Mariamma's Earrings

I sat on the bed, watching my mother get ready to go out. I loved the way she would adjust her saree pleats, apply a little lipstick, line her eyes with khol, and choose an appropriate necklace to complete the look. Usually, thought she looked perfect, but today, something caught my attention.

- REBECCA VASURAJ

“Mummy, why don’t you wear earrings? You would look so pretty. If I were a big girl, I would wear beautiful earrings.”

My mother smiled in her gentle way and said, “My mamma didn’t get our ears pierced when we were little.”

“But Annie Aunty has pierced ears!”

“Yes, because when she got married, her father-in-law wanted her to wear earrings. But my other two sisters and I never got our ears pierced. And now I don’t want to.”

“But why did granny not want to pierce your ears? Didn’t she like jewelry?”

My mother just smiled again, and then it was time to go. But that night, when I was in bed, she told me a story of long ago, when my grandmother was a little girl.

[Flashback]