This is way back in my younger days. I was 21 years old so this was back in 1997. The setting is in Mattancherry and a bunch of us are at our grandmother’s house. There is a wedding possibility in the works (arranged marriage being discussed). And I guess it was August or September. Anways, I had heard just the most disturbing news from one of my cousins, in fact that very same cousin who was getting married. The thing she told me was so devastating and it was the first time I had ever known of this happening to someone I loved and someone who was related to me, that I kinda of went into a bit of a trance.

I didn’t talk to anyone else for the rest of the morning. My grandmother asked me to walk to one of the medical shops nearby and buy her medicine for her. I took the money from her and walked by myself  but couldn’t find the medicine in any of the pharmacies nearby. I ended up in Thoppumpady, 3 kilometers away when one of the guys at a pharmacy told me to go to the city area as the medicine would be available there. So I took the bus to go the next couple of kilometers and then realized that I had left quite a while back. This was ofcourse well before we had easy access to mobile phones. Anyway I got the medicine and then checked my watch and saw that it was over 2 hours since I left. I took the bus back and went to the house – only to find out that a couple of my uncles and my male cousins were out looking for me.

When we went back into the house I saw that al the aunts, my mom, my grandmother were out on the front of the house all with a worried look on their faces. Funniest was that my youngest cousin, who was about 5 at the time was also there! They thought I was missing. I can never forget the look on their faces.