Ok I hope you like it. We were studying Hinduism in class and it was interesting.
"Maa," I say, "what is an untouchable?"
"Why do you ask?" she asks, continuing embroidering.
"Nudge was talking about them in class today." I reply, embroidering also.
"An untouchable is somebody who has been really bad; they have bad karma and are stuck in that caste." Maa explains.
"Why are they called untouchable?" I ask.
"Because if they touch you, or even if their shadow falls on you, you are polluted with their bad karma." She says. I gasp. By the way most of the things in the story I am writing are based on facts.
"How will I know if somebody is an untouchable?" I exclaim.
"The same way you tell if they are Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Sudra." She says. I nod a little relieved. I stop embroidering and tighten my sari. Maa pushes my brown and blonde away from my chocolate brown eyes.
"Help me make dinner," Maa commands. We stand up and cook rice. Baap walks in the door, he is a land owner. He nods at Maa and walks into his study. Baap is dad and Maa is mom. My brother Ari walks in and sneers at me. I don't let the fear show on my face. Ari, my older brother, is evil. He is Kshatriya, like the rest of my family, but with all of the bad karma he is racking up, when he dies he will be an untouchable. I walk to the sleeping room. I share a bed with Ari and Maa and Baap have a bed. We have two regular sized beds in the small room.
"Maximum, I have been bad." A whispered voice says behind me. I jump and freeze. "I need some of your good karma."
"No, no brother." I say. I turn to face him and back away. His hand is out, reaching for me. He leaps and his hand grabs my arm. He hugs me and I can't breathe.
"What are you doing?" Maa asks from the kitchen.
"Just telling Max something," Ari says and lets me go. I think of his polluting bad karma mixing with my earned good karma. He took my good karma and in return polluted me. He leaves and I hold back my tears. Krishna please don't make this bad karma stick to my forever. Lift it from me. I walk into the living room and bow at the statue of Rama.
"Dinner," Maa says. We all sit in the floor and thank Krishna for our meal. Baap and Ari eat first, then Maa, then me. I lay down in my bed and Ari hugs against me. I almost start crying. He should be classified as an untouchable. I eventually fall asleep. I wake up and fix my sari. I grab a note book and pencil and walk out of the door.
"Hey Max," Iggy says.
"Shh, Iggy, don't let anyone see us. Our reputations would be ruined!" I hiss.
"Okay, sorry, goodbye max," Iggy walks off. I sigh and walk to my all girl's school.
"Hey, Max, last night was so cool, my Maa gave me some of her old kohl and lipstick! Angel and Gazzy went with me and we bathed and there was a heron and at the beautiful river, we should go together sometime to wash clothes together!" Guess who.
"Okay Nudge," I reply. We walk into class together and sit for a really boring class. When they dismiss us I run out and Nudge leads me to the river. I gasp with its beauty. It brings tears to my eyes. Nudge laughs and spins in the green meadow. After an hour Nudge says she has to leave. I sit in the mud with my feet in the cool water. I sit there and look up when someone sits beside me. I look and see blonde hair and light blue eyes staring at me. He looks like a true Aryan. I gasp and scoot away. A ringing laugh leaves his lips as he sees my fear and discomfort. I automatically know he is an untouchable. I stand up and back away from him.
"Hello," he says.
"Back away, don't come near me," I tremble.
"I am Dylan, what is your name?" he continues towards me.
"Don't touch me," I hiss at him and search for a weapon.
"I only want a friend," he says with a sad look on his face. That look mollifies me and I don't take a step away from him when he steps towards me.
"Step away from her Dylan," a deep voice says from behind Dylan, I can't see who it belongs to because Dylan is a lot taller than me. Dylan turns around and I back up even more.
"What, I was only talking to her." Dylan snaps.
"Just go, that wasn't all you wanted to do, I will not let you pollute her." The voice says again. Dylan grumbles and walks away. I look up to see a very tall male, with black eyes and hair, he is very handsome. He just looks at me.
"Go home," he says. I nod and run towards my house.