Shabnam Minwalla

When Jiya Met UrMila

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When Jiya Met UrMila

Shabnam Minwalla Illustrations by Tanvi Bhat

DUCKBILL BOOKS USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia New Zealand | India | South Africa | China Duckbill Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

Published by Penguin Random House India Pvt. Ltd 4th Floor, Capital Tower 1, MG Road, Gurugram 122 002, Haryana, India

First published by Duckbill Books 2018 Text copyright © Shabnam Minwalla 2018 Illustrations copyright © Tanvi Bhat 2018 This edition published in Duckbill Books by Penguin Random House India 2020 Shabnam Minwalla asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All rights reserved 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual person, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. ISBN 9789387103061 Typeset by PrePSol Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. www.penguin.co.in

Two Girls Jiya and Urmila were born during the same stormy July, nine years ago. They both had black hair, brown eyes, ten fingers and ten toes. Both their families lived in Mumbai. In fact, both families lived on Dr Dalvi Road. So Jiya and Urmila grew up just two banyan trees and one wall away from each other.

But, strange as it may seem, Jiya and Urmila didn’t know each other at all. Perhaps this was because Jiya lived on one side of a wall and Urmila lived on the other. Jiya’s father worked in a bank. He wore crisp shirts and striped ties. Urmila’s father repaired cars and scooters. He wore faded t-shirts and rubber slippers. Jiya’s mother spoke in English and

cooked pasta. Urmila’s mother spoke in Hindi and worried about the price of tomatoes. Jiya went to school in a red-checked uniform and Reebok shoes. Urmila went to school in a grey pinafore and black rubber sandals. After school, Jiya rushed to tennis

or ballet. Then she did homework and read books. After school, Urmila played hopscotch on the pavement with her brother and his gang. She helped her mother cut beans or potatoes for dinner. Sometimes, if TV was awfully boring, she did a little homework. Jiya lived in a sunny apartment with her own bedroom. Urmila lived in one room, which she shared with her parents, her brother, an uncle and a grumbling grandmother. For nine years, Jiya and Urmila lived side by side without ever meeting—a bit like the blue lines that run across the pages in a school notebook. Then one day, somebody somewhere crumpled the paper. The lines met and Jiya and Urmila’s lives collided. 4

Miss Nutty’s Peek and Seek It all started with Miss Nutty and her Peek and Seek. Miss Rati Chinoy taught Grade III at Bright Minds High School. She was unlike most teachers you’ve ever met. Her classes were unlike most classes you’ve ever attended. Sometimes she told her students to chew grass. Sometimes she told them

to hang upside down and see the world in a new way. Sometimes she took them outside to sing to the bushes and crows. So, of course, Miss Rati became Miss Nutty. Everybody called her that. The students. The parents. Even the crows. Grade III adored Miss Nutty. So when she announced the Monsoon Peek and Seek there was a happy buzz.

‘We’re learning about plants,’ Miss Nutty nodded, her watermelon earrings swinging around. ‘When you go home this evening, find one pod, one seed, one shoe flower and one leaf that is not green. And maybe a snail. August is a good month for snails because they love the rains.’ ‘But where will we find pods?’ ‘And snails?’ ‘Miss, miss? Do snails bite?’ Miss Nutty narrowed her eyes, like a robber entering a jewellery shop, and whispered, ‘Sometimes you have to break rules. Take risks. Climb trees. Have adventures.’ Grade III giggled. Jiya laughed too, but she was a teeny-weeny bit worried. 7

Jiya was a girl who liked rules and hated trouble. She knew what happened to foolish princesses who took apples from strangers and naughty girls who chatted with wolves. Jiya didn’t want to end up like Snow White or Red Riding Hood. So she tried to be good. Still, Miss Nutty was Jiya’s favourite person in the whole entire world. For her, Jiya might even climb trees. For her, Jiya would find a sack stuffed with pods and snails. ‘Anyway, I won’t have to break rules,’ Jiya thought in the school bus on the way home. ‘Mummy will take me to that park near the sea to find piles of leaves and flowers.’ Of course, it’s foolish to count your flowers before they are plucked. 8

Jiya Breaks a Most Important Rule As soon as Jiya got home, she knew something was wrong. The first sign was a sharp ‘Ouch’. Then a groan. Jiya’s mother was flopped on the bed with an ice-pack on her cheek. When she saw Jiya, she waggled limp fingers. ‘Tooooothache,’ she moaned like a Martian with a sore throat. ‘I—ouch—

have to go—aah! ouch!— dentist.’ Jiya gave her mother a careful hug. She ate her cheese sandwich and slipped into a yellow dress with daisies on it. Then she watched her mother getting ready to leave for the dentist. ‘Ughughugh,’ Mrs Shroff groaned as she combed her hair. ‘Is it very bad?’ ‘Aaahh!’ Jiya waited for a gap between moans before saying, ‘Mummy, I have some homework. I have to find some seeds and pods …’ ‘Building compound,’ Mrs Mistry 10

replied. ‘Just … ouch … manage … big girl!!’ So after her mother left for the dentist, Jiya went down alone. She held onto her orange fish umbrella, plastic bag and scissors. She held even more tightly onto her courage. Jiya lived in a building complex called Windy Woods.

11

WHEN JIYA MEETS URMILA, SHE SEES A LOUD GIRL WITH A FIERCE EXPRESSION AND TOO-BRIGHT CLOTHES. URMILA SEES A SNOOTY GIRL WITH A DULL DRESS AND NO SPUNK. CAN THEY EVER BE FRIENDS? Illustrations by Tanvi Bhat

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