I call my mother by her first name because we look nothing alike. Sure, we could have lied and told everyone I was adopted, but things like that didn’t happen when Tasleem was growing up. A child with blue eyes and a nose pointed enough to puncture a balloon was only left with a brown woman if she worked for the parents. I couldn’t have called my mother ‘mom’ if I’d wanted to – she simply didn’t teach me that word. For everyone’s safety I called her ‘Tee’, and later, when I could get my mouth around the word, I referred to her as Tannie (Afrikaans, meaning ‘Aunty’). Much as Tasleem hates it, the name stuck. Twenty years later and she’s still my aunt sometimes.

show more