Simran Kaur and the Inner Gift

Thirty-Two

Simran Kaur counted thirty-two steps from the front door to the school bus.

She counted them every morning. Coming home was different — she didn't count the steps back. Coming home she walked fast, backpack thumping, thinking about other things.

Today she was thinking about the time. Four fifteen. Her show started at four fifteen.

She dropped her bag by the stairs. Kicked off her shoes. Did not count the fridge magnets (twelve, she already knew). The kitchen clock said four eleven.

Four minutes.

She took the stairs two at a time.

Kiran

Kiran was on the floor of their bedroom when Simran came in. Three years old, in her pyjama top and a pair of leggings, surrounded by plastic animals arranged in a careful line along the edge of the rug.

"One elephant," Kiran said. "Two elephant. Three elephant."

"They're elephants," said Simran. "Not elephant."

"Three elephant," said Kiran firmly.

Simran didn't argue. She pulled her school jumper over her head and reached for her home clothes. The clock on the wall said four thirteen.

Two minutes.

She moved fast — jumper off, school trousers off, home clothes on. Her kachera stayed on, the way it always did. The white cotton shorts she'd worn every day for as long as she could remember, under everything, over nothing.

She was reaching for her leggings when Kiran looked up.

"What are those?"

"My kachera," said Simran. She pulled her leggings on.

"Why?"

Simran glanced at the clock. Four fourteen. She could still make it.

"It's — they're —" She stopped. She had her hand on the door handle. She looked back at Kiran, who was sitting very still among her elephants, waiting with the serious patience that three-year-olds have for questions they actually want answered.

Explore More

• The Five Kakars — Articles of Sikh Faith — What the Five Kakars are and why they matter
• Simran Kaur and the Lost Sketchbook — The first story in the Five Kakars series
• Hair Twins — A picture book celebrating Sikh identity through hair

About This Story

This is the fifth and final story in the Simran Kaur series — five stories set in Toronto, each woven around one of the Five Kakars (the five articles of Sikh identity given by Guru Gobind Singh Ji to the Khalsa in 1699). The Kachera is the most intimate of the five. Its significance as a gift from Guru Gobind Singh Ji lies in readiness and self-mastery: a Khalsa is always themselves, always grounded, always the same person whether anyone is watching or not. In this story, it is Simran's younger sister Kiran who asks the question — and in answering it, Simran discovers she already knows the answer. She has been carrying it all along.