Tanya Tania Read Online Free
Author: Antara Ganguli
breeze. Before you know it, the evening crows will be here, knocking their beaks stupidly against the glass.
Please tell me. Who is Nusrat?
Best,
Tanya
May 10, 1991
Bombay
Dear Tanya,
You sound DAMN depressed. Good thing Iâm punished and can write to you. My mom punished me because I didnât make Distinction in the quarterly exams. I never make Distinction in the quarterly exams. Once my dad even said that to my mom but it didnât make a difference. She just said that Sammy got it every time so I should too. If only I paid attention. If only I focused.
This morning I had another punishment even though it was an invisible punishment. I had to sit next to Anahita Boriwala in Assembly. She is on top of the list of Boring People in the whole school, probably the whole city actually. Her parents made her sign a pledge to only sit in the front row and never, not even by mistake, do anything cool.
Anahita Boriwala smells. Once we were in a play and I was backstage with her and I almost fainted. Itâs one thing to not be cool but to be uncool AND smellyâ¦control what you can control you know. I am PARANOID about smelling. I smell my armpits at lunchtime every day even though I shower twice a day and use two brands of deo. I tried putting deo down there once for Arjun but it got itchy. Maybe you should also check for Mr Naqvi. Iâm just saying it as a friend, donât get mad.
The first thing you need to know about Nusrat is that sheâs totally normal. If she wore regular clothes no one would be able to tell.
She had an accident when she was a baby and it damaged something in her brain. So she canât speak. She can hear, she can do everything else, she just canât speak. She makes these sounds when sheâs really excited but thatâs it. The sounds are really weird.
Her parents are poor-ish. Nusrat works at our house after school, washing the dishes because she wants to save up her own money to get into medical college. Sheâs really, really sure she wants to go to medical college. Her parents didnât want their daughter to work in peopleâs houses but sheâs like damn stubborn and so finally they had to let her. But sheâs only allowed to work in our house because her dad built all our furniture and so he knows us like really well.
But anyway, if I ever meet Nusratâs dad and mom Iâm going to tell them not to worry because sheâs DAMN intelligent. I mean I know youâre smart but imagine being able to read really fast and write really, REALLY good English when your parents donât even speak it and your mother has only gone to school till the 4 th standard and that too in an Urdu-medium school. She doesnât have any siblings which my mother tells everyone at parties as evidence that not all Muslims have lots of kids. And then my father says something mean about Muslims. This is one of their favourite arguments. They also like to argue about drinking, money, how late my mother comes home, how little money my dad makes, my poor grades (whose fault it is), Sammyâs money-spending (whose fault it is), the Congress party and this new party that has come up called the BJP or BNP or something.
I tell Nusrat everything. I donât make up good parts. I donât leave out bad parts. When I come home from school and before she has to go home, we go sit by the sea on the rocks where people go to shit in the morning. But itâs always clean by evening. The sea takes it away every day.
Nusrat has a notebook and writes in it when she wants to say something. Iâve asked her to teach me sign language but she says itâs silly. I donât know why she thinks itâs silly. I mean, do you think itâs silly?
Nusrat doesnât like Arjun. I donât want to talk about it.
Yesterday she told me that it wasnât cool of me to ignore Neeneeâs phone calls. But Neenee calls me four times a day. And when I pick up she
Please tell me. Who is Nusrat?
Best,
Tanya
May 10, 1991
Bombay
Dear Tanya,
You sound DAMN depressed. Good thing Iâm punished and can write to you. My mom punished me because I didnât make Distinction in the quarterly exams. I never make Distinction in the quarterly exams. Once my dad even said that to my mom but it didnât make a difference. She just said that Sammy got it every time so I should too. If only I paid attention. If only I focused.
This morning I had another punishment even though it was an invisible punishment. I had to sit next to Anahita Boriwala in Assembly. She is on top of the list of Boring People in the whole school, probably the whole city actually. Her parents made her sign a pledge to only sit in the front row and never, not even by mistake, do anything cool.
Anahita Boriwala smells. Once we were in a play and I was backstage with her and I almost fainted. Itâs one thing to not be cool but to be uncool AND smellyâ¦control what you can control you know. I am PARANOID about smelling. I smell my armpits at lunchtime every day even though I shower twice a day and use two brands of deo. I tried putting deo down there once for Arjun but it got itchy. Maybe you should also check for Mr Naqvi. Iâm just saying it as a friend, donât get mad.
The first thing you need to know about Nusrat is that sheâs totally normal. If she wore regular clothes no one would be able to tell.
She had an accident when she was a baby and it damaged something in her brain. So she canât speak. She can hear, she can do everything else, she just canât speak. She makes these sounds when sheâs really excited but thatâs it. The sounds are really weird.
Her parents are poor-ish. Nusrat works at our house after school, washing the dishes because she wants to save up her own money to get into medical college. Sheâs really, really sure she wants to go to medical college. Her parents didnât want their daughter to work in peopleâs houses but sheâs like damn stubborn and so finally they had to let her. But sheâs only allowed to work in our house because her dad built all our furniture and so he knows us like really well.
But anyway, if I ever meet Nusratâs dad and mom Iâm going to tell them not to worry because sheâs DAMN intelligent. I mean I know youâre smart but imagine being able to read really fast and write really, REALLY good English when your parents donât even speak it and your mother has only gone to school till the 4 th standard and that too in an Urdu-medium school. She doesnât have any siblings which my mother tells everyone at parties as evidence that not all Muslims have lots of kids. And then my father says something mean about Muslims. This is one of their favourite arguments. They also like to argue about drinking, money, how late my mother comes home, how little money my dad makes, my poor grades (whose fault it is), Sammyâs money-spending (whose fault it is), the Congress party and this new party that has come up called the BJP or BNP or something.
I tell Nusrat everything. I donât make up good parts. I donât leave out bad parts. When I come home from school and before she has to go home, we go sit by the sea on the rocks where people go to shit in the morning. But itâs always clean by evening. The sea takes it away every day.
Nusrat has a notebook and writes in it when she wants to say something. Iâve asked her to teach me sign language but she says itâs silly. I donât know why she thinks itâs silly. I mean, do you think itâs silly?
Nusrat doesnât like Arjun. I donât want to talk about it.
Yesterday she told me that it wasnât cool of me to ignore Neeneeâs phone calls. But Neenee calls me four times a day. And when I pick up she
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