In the front garden of the old mansion, Sharmila Kumari was sitting on the platform around the banyan tree, perhaps the oldest living thing on the premises –older than Saraswati Devi herself. She relished the leisure of hearing the chirps of children playing near her while fanning herself with the peacock feather hand fan.

Decked in gold, she occasionally played with her mangalsutra hanging around her neck. She hardly had many thoughts about her sister-in-law who was bemoaning her daughter's fate. For her, the whole thing had little to do with her; she had to follow her husband's beliefs for the child. Since it was too early to read the whole situation, it was better to leave things to transpire accordingly.

Rubbing her heels against the wet ground, Sharmila enjoyed the refreshing temperature and texture of the soil against her feet while her toes curled up in bliss. Though she wanted to close her eyes and feel the zephyrs brush against her face, she kept keen eyes on the kids. Her youngest son Nirbhay was wrestling with Maheshwari who was much younger than her son while Pratibha was playing with her dolls, feeding them 'food' made of soil.

Next year Nirbhay would join his father to understand the working of the household's income and Sharmila wanted to collect as many memories of his mundane years as she could before he gets too busy with the work. Her oldest son, Jagganth had already completed his studies at Calcutta University and worked as an accountant in one of the factories in Bengal. It has been a long time since she had last seen her son –the last time being his wedding after which he completely shifted due to his job requirement.

This act of her son was, of course, frowned upon by both Saraswati and Mukund who wanted Jagganath to continue their family legacy of being an accountant at the local Zamindar family but Sharmila was proud of her son for following his heart. Sure at times, she wished for her son to be near her, especially with her nearing old age but she calmed herself by saying that she still has Nirbhay with her.

While she was lost in her musings, Nirbhay easily pushed away Maheshwari who was now wiping off the mud from his dhoti. The other male child in the house was Maheshwari. Being nine years old, he was already enrolled under the guidance of a local teacher who provided him with the basic knowledge of every subject.

Apart from the boys, the only girl in the mansion was Pratibha. Sharmila was especially fond of this girl for her innocuous nature. Currently, Pratibha was four years old child who always carried her ceramic doll with her, feeding the doll leaves, mud and whatever she could as if the doll was her child. She was like any other normal girl but plump fair cheeks made her stand out in the crowd. Even Saraswati Devi who was not much fond of the little girl endearingly called her rasgulla. Pratibha too liked the attention and puffed her cheeks whenever she wanted something to ensure that her demands were fulfilled.

The afternoon sun after the rain of last night and the morning was annoyingly harsh. Getting fed up with the humidity, just when Sharmila was about to call the children to return to the house, she spotted Murli, son of Girish rushing outside the mansion. Giving a brisk bow to Sharmila, the boy tried to pass the woman with authority but was stopped by her.

"What is the hurry for?" Sharmila interrupted the boy who was trying to accomplish the task in his hand but with his mistress questioning him, he had no other option but to fill in about the matter.

"Malkin," Murli addressed Sharmila who was languidly fanning herself. "Malik (Mukund) has asked me to inform chote malik (Gopal) and choti malkin (Kamla) that badi malkin (Saraswati) has agreed to hold all the celebrations to welcome the daughter of chote malik."

Sharmila paused fanning herself for a brief moment as if thinking of something. Pressing her tongue against her inner cheek, she contemplated this piece of information. To be very true, she was baffled that Saraswati Devi agreed to this. From what she had heard from her husband, she knew her mother-in-law was against the prospect of bringing a mute girl into the house but what occurred that in just one night she agreed to the whole thing. Sharmila feared that this was some charade of her mother-in-law but she was a tad bit glad for this new niece who got some of the family's approval.

Murli waited for Sharmila's approval to leave but when nothing came, he decided to leave on his own as Mukund had instructed him to finish this job quickly. Just when he was about to move, Sharmila stopped him again.

"Still in a hurry? Did I allow you to leave?" Sharmila narrowed her eyes and kept the fan on the platform. Arranging her saree, she stood up, still glaring at Murli who was transfixed in his position. "Since I am feeling benevolent today, I will leave the matter to be but mind your steps when working in this household."

Murli hurriedly nodded his head with fisted palms that were hidden in the folds of his dhoti. He didn't dare to move or as a matter of fact, take a deep breath. His eyes followed every move of his mistress till the time she called the children who quit their frolic as soon as they heard her voice.

Maheshwari who was still not ready to accept that he lost against Nirbhay gave an indignant look to the older boy before sticking his tongue out at his cousin and running to his aunt. Pratibha who somehow managed to not get stuck in her skirt made her way to Sharmila too but took her doll and a soil ball along with her. Both the children were smeared in the mud but their toothy grins made Sharmila ignore their attire for once.

In the morning, the first thing the kids wanted to do was to meet their mother. Pratibha who was still too young cried the entire morning in search of her mother only to be pacified after getting another doll by her side. Though elder, Maheshwari too was not sensible enough and his face screamed his desire to meet Kamla. If not for Nirbhay diverting his attention, Sharmila feared that Maheshwari would have cried too.

"We are going to meet your mother, so hurry and change your clothes," Sharmila squatted before the kids and brushed off the soil from Maheshwari's face.

Just the mention of their mother was enough for the kids to sprint inside the house to change. Nirbhay who paced his way to his mother looked at her quizically, wondering what made his cousins rush back to the house. Sharmila just waved her hand to dismiss her son and went back to the platform to get her fan.

"I should apologize to Murli for making him wait. Hope you don't mind us joining your errand," Sharmila's tone was far from apologetic, instead she didn't even glance at the boy while saying these words.

Not that Murli could bear to hold any grievance against his mistress but still, he was less than pleased with the behaviour of Sharmila. Lately, he was severely punished by his father for being negligent in his duties. It was beyond his contemplation what would his father do if he gets to know how long it took him to do such a simple task.

His thoughts sure were not very felicitous about Sharmila but his face hardly gave out anything. He remained standing in his place, keeping his gaze fixated on the ground but the dread of facing his father slowly gnawed at his courage. Being in a tough spot with one side possessing the fury of his father while the other side holding the fury of his mistress, Murli left his future in the hands of his fate.

Sadly for Murli, both the kids of Gopal took their due time to ready themselves. Sharmila hardly had many duties to attend to –was waiting patiently but Murli couldn't help but occasionally look at the entrance of the house. He didn't dare to show his rush after the previous statement of Sharmila but the sigh of relief he took when the kids arrived gave away his desire to rush to the Brahmin's abode. Sharmila conveniently ignored this and with her own languid pace walked to the Brahmin's dwelling.

The kids joyfully took the lead, pressing on their steps while giggling at the stories they shared. At the entrance, the group met Yashoda and Sudhakar. Sudhakar was sitting on the cot, reading some scriptures while Yashoda was cleaning the shed; her attire was dishevelled yet she acknowledged the people with a nod.

Sharmila wanted to ignore the duo nonetheless she greeted them due to them being the master of the residence she was standing on. Sudhakar scratched his back with one hand and used the other to bless Sharmila. While the adults were busy exchanging pleasantries, the kids were not mindful of these customs and left them to enter the house.

"Pardon the kids, we were here to meet Kamla," Sharmila apologised on behalf of the kids with a smile on her visage. Yashoda waved her hands to dismiss this as she understood the desire of the kids to meet their mother –it was only natural for them to do so.

"Please do go inside. She too must be searching for familial presence," Yashoda kept the broom aside and arranged her attire before guiding Sharmila and Murli to the room currently resided by Kamla.

The curtains shielding the room were soon parted and Sharmila met with the sight of a haggard Kamla. Though she was cleaned up that morning with the help of Yashoda and looked considerably jolly with having her children around, her puffy eyes and slightly less radiant face gave off the ache in her heart. Sharmila too mourned for the mother's fate but didn't let that be apparent as an outsider was currently in the presence.

Knocking the wooden door, Yashoda brought Kamla's attention to Sharmila who entered the room. Her face had an awkward arc on the lips as it was a bit difficult for Sharmila to understand how to approach her sister-in-law who was going through plenty of adversities currently.

"Go find chote malik and inform him of the news," Sharmila reminded Murli of the reason for his presence there but soon realised something was off after seeing the sudden plunge of joy in the ambience. Kamla who was attending to the questions of her children stiffened suddenly while Yashoda pursed her lips.

Murli who was oblivious to this change nodded but realised Gopal was nowhere to be seen. He eyed Yashoda to get some answer but was greeted with an awkward silence.

"He is not here," Kamla answered while caressing the tresses of Pratibha, her eyes not meeting Sharmila due to her fear of scorn she might receive for being negligent towards her husband.

It didn't take Sharmila long to speculate the matter and just waved her hand in a perfunctory manner. "Don't worry, Murli sure would find him. Won't you Murli?"

Sharmila tilted her head at the poor boy, giving him no chance to back off. He was sure now that he would get a huge scolding and probably would get beaten up for delaying his schedule for so long but little did he have any other choice. He just hoped that his cheeks won't be kissed by his father's wooden sandals but he could only wish for this to not happen.

Leaving the place as quickly as he could, Murli didn't require any other word from his mistresses to run this errand much to the amusement of Sharmila who had never seen the boy in such a hurry. Yashoda too left the place to give the two women some personal space while she got back to the house chores.

"Ma, did you know, today I almost defeated Nirbhay Bhaiya!" Maheshwari boasted his false valour before his mother whom he missed for the entire morning. He didn't have anything special to share with his mother but nothing stopped him from weaving these innocuous lies. Kamla too was aware of the truth of the situation as it was almost impossible for the child to overpower a youth like Nirbhay but she just smiled at her son.

"My little Hanuman," Sharmila shook her head in adoration and sat near the mother and son, messing with Maheshwari's hair. "Spinning tall tales yet again? Shouldn't you ask for your mother's health first and ask about your sister?"

Sharmila reminded the boy about the well-being of his mother. One thing that Maheshwari found amiss was why would he question anything about his sister. Pratibha was with him the whole time and as much he was informed, his mother was holding a brother in her womb who would come to them in a month or so.

"Sister? Why would I ask about Pratibha?" Maheshwari was visibly confused as he tugged his mother's saree to get answers.

Kamla flicked her son's forehead and informed him, "You have another sister my dearest. Look she is snuggled in the pillows."

Kamla pointed at the baby who was surrounded by pillows and was barely visible due to being wrapped up in several layers of sheets. Sharmila shifted closer to the baby and marvelled at the sleeping infant.

"She seems well behaved while sleeping," Sharmila noted, receiving a nod of affirmation from her sister-in-law.

"She only woke up in the morning in search of food, otherwise she is mostly spending her time sleeping."

Kamla answered but she was uncomfortable talking about her youngest progeny. The entire morning was spent with her crying only to wipe her tears on her own. She realised that there was nothing she could do to reform her situation and the only thing that she could do was go with the flow. Her heart was too feeble to discard the child because it just took one silent cry from her daughter for Kamla to cradle the child in her motherly embrace.

"My new sister came before my little brother? Why did no one inform me about her before?" Maheshwari was still stuck in a mesh of questions and asked them directly without any reservations. How would a nine-year-old understand the entire thing?

Kamla was silenced but Sharmila helped her young sister-in-law to handle the situation. She called Maheshwari near her and wrapped him in her arms and bring him closer to his sister.

"You see, your little brother cancelled his plans to come here instead he sent another sister to fill in his presence," Sharmila reasoned with the boy whose nose was scrunched up in distaste on looking at the shrivelled face of his youngest sister. In his mind, Pratibha was a much better sister to him than this new one who is just too small and ugly in his opinion.

"I don't like her! I want a brother more than an ugly sister!" This was all Maheshwari said before fleeing from the place. Leaving the two elder women astonished at his sudden outburst, especially Kamla who realised that even her children didn't like their new sibling.

Normally, Kamla would have shrugged this situation off as some child's antics but in her recent fragile state, this took a toll on her. With widened eyes she stared at the departing figure of her son, questioning the fate of her daughter even more.