Hotel Transylvania 3

Here is the file you asked for Mrs. Gupta”

“Thank you, Mishra ji.”, I said with a smile as I took the file from peon.

I looked at my computer screen. There was still no reply from Shilpa. I had been trying to get in touch with her for a long time but to no avail. She even has made her facebook profile private and I can’t even see what she is up to these days. I have tried to login to my own facebook account several times, but my login password does not work anymore. I wonder how she is.

I looked at the clock on the wall in my office. It was time for me to go back to my home. I picked up my bag, a pretty big one, and left the office. I stopped at a local shop on my way out to buy some vegetables that I will need to cook at home.

The weather has turned hot and humid in the past few days. I wiped the sweat over my face using my saree pallu. And began to walk towards an auto. I have become really good at walking in a saree. When I look around me, I find myself to be among the rare breed of middle-class women who wear sarees to their workplace, and are comfortable in it. My closet is full of them. That’s one reason I wear sarees almost everyday. But I have grown fond of wearing sarees.

It didn’t take long for me to reach home. My children were back home already from their tuition classes. I am 36, and I am already a mother of a 15-year old and 11-year old sons. My elder son is already a lot taller than me. It feels so unreal. Especially when I look at the women of my age in my office, they all have children under 8 years of age. They chose to get married later and start their family much later. I didn’t make that choice. I didn’t have a choice, but I have no complaints about that.

When I entered home, the house was noisy as expected. Kids were watching their IPL game on a TV. A little tired from work, I just asked them to turn down the volume a little bit. I dropped the bag of vegetables in the kitchen, and went to my bedroom to change my saree. I quickly wore a breezy saree more appropriate for the weather. I guess I have become adept at it. I quickly folded my office saree and put it on a hanger in the closet.

I came to the kitchen, tuck the long pallu around my waist and immediately started preparing for the dinner. Long gone are the days when I would be the one happily watching television while the food was being prepared for me.

I had barely started when my younger one came and hugged me from behind. I have been with my kids long enough to know that when anyone of them hugs me from behind, it indicates that they need something from me. And why stop at my sons, my husband too does the same. Anyway, I find it comforting that my children trust their mother that she could provide them with whatever they need. I guess that’s what motherhood is about.

“I am hungry, mom”, said the little one. I turned around and looked at him. “Take out the milk container from the fridge. I will warm it up and prepare Complan for you two.”, I said to him as I went on to fetch the glasses from the cabinet. “Go and call your brother too.”, I said.

While I was doing this, my mind was already preparing the list of things to do for tonight’s dinner. I cannot believe how good I have become at multi-tasking as I juggled through various things in the kitchen.

After giving glasses of warm milk to my children, I started to focus on the dinner preparation.

“Mom, do you need any help?”, said the elder one. He is a little more sensitive towards me. May be he noticed that his mother looks tired.

“Yes, wash and cut this lauki(Bottle-gourd).”, I said to him while I was cutting onions, tomatoes and chillies.

He might have barely finished washing the vegetable when my younger one shouted, “Brother, come quick! Kohli hit a SIX!”. And the elder one ran away from the kitchen. He is not coming back, I thought to myself. I cannot really count on boys to help in the kitchen.

man became a woman - crossdressing story

I was almost done cooking dinner. All I had to do now is roll chapatis. My children love to eat hot chapatis. That’s why I make it towards the end. That’s when my husband came and startled me by grabbing my shoulders. He smiled and gave me a peck on my cheek.

“How was your day?”, he asked. “Just the usual”, I replied as I wiped sweat over my face and tuck my hair falling over my face to behind my ears as I continued to roll the chapatis. He stayed in the kitchen for a minute, and then, went on to change his clothes in our bedroom. He is a man of few words, but he is very sweet. What he lacks in words, he makes up for that by expressing his feelings with his little gestures and affection.

A little later, I served dinner and we all had our dinner as usual. A little chit-chat happened over the dining table between my sons and their father about their school and the IPL game.

“Hey guys, you know that your mom doesn’t like it if you talk a lot and eat less. So, shhh… and focus on dinner.”, he said to the boys. He looked towards me as if he was going to earn some brownie points from me for being a responsible father. I smiled at him briefly, and served some more rice to my elder son. I guess my smile was a reward in itself for my husband, and he took it with pleasure.

After dinner, I started picking all the dishes to place it in the sink.

“Mom, it’s time for your TV serial.”, shouted the young one. To be very honest, that TV serial was never my choice. But truth be told, I have started enjoying the saas-bahu saga. More than anything, I like the relaxing time I get to spend with my family when we watch that show. We all sit together on a sofa and enjoy the show together. It’s a comforting feeling. Otherwise, unknown to my family, the challenges I had been experiencing lately are just too much to handle for me on my own.

After the serial was over, kids went to their room to sleep. Finally, I had a moment for myself. I went to the bathroom, and I removed the pin from my saree, folded it and took out a nighty to wear.

I checked my phone one last time before going to bed, hoping to see an email from Shilpa but it wasn’t there. I futilely tried to login to my facebook account but couldn’t get through the login screen.

I just stayed there looking at the mirror. My life feels so unreal, I thought to myself. It had been exactly a month since that day. The day I got switched into this body and I suddenly became a wife and a mother. I was a man until that day. I used to come home from work only to get annoyed by the shouting and quarreling of 4 and 6 year old children I had back then. I would show my anger on the kids and my wife Shilpa. She used to take in all my verbal abuses silently most of the time. Occasionally, she would snap at me too. I never acknowledged or appreciated all the things she used to do for me and my family. She used to do all those things that I do now everyday. But thankfully, I have a husband who may not be much of a help to run this house but he at least appreciates what I do. He doesn’t make things more difficult for me by shouting at his wife like I used to do.

man became a woman - crossdressing story

I came back to the bed and slept next to my husband turning my back towards him. I was occupied with thoughts about my life with Shilpa. My husband gently placed his arms around my waist. He has this gentle little ways of expressing his love towards me. He never forces himself upon me. Of course, there is some level of physical intimacy between us like any other husband and a wife. I resist any intimacy, but I can’t resist these sweet little gestures of touch that come with a warmth of love. He hasn’t really gone beyond those gestures in the past month I spent with him. May be he is in that phase of life where love is to be experienced at emotional level and not necessarily at a wild physical level. Or may be, his priorities are more about providing for his family, and he has tamed his desires. He is really a sweet man, the kind I never was.

I went to sleep while still thinking about Shilpa and my real children. It seems like a dream that I could suddenly be switched from the body of a man to the body of a woman whom I never met before or knew at all. I don’t even know where is that woman now. Is she inhabiting my body now? Does Shilpa know about this switch? Did she somehow do this to me? If she did, won’t she try to at least find me once? I long to see her and to know about her, but Mumbai is too far from here for me to go. What would I say to my new children if I decide to visit Mumbai on my own? I know my younger one would not be able to live without his momma. I have already started thinking like a real mother who could not leave her children when they need her. Long tired, I fell asleep without any answers in sight.

It’s Sunday morning. I got up early, took a bath and got ready in a fresh saree. I gave the cup of tea to my husband who was still in the bed, and gave a glass of milk to my sons. I started making breakfast for everyone. I sometimes feel and wish there was another woman/girl in this family with whom I could share what I feel as a woman. I try it with my husband sometimes. He appreciates and tries to understand, but I still feel that there is so much more I do as a woman that only a woman can truly understand.

“Mom, we have to leave now to play cricket.”, my younger one said as I served breakfast to my family. Cricket? I used to love playing cricket, I thought to myself.

“Finish your breakfast first.”, the motherly instinct in me said. I paused a little and said to them, “May I come to watch how you two play? I can be your cheer-leader.” I smiled.

Both my sons were a little surprised, and a little hesitant. Who wants their mother to show up in an all-boys game? Not only they would have to behave nicely, but their friends may mock them too. Yet, I didn’t budge.

“Ok”, my younger one said with a little sigh.

“Do you wanna come with us?”, I asked my husband as I served another paratha to him. “I am going to relax and enjoy at home. You all can do whatever you want.”, he replied. I knew that he was going to say no. He works hard all week, and Sunday is the only day he gets to relax a bit. The same is true for me too, but somehow, the desire to see my children play was over-powering.

RECKONING
At the cricket field, I sat at the edge of the ground watching them play. While I enjoyed watching my own sons, I felt as if the game quality of all these kids hadn’t matured.

When they all took a break, I went on to ask some other kid, “May I bat for a few balls?” That kid was really taken aback by my request. And I am sure my sons were truly embarrassed at this point. “Aunty, how are you going to play wearing a saree?”, the kid replied.

“So, what? I won’t run. I will just play the shots.”, I giggled. The kid reluctantly agreed and asked one of the bowlers to throw a few balls for me. I noticed that my son went up to that bowler and spoke something to him. May be he asked the bowler to be a little easy on his mother. Only if he knew his mother used to be a great batsman. I merely smiled and wrapped my saree pallu so that it doesn’t come in between my bat.

“And that’s a FOUR!”, one kid shouted as I hit the loose ball. I saw my sons’ jaw dropping when they saw what happened.

“Come on, throw me a real ball.”, I said to the bowler. I must say he threw a pretty good ball the next time. I barely managed to plate it. All the eyes were now upon me.

“Mom, you can do it. Hit it!”, my younger son cheered for me for the next ball. I smiled and hit another boundary. Both my sons were really excited now. I hit another consecutive three boundaries, and decided to let the children play. Honestly, I had tried to hit a six but my bangles and dainty wrist made it a little difficult for me to do so.

It was fun to play cricket in a saree. And what I liked the most? The fact that my sons were really proud of me. “You are so cool, Mom!”, my elder son said. I just smiled and roughed his hair, and we walked back to our home after the game.

man became a woman - crossdressing story

“Dad, you won’t believe what happend today!”, my younger son shouted as soon as we got home. But my husband was fast asleep and snoring. I didn’t want him to know this anyway.

We all were laughing and having fun when my younger son said to me, “Mom, you were amazing today. You are a girl and you managed to beat one of our best bowlers.”

And suddenly, my son’s words struck something inside me. His words were not right. He didn’t mean anything bad, but there was something wrong about his words. I knew that because I had said and done things like that in my past life. May be what I was going through now, was because of my actions in the past. I didn’t want my son to repeat the same mistakes I did. I did not want to reprimand my son, but I still wanted to correct him.

“Listen, son. Who said to you that girls can’t play good cricket? Don’t ever think that girls are lesser in anyway. They might be a little different than you but they are equal to boys. You saw your mom play today. Didn’t I play better than most of the guys in your team?”, I said.

My son looked at me and agreed with a sigh. I knew that he hasn’t fully understood the lesson I wanted to him to learn.

“You know guys, if I can play cricket with you, you two can help your mother in the kitchen as well. There is nothing to feel embarrassed about helping your mother.”, I said lovingly with a smile.

“We will help you, mom. I promise.”, said my elder son who had been quiet all these while. Probably, he started to understand what I meant to convey.
I don’t know how I ended up in this woman’s body, or why I ended up in this position. I don’t know if my life as a mother is a dream, or if Shilpa did something to switch my body. I am not even sure if I would ever get back to my original life.

May be it’s time for me to embrace this womanhood completely. I can at least do my part, and raise responsible sons who respect women for what they are and what they do. I can raise them as young men who don’t look down upon women. I can raise responsible sons who respect women and don’t discriminate against them. As a man in past my life, I never realized my subtle discrimination against women. But I know the truth now, I could have done better. Now, with the motherly love and affection that I have in my heart for my children, I will be able to make my sons so much better as a man than I ever was. I now have a new mission in my life. Wish me luck that I succeed in my mission.