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5:50am 

Hands busy in thick of actions. Roasting “Rava” and chopping vegetables goes side by side. Clanking of the ladle, chopping sound of the knife are my companion churning a rhythmic background score for the random thoughts that also have awaken from the slumber, from the furrows and folds of brain. They are wondering at a speedy that would put the lone drifting cloud miles behind in the race. Keeping an eye on the tiny table clock, I shrug off the thoughts as I am running late. (Nothing new! I have an inkling these days that unless I am running late, I don’t work efficiently in kitchen.)

Two chubby, warm hands engulf my waist and a head that would otherwise loose its balance if not rested on my shoulder, make me forget everything. I turn around and reciprocate it with a warm bear hug. Turning my face leftwards, I wait for the morning customary kiss from my little one. In the desert of the emotions spread far and wide by the two men in my house, this morning ritual is an oasis. A moment passes by without much action. I open my eyes, my eyebrows curled up to find out what might have come in the way of morning dosage of love.

Two little, sleepy eyes are trying hard to defy the heavy weight of the eyelids. Blame it to winter, I say to myself! But winter is not the thing that is lurking on the other side of the thinking space. A heavy, groggy voice questioned, “Whats for breakfast?”, says she with her gaze fixated on the chopped veggies.

Loosening my embrace, I reply, “Upama”. By now the oil is hot enough for me to add the mustard seeds.

“Baby corn in Upama?”, crackled the little one before the mustard seeds could.

“Its vegetable Upama”, I say adding curry leaves.

“Oh gosh…one day you will add brinjal as well. Wont you?” and she is about to venture out of the kitchen little upset.

The splatter of the curry leaves is lost in the enormity of the doubt expressed by her. I take a long breath.

“How about aubergine pizza”, I check.

Pizza is a golden, magic word and it did its trick. The plodding feet stop immediately and she turns around. With wide twinkling eyes, she said, “Pizza! Why not?”.

“Aubergine is nothing but brinjal”, added the boffin, the elder one, entering the kitchen.

“Oh, really Aai…brinjal and pizza? You must have been really sick while cooking up such an awful thought of adding brinjal as topping to pizza!”, replied the little one with much disgust and with a face twisted to its maximum extent.

“Its not me, darlings. But the chefs from Italy who have it as one of their prized topping!”, I added, trying my best to keep calm, while adding the roasted Rava to the boiling mixture of seasoned vegetables.

“Lady you still are in pajamas and the bus nanny wont allow you to put a foot on the bus with it”, said Mr Right in making, clearing his throat after finishing his milk, darting his eyes straight in the direction of the little one. And he had all the right for saying so, as he was ready with his bag and about to go.

“Good Lord, I have maths paper today”, said the little one.

That was googly for me. I demanded an explanation, “What does that mean?”, sprinkling coriander on Upama in the pot that was ready by now.

“Simple. Maths is my favourite. So, anything that is not my favourite is okay today. Thankfully it’s not English paper, today”, she cleared the air.

“You mean, had it been English paper, you would have considered it as a bad omen?”, checked the elder one with much contempt in his tone.

“Yup… 666… English is such a darn one! Hahaha”, and she rushed to the bedroom to get ready.

That left me to wonder, ‘can brinjal be a soft target when it comes to fixing the blame to?’ Poor brinjal! Imagine the politicians blaming it to brinjals instead of EVMs or anti-incumbency wave for not getting elected or an ‘A Lister’ Bollywood star blaming it to brinjals for not crossing 2Cr box office collection, instead of poor acting or story line?

‘How about adding brinjal or say Zucchini or say Broccoli next time to Upama?’ wondered my thought again, this time to a far-fetched frontier! Wont I be able to safely blame it to them if the dish or for that matter the entire day, doesn’t turn out well? Eureka!!!

What do you say?

9:00am

Linking this post to #MondayMusings by Corinne Rodrigues of Everydaygyaan


22 Comments

Vaishali · December 17, 2018 at 1:58 pm

Enjoyed reading

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    Glad you liked it Vaishali. Thanks for visiting.

Mayuri Nidigallu · December 17, 2018 at 3:10 pm

No experimenting with Upma, and no Brinjal in it at all. Ever! All your experiments should only be undertaken in your writing, Anagha. See how well this one worked! Good to have you back!

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 3:13 pm

    Thank you for such a heart warming comment Mayuri. Thanks for all the love and care dear!

Vartika · December 17, 2018 at 4:09 pm

Hahaha what a come back Anagha. Thanks for the morning laughter.

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 5:15 pm

    Thanks Vartika for visiting and for encouragement!

Balaka · December 17, 2018 at 4:16 pm

I was in Italy last month and actually had aubergine pizza. It was bit of a culture shock for me. When I posted the photos on Facebook my brother commented “tereko baingan khane k liye Italy jane ki kya zaroorat thi?” On a different note my mom always added brinjal in upma and I loved it. I am actually extremely fond of brinjal so can have it with anything and everything. Another hilarious post from you. I love your funny posts.

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    Hahaha…paying in Euros for brinjal pizza!!! Your brother’s amusement sure is not out of place Balaka.
    And now that I have assurance from you that brinjal can be safely added to Upama, I will have to find something else as soft target 🙂
    Thanks for visiting and sharing this slice of memory from your timeline, Balaka.

Ashvini kulkarni · December 17, 2018 at 4:24 pm

Hahahaha!!! Upma with aubergine !!!!! Even I shudder to think of that !!! And yes, maths is my favorite subject too . Anagha that was nice reading ?

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 5:27 pm

    Thank you Mavashi for visiting and siding with the little one. Will inform her about it!

Pr@Gun · December 17, 2018 at 5:11 pm

That’s a lovely read. Bjinjal blamegame is the present issue.

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 5:34 pm

    Passing the bubble to the most benign entity is the easiest job, specially when one is in kitchen! Kitchen politics, hahaha!
    Thanks dear for visiting and sharing your thought.

Sachin Baikar · December 17, 2018 at 8:48 pm

Enjoyed reading your post after long time. Very well written one ? Anagha. Happy to see you back with your funny stories ☺ Keep writing ? ? ?

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    Thank you Sachin for warmth and support. Indebted!
    Keeping my fingers crossed for keeping up the tempo.

deepa joshi · December 17, 2018 at 9:22 pm

Beautifully penned. Enjoyed a lot. Keep writing Anagha.

    Anagha Yatin · December 17, 2018 at 11:26 pm

    Happy to see that you enjoyed it. Thanks Deepa for visiting and encouraging!

Ramya Abhinand · December 18, 2018 at 7:51 am

Dont we moms love to experiment? or rather add all sorts of stuff in the name of making it healty? I will confess I have done such stuff too. But off late, I refrain from this and stick to tried and tested formulae.. So no aubergines in upma or pizza:))

    Anagha Yatin · December 18, 2018 at 1:15 pm

    I go with majority. With you also pitching in for no aubergine for Upama, I refrain from adding it next time. But that leaves me with one question… what will I put blame to if it is not to be Aubergine? Hahaha…

Sajid Akhter · December 19, 2018 at 6:18 pm

Hi Anagha,

Good post. It is fascinating to read your article. It is fresh and fun to read.

Thanks for sharing, have a good day.

    Anagha Yatin · December 20, 2018 at 1:07 pm

    Hello Sajid. Thanks a ton for visiting, reading the post and sharing the positive feedback.

Jyotirmoy Sarkar · December 22, 2018 at 7:58 pm

Good to see you back, interesting write up as usual,
i dont like upma much and neithe the brinjal, so no question of mixing the two.

    Anagha Yatin · December 24, 2018 at 2:22 pm

    Thanks Jyotirmoy. Brinjal is no-no for me too! And I am happy that there are many like me, including you.
    Thanks for visiting.

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