Chapter 1
The photocopy machine was hot. The ceiling fan was moving slowly above her, and it clicked every time it went around. Outside the buses stop near her shop, and they let out a big cloud of black smoke.
“Akka, urgent, akka.” A boy said.
“Pen drive,” Janani said.
He kept a red pen drive on the counter. She looked at his new bag, new shoes, and smelled his perfume. She thought he must be in his first year.
“What file name?” Janani asked.
“Final… final updated the new one.”
Janani looked at him.
He gave a small smile. “Actually there are three files akka the latest one.”
Two girls were standing behind him. They had notebooks in their hands. One girl had jasmine flowers in her hair. The other girl was eating some chips from the packet. Her fingers coated with the orange powder. There was a man by the side filling out a courier form, leaning against the wall.
Janani plugged the pen drive in the PC.
The computer was slow. The screen had a green line on its left side. It had been there for many months. Her Murugan uncle always said to her that he would replace the screen soon.
The pen drive file explorer opened. She sorted items by date order and opened the recent doc file. She stared at the screen.
“Why is the title in Comic Sans?” she said to herself.
The boy blinked as he saw she was staring at the screen.
“Font nice only, akka.”
Janani looked at him and said “This is your assignment or your birthday invitation.”
The girls standing behind him started giggling. He felt embarrassed and looked down.
“Can I change the font” Janani asked him.
“Yes” he replied.
Janani changed the font. She fixed the spacing. She checked the print preview, and she clicked the print button. The printer made a noise like it always does. It started to print out the warm pages.
She arranged it and gave to him.
“Twenty rupees,” she said.
“Student discount, akka?”
“I know you are student. That is discount price.”
He paid the amount and left with an embarrassed smile.
The two girls gave the lab notes sheets and asked to photocopy them. They said two copies to photocopy. When Janani went to the photocopier, they were discussing something, and she paused for a second and waited for their confirmation.
“One more… total three,” they said together.
After that, she continued her order for book photocopies. She arranged all of them and staple-bound them.
By twelve, Janani’s back started hurting her.
She looked at the plastic chair behind the counter. She looked at the clock. At noon customer walk-ins will be fewer, so she sat.
The shop was small. All items fit inside the shop and had sufficient space to walk. She heard her Murugan uncle’s voice. He was on a phone call.
“Paper rate are high,” he said on the phone. “We can’t do business without profit?”
He said this to every bulk order customer. He kept low margin and high order volume.
“Janani,” her uncle called her.
“Yes, Mama(MAA-mah).” She said to her Murugan uncle.
She went to meet him. He looked at her.
“Did you write colour print count, yesterday?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“For two pages, cash is not tallying.” He said.
“I have checked it was correct.” she said.
“I have also checked. Check properly. Don’t simply say.” He said.
Janani pressed her lips together and said “Okay, Mama.”
She heard someone calling from outside. She looked from the room and saw a man standing before the shop. Her uncle said he will go out and come soon. She went inside the shop.
The man said he wants to print a passport-sized photo from the photo he had. She got irritated by looking at the photo. The photo was blurry. In the background, a blue bucket was visible.
“Eight copies” he said.
“This is not clear.” She said.
“Just adjust, madam.”
“I cannot make your face clear if the photo itself is not clear.” She said angrily.
He stared at her and she stared at him back. He got his phone from her and walked back.
She felt hungry, and she looked at the clock, it was two. She took the ‘out for lunch’ board and hung it before the shop. She drew the curtain to close the shop.
Janani took her lunchbox and opened it. She had packed lemon rice and mango pickle in it. The mango pickle was kept on a piece of banana leaf, which was smeared on the rice. She ate a bit, and she tasted a little sour. It happened every day due to the heat.
She continued her lunch by sitting near the computer. Her phone rang. She looked at the screen displaying Amma (AHM-mah, Mother).
Janani swallowed the food and answered the call. “Yes, Ma.”
“Did you eat?” her mother asked.
“Eating.”
“Don’t lie. I know your voice.” Her mother said.
Janani put one spoon of rice in her mouth. She chewed the rice loudly.
Her mother sighed. “Appa’s(AHP-pah ,Father) tablet is over. Buy when coming.”
“Which tablet?” she asked.
“The white one.”
“There are three white tablets, Ma.”
“One minute. I’ll see.” Her mother said.
Janani heard the sound of the cupboard opening. Then she heard her father.
“Why you disturb her? I’ll go.”
Her mother snapped the cupboard to shut, “How? You can’t even wear slipper properly.”
There was silence and Janani stopped chewing the food.
Her mother’s voice was gentler now. “It’s small and written Almo… Amlo.”
She knew it Amlodipine tablet 5mg.
“Is that over?” she asked
“Yesterday itself it was over. Morning I forgot to say.”
Janani pulled the cash drawer out. She looked at the cash that were folded by value. Coins were kept in a Horlicks bottle cap. She counted it with her eyes.
“I’ll buy,” she said.
“Buy six tablets at least.”
“I said I’ll buy.” She replied and her voice came out hard.
