Ghachar Ghochar

by Vivek Shanbhag

There was a relieved smile on both their faces. ‘This is it. We’ve got it. Twenty times forty,’ said Chikkappa. ‘The sixty-four somehow appeared as eighty-four. I looked it over yesterday but missed it. You’ve caught it now,’ said Appa, beaming at his brother. I had never seen them like that – sitting near each other, talking. Their relief must have radiated into the kitchen. Before long Amma too joined them. A moment I can never forget: Appa leaning against the wall, clapping Chikkappa on the thigh and looking up to tell Amma, ‘He spotted it.’ It was fleeting, but at no other point in my life have I have felt so completely secure. ‘I’ll make another round of tea,’ Amma said with visible excitement and hurried into the kitchen. I sat up. I nudged Malati, who was sleeping on a mattress laid out perpendicular to mine. She was usually impossible to wake in the morning – it took repeated attempts. On this day, she got up at once when I told her the news. There was a festive air in the house that made it feel like it was the morning of Deepavali.