Kamla noticed that her husband doted slightly more on the baby than he had with the other two children. It wouldn’t have been obvious to an outsider, but there were little things like how he would choose to carry her instead of pushing her in her pram when they went out shopping. He had never done that with their other daughters.
The extended family also spoiled the child. Her first birthday party was held in Havenside Park in Unit 1 and was one of the biggest family occasions held in years. Everyone brought toys and clothing for Ambi, more than she would ever need.
By then, Ambi was already several kilograms heavier than most one-year-olds, but this didn’t concern Kamla or anyone else. The extra kilos, if anything, endeared her to others, strangers even. It made them want to pinch her cheeks, to pick her up and hug her, to nuzzle against her neck. But most of all, it made people want to feed her. It was a joy to watch Ambi eat, the way she relished her food, the way she always wanted more.
The first indication of a problem came when Ambi went in for a routine check-up the middle of her third year. The nurse at the clinic made a passing remark about Ambi being well over the recommended weight for her age. The nurse didn’t say anything more, but Kamla saw in her eyes a different look from the admiring ones Ambi had received until then.
Over the following months Kamla began slowly cutting down on the treats and snacks her daughter had grown accustomed to in-between meals. Ambi cried a lot during this time. Kamla’s husband tried to convince her to not be as stringent, but by then the concerns about Ambi’s weight were being voiced more openly by the nurses and doctor.
It wasn’t just the food or her eating habits, they said. There was something wrong inside of her, something inside of her was making her fatter.
Ambi herself did not seem aware of how different she was from cousins her age. She ran slower than them and would grow tired and out-of-breath more quickly, but it didn’t stop her from playing the same games as them; and when she began to talk, her talk was the same as any child.
What changed first was that the attention she received earlier from the extended family began to wane. More and more, when the adults of the family looked at her, it was with the same look the nurse at the clinic had given her.
Kamla was angry at first, that these people should judge her child, but she grew used to it over time. She fielded all their questions about Ambi’s current weight and about what they were feeding her and listened patiently to their numerous weight loss suggestions.
The diet changes and the medication prescribed by the doctors didn’t make a difference. Ambi kept putting on the kilograms. Eventually Kamla stopped the food restrictions; it didn’t make any sense to deprive the child if it wasn’t going to make a difference to her condition.
During Ambi’s first two years at school, Kamla was called in to see the teacher more than a dozen times. It was always the same thing. The girl was being teased, she wasn’t responding to any of the teaching, she wasn’t making any friends.
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