over it. But no slides or anything. There is a diving board also; the swimming sir said I could dive from next year. Appa says I was a fish in my last birth because I love to swim, just like him.  Appa also says Amma and Tushka swim the same way, all splash splash splash and not moving an inch. I think that boy Arnav can also swim very well. He likes fishes na, that’s why. I also dig in the park sometimes with Tushka to keep her company. The gardener uncle said I should not do it, but I told him if we plant seeds in the holes then we will have big trees and he should be happy.

He asked Amma how many big trees we were planning to have and where. How will Amma know? Only Tushka knows.

I asked Amma if I can go and visit Arnav and see his fish, she said I cannot just drop in on a stranger like that. I told her he is not a stranger and how will he be my friend if I don’t go and meet him only, so she said she will see about it. I asked Appa also in the night. He said same thing like Amma. I should not have asked Appa when he was eating brinjal curry and rotis. He does not like them at all. Amma says you must eat all vegetables because they are healthy. I like almost all vegetables…except brinjals and spinach and beans and beetroot and pumpkin and ladyfingers and cabbage and cauliflower. I like tomatoes and potatoes and onions and peas the bestest. The day Amma makes brinjal; we always eat ice-cream afterwards. Appa says it is a cleansing exercise.

I think secretly my Amma also doesn’t like brinjal. One day she was telling Tina aunty (Binny’s mother) that it looks like boiled fish…maybe that is why Tushka loves it so much. She ate almost all of it when I gave her from my plate.

I think Tushka will love to eat fish. What will I do if she eats all of Arnav’s fish? I will have to teach Tushka to eat potatoes.

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.