Prologue"And that's how ladies and gentleman, I think a perfect equilibrium in an economy could be achieved."
The crowd whistled, hooted and clapped as I ended my speech. It was the occasion of Economics Fair in my school, Richmond International School. And I was chosen to speak about economic equilibrium; not only I had to speak and tell about it, but also had to present it all with diagrams, power point presentation, and stuff. Now, you do not consider me your stereotype geek/nerd or even a bookworm, but...well I am a bookworm but that doesn't mean that I am one of the unpopular sheep. I am pretty much popular among my school kids, well, what I can I say, I get highest grades in exams and stuff, am totally into the social club, participate actively in most of the extracurricular activities, have lots of friends and the cherry on the top, I am the daughter of the richest Indian entrepreneur. And how can I forget my Cha (my chachu meaning father's brother) and my Mom who run the most sought after events planning business, my Chi (chachi meaning father's brother's wife) is a baker, her cakes..Oh my God! Not only they taste amazing they look fanfreakingtastic too! And my Mamu, my mother's brother is the lead singer in a famous band called "The Liverpool".
All that makes our family super rich and famous. Sometimes I feel like Uncle Scrooge of Duck Tales who swims in the pool of his wealth of gold coins. Though I am born into a super rich family that doesn't mean that I or any of my siblings are spoilt in a way or other. Of course, we are loved and adored but we have principles and values instilled in us. Once I asked dad to buy me a cell phone, he asked me to earn it, and I did what I could, scored best in exams, and did a part-time job as a typist at my Dad's company of course. And with my 3 months pay and savings from my pocket money, I purchased my first ever cell phone, and believe me, it's totally worth it!
My family is full of crazy people and I love them dearly! My Dad, Shivaay Singh Oberoi is the leader of this circus that I call my family, I know the comparison is weird but it's totally relatable. Dad is a super strong personality and has the aura of a leader, a protector who protects his family from harm, keep them safe and happy. That is why we all call him "The great wall of Shivaay Singh Oberoi". It's a mouthful but it's true.
Then there is my mother, Anika Shivaay Singh Oberoi, the lioness and the craziest person in the family. She has a set of words like khidkitod, tadibaaz, michmichi etc. that though irks my Dad but he adores it equally. It still surprises me that a man like Dad who speaks less is mature, sophisticated, calm and composed fell for my Mom who can't spend a minute without speaking, acts recklessly at times and is like a walking talking disaster! But it makes me happy too that there is so much love between my parents, they still behave like teenagers in love but I totally love and adore them.
My Cha, Mahi Singh Oberoi is a carbon copy of my Dad, identical twin. The only difference is the color of their eyes, while my Dad has cat-like blue-green-gray eyes, Cha, on the other hand, has dark brown eyes. And in personality Cha is more like my Mom, crazy, spunky, eccentric and sometimes speak a very funny language. He and Mom are equal partners in their events planning business. It was when the need for an exclusive baker for their events arose that we were introduced to Chi, Akira Mahi Singh Oberoi. She's sweet, extremely nice and super cute.
And then there is my Sahil Mamu, my mom's 24-year-old brother. Singer by profession, Sahil mamu is a mixture of Dad's SSO side and Mom's funky side. People know him by his stage name "Yohan". He also has a secret girlfriend about whom only I know about and that is the only way that I got to know about the well-kept secret of my family.
The younger generation of my family consists of 8 members, 4 males, and 4 females. Yep! We are one huge family. My Mom and Dad had 5 kids, first a set of triplets; me, Ansh and Anay, we are 17 years old. Second time Mom got pregnant we got one more brother; Shivansh, he's now 12 years old. The youngest of us is our 7-year-old sister Vanya.
Cha and Chi had 3 kids, a set of twin girls at first, my 15-year-old sisters Mahira and Aakashi, and a few years later they had a son Riyom who is 10 years old.
"Dad!!" I squealed as I saw my Dad approaching me, a slight smile on his face, his hair styled perfectly as usual. He was dressed in a decent gray suit looking handsome as always. Totally a girl's fantasy! I rolled my eyes as I saw my teachers and other women present in the room drooling. It's a daughter's f**king..ooppss sorry with the language..it's a daughter's worst nightmare to watch her friends, teachers and other woman drooling over her father..eewww..talk about giving someone creeps!
"Hey baby girl!", he smiled as he hugged me tight and rocked me lightly. There you go Dad, what a way to ruin my reputation. I am not a baby anymore. I am 17, okay! So not a baby. But Dad is still Dad and you know, they say that for a father his daughter will always remain his little baby girl for him to infinity. So yeah, I am a daddy's girl! His princess? Oh yes! I definitely am.
I pulled back lightly, arms still around his waist, "You liked my project and speech?"
"I loved it", he grinned, "but you know you could have added a few more slides describing equilibrium in other types of markets but it still was brilliant", he shrugged, always the perfectionist. I was about to say something but just then his phone rang, it's screen displaying that it was a call from "Home" i.e. our landline number. While dad got busy on phone, it was probably Vanya, I, on the other hand, got lost thinking about "Home".
Remember the well-kept secret I just talked about? Yes the same one that I got to know by blackmailing Sahil mamu, this whole thing is about that only. Actually a few months back I had sported Dad looking at some newspaper articles and crying and the moment he saw me standing at the door he hastily threw those articles inside the locker and quickly wiped his tears thinking I hadn't seen him crying. I shrugged it off that moments but a few days later something like that happened again. Dad and Cha were joking about Ansh's obsession with diet, health, and fitness that suddenly Cha made a comment about some phelwaan or something that had the elders of our family go stiff. And one time on Siblings Day we, the younger Oberoi's had a very emotional-sibling like moment when Anay in extreme happiness exclaimed, "Dil Bole Oberoi" even then I noticed Dad and Cha looking quite sad as Mom, Chi and Mamu comforted them. Everything was raising my suspicions so finally when I got the chance I blackmailed Sahil Mamu into telling me the reason behind all this.
It was a difficult task but I managed. Mamu didn't tell me many details because well he was a little kid when it all happened so he just told me bits and pieces of the whole story.
What I got to know is that this family of mine is not my whole family, that this family of mine is actually a broken part of one huge family that lives in India. Mamu told me that I have one great-grandmother, two sets of grandparents, three more Cha's and Chi's and one Buji (Bua Ji meaning father's sister) and Fufu (Phupha Ji meaning father's sister's husband). And oh! A few more cousins. And I was like; is this family or half of India's population?! So many people, one family. OMG!
So the story is like approximately 19 years ago a major fight broke out between Dad, Cha and their siblings where Dad and Cha were blamed of something which leads to the separation of the family. Mamu also told me that though the misunderstanding is solved the guilt and pain that the mistrust between the siblings caused is the reason that the Oberoi family is leading a divided life. And that is when my obsession with making things right kicked in and I got my new goal.
Long story short, I managed to get the code of dad's locker, took out all the contents, photocopied the necessary things and then kept all the original copies back in the locker before locking it again. Fortunately, nobody saw me doing that. And now, bbwwhhhaahha, I am going to India to make things right.
I didn't tell my parents the true reason behind me wanting to go to India instead I made up a story that I want to learn Indian classical dance from Pandit Birju Maharaj the most famous Indian classical dancer in the world. I had to do a lot of drama and add some emotional blackmail as well and finally after a lot of hard work they agreed to let me go. Only Mamu is aware of my intentions and he too is supportive of my mission. So after 4 days from now, I am going to Mumbai alone. Finally I will get to meet my whole family and hopefully, I will be able to put these broken pieces of my family back together in one single frame.
P.S. Yeesh..I never told you my name right! Sorry!
I am Shivika Shivaay Singh Oberoi and this is my and my family's story.
