waves's blog

I held up my favorite white dupatta which had stains of brown and maroon lipstick all over it. It looked as though someone had generously used my lipsticks and then decided that he/she would go without makeup and rubbed it off in a frenzy. I shrieked, "What the hell happened to my dupatta??!", and the hubby was the first to come rushing into the room. Nishu followed quietly behind him. I glared at her, because it obviously couldn't have been my husband's doing(I know for a fact that he is straight).

She looked back at me calmly and smiled, "I was only trying to wipe clean the lipstick"

I knew it, "So you were trying on my lipstick, even after warning you they aren't good for you?", I asked, angrily.

"No amma. I only let Candy wear it because she had her school day today".

Candy is er Nishu's daughter. Or so she believes.

For the rest of the world, Candy is a life sized doll - one of those dolls with ridiculously long hands and legs, soft orange hair, neatly plaited and peeping out of a rabbit eared cap and an incredibly cute face(rather, "she" had a cute face the last time I saw her, I was yet to see her state after the "make-up"). Dads and moms of daughters will know what I am talking about. Daughters have their own world of toys which come to life and have lunches/dinners with each other, fight and sulk and miraculously make up, get all decked up to go to parties and sleep with their make up on(simply because it can't be taken off). Nishu has such a world of her own too ' a huge family actually ' Candy, Polo, Scotty, Casper, Hearty reddy,  Asha papu, Dimple, Gappu, Betty, Sabrina, Sonia, Ruchi, Deewana(she has a fascination for that word for some reason), Chinnu, Nemo, Barbie I just hope I haven't missed out on anyone. She doesn't take it too lightly if members of a family aren't given a mention. There are atleast two members of the family who sleep with us every night(they take turns) and if its an overweight member, the hubby  is forced to the other room, for lack of space.

Coming back to the dupatta, I knew there was a huge story behind the stains.

"So?", I demanded, hand on my hips.

She was not the one to be intimidated, "I had to wipe your lipsticks dry, so I used it"

"You had to wipe them dry? Why did they get wet in the first place?".

"Yeah, I washed them", she smiled and looked as if she expected some praise for her act of "cleanliness". She didn't see anything materializing.

I continued to stare at her and she was kind enough to explain.

"Amma ", she raised her little hand a bit as a gesture of explaination, "Candy refused to wear brown and she refused to wear maroon. So I had to mix both of them", she said matter-of-factly. The circumference of my eyes which had gone round in shock already, increased. She continued, obliviously, "In the process, I interchanged the lids of the lipstick, but closed them while they were still sticking out"(people who have used lipsticks would know what I am talking abt. If you don't, please ask someone who does), She paused for effect. The dismal look on my face satisfied her, "But you don't worry. I cleared the mess by packing them in and washing both of them. They are clean now, but you have a new coloured lipstick, and that too, two tubes!", she said triumphantly.

I sat down on the bed, looking helpless and defeated. Maybe I should learn how to make a fashion statement with double hued lipsticks and stained dupattas, what with a natural fashion designer at home!

PS: You should see Candy to believe what a disastrous make-up session can do to a pretty doll.