It was that time of the year and Ramesh was sitting in his school with great anticipation. His grand mom had come to visit them and she had been really busy making sweets. Today the first batch of sweets would have been ready. He was impatient for the final bell like a ballet dancer waiting for her very first dance performance. Just as it rung, it was music to his ears and in no time was down stairs ghosting past the corridor and playground towards the cycle shed.
"Ramesh, cricket by 4 30 at the BVR grounds?" shouted his friend from a distance.
"Sorry too busy . Wont be able to make it today" retorted Ramesh as he hastily climbed down the stairs ignoring the look of surprise in his friend's face. Ramesh usually was the first person in line for playing cricket. But there are darker things at play in the background. Smelted sugar in collusion with milk, ghee, oil and other collaborators in their multitude of forms were playing havoc in this innocent young boy's mind. He had only one motto in his life for the day and it was to get his hands on those freshly made gustatory delights. He quickly unlocked his cycle and flashed towards his home.
"Mom, I am back" he shouted as he was about to enter his ground floor building. He dumped his cycle in the congested place below the stairs and wanted to burst open that door like Hannuman from the fables. The aroma of freshly fried sweets was piercing his stomach through his nose.
"Ramesh kanna" called out his elderly neighbor lady.
"Hi Uma aunty, good evening" replied Ramesh without taking his eyes off the door.
"Your mom has taken your grand mom for some shopping. She wanted me to give me this key to you. She will be back in another 30 minutes."
Ramesh was stunned, and could not believe how his mom could do this to him. With great disappointment he went to get the keys. But that disappointment soon turned into elation when he realised that he would be spending atleast 30 minutes alone in the house without his mother's supervision with only the freshly prepared sweets for company. It's like having a deepavali vacations being thrust upon a week earlier.
"Would you like to come in and wait here till your mother comes ?"
"No Aunty I will wait in my house" replied ramesh hastily and grabbed the keys off her frail hands and burst open the door just like his hero Hanuman, but with the help of the keys. He entered the cosy little apartment and set out for the kitchen. He threw his bag on the bed and did not bother to change his clothes. His eyes were fixed on the kitchen. Every step he took made the aroma stronger and increased his appetite.
He entered the kitchen which was very clean, the hallmark of the presence of his grandmother. Usually it is never this clean and it was arguably the only trade secret she had failed to pass it on to her daughter. Ramesh quickly scanned over the entire kitchen. He knew the blue print of the kitchen by heart and where to locate the most important stuff. He scanned through the shelves for new containers. His eyes were probably betraying him, but he could not find anything new. Refrigirator was his next place to explore. The only new things he found there was his grandmother's set of fake teeth and that day's sambar. His frustration peaked. His mother was quite clever and knew exactly where to hide things. Ramesh had been successful a few times in digging out these treasure troves.
He closed the refrigerator and hypothetically wore his sherlock holmes hat. He scanned the room once again carefully. He was the tallest 10 year old in his class. Even the tallest of 10 year olds have a problem and their parents are atleast twice their height. "Think like a criminal and you will solve all the mysteries", he told himself the famous quote of holmes. He took a few steps backwards and looked up. Eureka!! there it was. A complete new stack of porcelain and stainless steel containers on the top most deck of the shelf. The containers happily smirking at him "take it if you can".
His mind the raced fast and looked around for something that could make up the deficit of 2 meters required to reach the top. The stool in the living room was the obvious choice. He slowly pulled it into the kitchen. He mounted on the stool and tried reaching the top shelf without any success. Still he was off by a few feet. He had to bump up the height. The future engineer had his instincts kick in and reached out to a container that was lying on the floor for drying. He placed the container on the stool. The container had a narrow top and a broad botttom. He placed the container inverted on the stool and slowly mounted the 2 layers of height boosters. The plan worked to perfection. He almost reached the top of deck of the shelf.
Jealous of the young boy's success fate had to intervene. The container destabilised on the stool and he feel down with a huge thud!! The sweets were so close yet he could not gorge them. As he was contemplating a second try for reaching the top, the door slowly opened. The boy quickly set the container straight, masked his pain in his ankle with a bright smile on his face and then sat on stool keeping his face sad so as to gain his mother's sympathy.
"Mom where are the sweets? " He shouted as his mother entered the kitchen.
His mom could not control her laughter. "The little detective here must have searched the entire house and forgot to check his own table."
Stunned ramesh ran to his room. Lying on the table there was a beautiful little container with a note, saying "Enjoy the sweets. Love - Mom".
"Ramesh, cricket by 4 30 at the BVR grounds?" shouted his friend from a distance.
"Sorry too busy . Wont be able to make it today" retorted Ramesh as he hastily climbed down the stairs ignoring the look of surprise in his friend's face. Ramesh usually was the first person in line for playing cricket. But there are darker things at play in the background. Smelted sugar in collusion with milk, ghee, oil and other collaborators in their multitude of forms were playing havoc in this innocent young boy's mind. He had only one motto in his life for the day and it was to get his hands on those freshly made gustatory delights. He quickly unlocked his cycle and flashed towards his home.
"Mom, I am back" he shouted as he was about to enter his ground floor building. He dumped his cycle in the congested place below the stairs and wanted to burst open that door like Hannuman from the fables. The aroma of freshly fried sweets was piercing his stomach through his nose.
"Ramesh kanna" called out his elderly neighbor lady.
"Hi Uma aunty, good evening" replied Ramesh without taking his eyes off the door.
"Your mom has taken your grand mom for some shopping. She wanted me to give me this key to you. She will be back in another 30 minutes."
Ramesh was stunned, and could not believe how his mom could do this to him. With great disappointment he went to get the keys. But that disappointment soon turned into elation when he realised that he would be spending atleast 30 minutes alone in the house without his mother's supervision with only the freshly prepared sweets for company. It's like having a deepavali vacations being thrust upon a week earlier.
"Would you like to come in and wait here till your mother comes ?"
"No Aunty I will wait in my house" replied ramesh hastily and grabbed the keys off her frail hands and burst open the door just like his hero Hanuman, but with the help of the keys. He entered the cosy little apartment and set out for the kitchen. He threw his bag on the bed and did not bother to change his clothes. His eyes were fixed on the kitchen. Every step he took made the aroma stronger and increased his appetite.
He entered the kitchen which was very clean, the hallmark of the presence of his grandmother. Usually it is never this clean and it was arguably the only trade secret she had failed to pass it on to her daughter. Ramesh quickly scanned over the entire kitchen. He knew the blue print of the kitchen by heart and where to locate the most important stuff. He scanned through the shelves for new containers. His eyes were probably betraying him, but he could not find anything new. Refrigirator was his next place to explore. The only new things he found there was his grandmother's set of fake teeth and that day's sambar. His frustration peaked. His mother was quite clever and knew exactly where to hide things. Ramesh had been successful a few times in digging out these treasure troves.
He closed the refrigerator and hypothetically wore his sherlock holmes hat. He scanned the room once again carefully. He was the tallest 10 year old in his class. Even the tallest of 10 year olds have a problem and their parents are atleast twice their height. "Think like a criminal and you will solve all the mysteries", he told himself the famous quote of holmes. He took a few steps backwards and looked up. Eureka!! there it was. A complete new stack of porcelain and stainless steel containers on the top most deck of the shelf. The containers happily smirking at him "take it if you can".
His mind the raced fast and looked around for something that could make up the deficit of 2 meters required to reach the top. The stool in the living room was the obvious choice. He slowly pulled it into the kitchen. He mounted on the stool and tried reaching the top shelf without any success. Still he was off by a few feet. He had to bump up the height. The future engineer had his instincts kick in and reached out to a container that was lying on the floor for drying. He placed the container on the stool. The container had a narrow top and a broad botttom. He placed the container inverted on the stool and slowly mounted the 2 layers of height boosters. The plan worked to perfection. He almost reached the top of deck of the shelf.
Jealous of the young boy's success fate had to intervene. The container destabilised on the stool and he feel down with a huge thud!! The sweets were so close yet he could not gorge them. As he was contemplating a second try for reaching the top, the door slowly opened. The boy quickly set the container straight, masked his pain in his ankle with a bright smile on his face and then sat on stool keeping his face sad so as to gain his mother's sympathy.
"Mom where are the sweets? " He shouted as his mother entered the kitchen.
His mom could not control her laughter. "The little detective here must have searched the entire house and forgot to check his own table."
Stunned ramesh ran to his room. Lying on the table there was a beautiful little container with a note, saying "Enjoy the sweets. Love - Mom".
