Protective

 “For the last time, it’ll be okay, I am great with families. Your family will love me”- I reassured my girlfriend. She was worried about me meeting her family. Why would anyone have a problem with a handsome educated well settled hunk like me. “The thing is , my family and yours is quite different, we are more ….. matriarchal” - she explained. I didn’t read much into it but it totally looked like a normal family. My girlfriend, Deepti was a 5’9” knockout. Her family was gold mine of female genetics. Her mom was like 5’8” and looked quite great for her age. Her younger sister was small and sweet , totally the baby of the family standing barely past 5’2”. Their dad was a healthy 6’. I’ve no idea from the pictures, what she meant by the matriarchy comment. 

Finally, the day came and I went to their house. Her dad, Rajesh opened the door and I shook his hand. Her mom, Anjali walked down the stairs ethereally smiling and something was totally cooking the way she commanded the attention. I am 6’ tall and somehow my posture softened as she hugged me. Her arms went under my armpits and caressed my back as I felt like I was involuntarily but naturally digging my face in her shoulder as if I was infantalized. The hug though awkward didn’t last too long. Then came the sister , Alia, hella spunky , and I stood up to shake her hand. Her grip was to tight , it made me wince as I did my best to not show. The meeting went well aside from that. We laughed and smiled , I felt warm and welcome. I noticed that the dad was the one supervising a mostly male staff as the girls sat with me. 

Anjali sat in the center seat of of head of family as we ate. I asked Alia to pass me some veggies and Anjali stopped me and said - “please”. I said “what” , deepti interjected and said “mom ?!?” . Anjali said commandingly “say, pass the veggies please, you must respect the women in our family”. A bit insulted , I swallowed my pride and said “Alia, please pass me the veggies.” And she did and we ate to a level of normalcy. I just wanted to leave when they suggested to play games. I didn’t wanna be the party pooper so I stayed. We placed charades and me and deepti were in sync but not as much in sync as Anjali and Rakesh. There were very competitive and so was I. We also had some drinks making us all tipsy. Though ahead of us in score, rakesh messed up something and Anjali seemed irritated. “You know what , we are gonna do arm wrestling next”- announced Anjali . Deepti again whined and said “mom ! No ?” . Alia said “common deepti, veer wants to be family. Let him see us at our craziest haha”

They cleared a table and put our names in a bowl. Deepti got to pick things and they were random two chits who’ll be matched against each other. First names picked were Anjali and rakesh . Rakesh rolled his eyes as he was so confident that he’ll win. He even said “again ?” To Anjali. Anjali smiled giddily. I was confused. Again what ? Why does she like losing so much. They sat against each other as when I noticed Anjali’s arm under her kameez. That fabric looked like it was working hard. Alia smiled and winked at me which I didn’t know what to read into. Is that an advance ? A challenge ? I just shook my head as the couple locked hands. Alia yelled 1,2,3 go and . The arms were in the middle. I was standing behind rakesh so I couldn’t see his face but Anjali smiled as if it’s Friday. I saw her arm bulging as she let out a sigh and moved the arm in her favor. Her sleeve was working really hard to cover the definition. The crashes showed her triceps bulge and was enough to make me gulp as I realized I was making eye contact with her . To break it, I moved towards the kitchen pretending to get some water as I saw rakesh’s face - red with effort , I could even hear a grunt as the man poured in his soul,  shaking to budge his wife’s slow moving arm - moving slowly enough to not be discernible at a second but with purpose. I took a sip of water as she looked at me - and slammed her husbands arm down. “Aaaaahhhhh” rakesh cried as his wife let him go as he massaged his hand . “Mamma is winner” - Alia exclaimed the obvious. She walked around the table looking at me and raised her eye brows as if she was expressing “that’s how it’s done”, as she went to her husband and kissed his cheek. Rakesh jokingly said “am retired baccha log”. Deepti let rakesh pick the next two names . “Veer” , he announced making me edgy at best and “deepti” , my heart was relieved. We’ve been dating for 2 years , I know I can take her. 

I sat down confidently as deepti smiled and sat across me. She let out a flying kiss as we locked arms. “1,2,3, go”. I threw half my strength in the arm hoping to go easy. To my absolute surprise , deept held steady and her smile widened , she raised her eye brows making me aware that she is daughter of her mother. I increased intensity as I went 75-80% hoping to end this , this pushed her arm down a bit before it felt like I was pushing again a wall like force exuded by my girlfriend surprising me. She looked like she was a bit annoyed and trying. I looked up and saw Anjali’s face nodding her head no . I looked at deepti again and saw a hint of fakeness in her struggle. I threw all my power got the arm moving slowly, I was shaking but deepti was not really , concerning me. I pushed it all the way to table claiming victory. “Yeahhhh” I said in celebration as there was silence in the room. Deepti got up and turned around as her mom looked at her with disappointment. She came to me and gave me a hug and said “we should go, it’s late”.

“That’s not fair, our game is not over” Alia said. As she asked deepti to pick next two names . Deepti still made a excuse that she is tired but I was having fun . Never knew she was a sore loser . I said we should stay. Deepti picked the next two names “Anjali” and …. My mind raced as I didn’t know it was gonna be - me or Alia ?!? “Alia” . Whoop - mother vs daughter , here’s something i never thought I’ll see. Both women locked arms and went go. The arm was stable as I saw Anjali’s buff arm flexed again as I gulped. I really hoped I was being paranoid about how strong she was , Anjali got an upper hand but Alia was surprisingly resilient and pushed her arm back to starting position . I saw a more determined expression from Anjali as she attempted to tame her younger daughter. Yet Alia was way more resilient even pushing her arm towards a win. I was stunned as I looked at rakesh watching unbothered . His wife who beat him quite easily was having a bit of trouble against their youngest daughter - I’d think that warrants some attention. Anjali closed her eyes and somehow summoned more strength and was able to get her arm from under her daughter’s to starting position to even a bit in her favor. She opened her eyes - and looked at me - in anger almost. Her eyes made me so nervous that I took a step back as I saw her touch her daughter’s arm on the table. “Mamma wins again” - deepti said and clapped as did we all. Anjali held Alia’s face across the table and gave her a gentle proud kiss on the forehead. It was sweet . Deepti said “can we go?”

“Oh no, lemme pick the next names” said Anjali as she picked a chit and said “veer” and “Alia”. I was a bit taken aback. Somehow the events in the day convinced me that these ladies were not to be trifled with. I mustered up “Alia just competed, she must be tired and I …. Am also ….it’s getting late”. Anjali pulled the chair and gestured me to sit. The environment turned a bit hostile and tense as I walked by deepti who was clearly worried . I sat across Alia who was massaging her arm from her last defeat. “You sure you wanna do this?” I asked her.  Alia smiled and racked her arm. I held it, it was warm from the last match. She gripped and her grip was so solid , it made me wince again. “You get to call it” she said . I looked at the short woman across me. Her arm had tense tone going on in that sleeveless tank top. I looked up at deepti who looked at me and then looked away. I saw rakesh smiling  and Anjali did a head tilt which said “shall we see?”. I gulped and looked into Alia’s beautiful eyes and said “1,2,3  go” I pushed knowing surprise was probably a good bet. I threw my 100% strength in, along with a body tilt that was sure to give me the leg up. All I got was a few cms of movement. I was holding it as I looked at Alia , some of her hair in front of her face which she blew away as I exhaled again. I closed my eyes and summoned all my strength and heard a naughty giggle. Anjali was hugging deepti and deepti stood by her mom for support as they smiled . Anjali with pride and deepti with pity. I somehow was panting and shaking , completely exhausted - I saw Alia roll her eyes and said “come on , try harder” I got insulted and gave it another bout of strength but she got me back at starting point . She then pierced into my eyes as she slammed my hand down with a thud drawing a meek scream from me. She held my hand there and released the grip but pushed my hand with and open palm towards the table. She moved her hand back and forth a bit almost rolling my bones and causing pain as I screamed a bit more as my knuckles hurt. I was trying to get up when instead of removing her palm she pushed my hand into table with her fingers drawing another level of pain. , then she pulled each of the fingers away until she was holding my hand hostage with her pinky finger . I tried to pull my hand but it was getting scraped a bit from the wood under the table cloth. “Alia that’s enough” said deepti as Alia let it go and smiled coyly. I nursed my hand and got up to leave and said “what a bitch” under my breath. 

“Oh no” rakesh said and chugged his drink as the women even deepti made a trio circle around me . Alia cracked her knuckles and Anjali cracked her neck and deepti rolled her shoulders back and said “sorry”. “Ok girls , smash the patriarchy out of him” said Anjali as Alia stepped in and punched me with her left , i went falling when deepti , my loving girlfriend threw a clean kick in my diaphragm and sent me falling until Anjali caught me by my back lifted me up above her shoulder and threw me straight on the floor. Alia caught me by my shirt and picked me up until I was standing , she slapped me left and right - “call me a bitch , one more time” she said as she slapped me 4 times more until I was pinned against the wall. She concentrated a barrage of punches in my ribs and mid section . She stood there as I was scared . She stood with her hands on her hips like a shorter superheroine. “You gonna say it or what ?” Somehow I was confused . I pushed her shoulders but it was like pushing a wall. A hand calmly appeared on Alia’s shoulder gesturing her to move as she Anjali punched me in the stomach so hard that I curled up and spat blood. She held my head between her elbow and waist tightly enough that I had trouble breathing. She kicked my stomach with her knees four times before hurling me back to the center of the room.

Trouble catching my breath didn’t stop as Deepti’s punch connected with my chest sending me back to the wall. I grabbed my chest and tried to huff and puff when I realized the wall was Anjali. Anjali picked me up across her shoulder in a torture rack and pulses me five times until I found magic words “please please , I am I am so so sorry” , she said “that’s more like it, but it’s not me you’ve to say it to” . In an incredible display of power she pressed me over her head and threw me down until sharp pain shot up in my back. I was wrapped around Alia’s thigh as she sat in a lunge . The motion was controlled enough that my back didn’t break but too much pain for me to bear. I looked up at the petite woman holding me in such a dominating position as she pushed my chest and pelvis down across her knee causing sharper pain. “ I am sorry , I am so sorry Alia , I’ll never say that word again”I pleaded. “Oh no , you should say it . How’ll you describe yourself” she said when she pushed me further causing me pain in my whole body via my spine . “Common say it , what are you ?” She asked. Unable to take the pain I shouted “a bitch, I am a bitch ,I am so sorry”. I yelled and broke down in tears as she let me go and I fell. 

Deepti came to collect me as I sobbed. She threw me on one shoulder as she got up. I was too embarrassed and my body hurt too much to care to realize how strong deepti was to just have me hanging on the shoulder . She talked to her mom sister and dad calmly as they discussed how the weather is good , Call me when you get back , take some left overs kinda stuff. Deepti adjusted me from shoulder to a cradle as I looked at her family with new eyes. They looked so tall as I was hoisted in arms of my girlfriend. Alia came in and held my cheek and laughed . Anjali came in and patted my hair - “brave boy” as she held my face like a child. Rakesh just did a cheers from a distance as deepti carried me to the car. 

The car drive was silent as I was about to burst in tears any second from the beating and humiliation I suffered . We pulled into our parking when deepti asked unironically “kaisi lagi meri family ?”

Speechless ……