A Monday
It is very difficult for a person who is so fond of going
office every day without fail, to stay at home on a day which is neither
weekend nor a holiday and when he’s not feeling ill either. The world looks so
calm and serene to him that he can’t believe how much he missed the life while
he was busy all the day in his office..
It was a Monday. The previous day, though for the entire
world, was not a holiday for Rattan. As the vacations for Diwali got over, he
was back to the work, but only for two days, after which he fell sick. Coming home
in the middle of his work on Sunday, he took a good rest and finally recovered.
The Monday morning was difficult for him as he woke up late and had not decided
whether to go office. Being absent without any reason was going to be disastrous
for him, as he barely knew what to do for the whole day except his routine
office work. It was 9’o clock already and there were little chances of reaching
on time now. The years of work and hardship had given him a lot of leave
balance and he had not used it much. Though, he was at home for Diwali, a
vacation of 3 days was barely sufficient for him. So he decided to stay back
and explore his own vicinity where he was staying for past five years.
Rattan was used to the office breakfast which had limited
choices. Today, he decided to make something on his own. He tried to recollect
any recipe that he might know. The list was small, so he browsed through it in
his mind. Working as a computer engineer had made him expert in quick mental
calculations. It took no time for him to realize that he can’t really make
anything worth eating for breakfast. So he just opened his bag and started
searching for something to eat. Accidently he found a packet of homemade ‘sevaiya’
that his mom had given him a few days ago when he was home for Diwali. Something
rolled in his mind and he decided to prepare kheer for breakfast.
He ran towards the nearest dairy but unfortunately it was
closed. He decided to try searching in the village that was behind his
building. Rattan jumped over the compound wall and entered the tiny village
which was somehow stuck in the buildings of this rising city. A man was sitting
there with his buffalo. Next to him was a kettle full of milk. Rattan’s eyes
shined with a glow. He asked the milkman to fetch him as much milk as it was
needed to make kheer. The milkman dipped his bowl into the kettle and
took out a liter of milk. Surprisingly, Rattan had not brought anything with
him to carry the milk. So he brought the entire kettle from the milkman, paying
the price for the kettle too!
When Rattan returned home after this adventure, it was well past
11’o clock. The breakfast time was long gone but he still decided to try his
recipe. He put some ghee in a vessel, turned the stove on and threw a handful
of sevaiya in it. Since the quantity of it was not too much, he emptied
the whole packet in it. Then he poured as much milk as possible in the vessel. He didn't forget to add sugar and all the dry-fruits which were not taken out of
fridge for several weeks. He started mixing it all with a smile on his face.
Jawed woke up and came out hearing the unfamiliar voice of
Rattan singing a song.
“What’s up bro!”
“Hey bro, good morning!”
“Good morning ‘eh.. what you doing?”
“Nothing .. just making some breakfast”
“Wow.. looks like we’ve got a chef at home”
“Haha.. yeah”
“Hey wait shouldn’t you be at work by this time?”
“Nope. It’s a week off”
“It was yesterday, man… it’s Monday now!”
“Yeah.. still, it’s a day off”
Rattan finished making the kheer and started pouring
it all in a big bowl. Jawed was going to insert his finger in the bowl to be
the first one to taste it.
“Stop. What you doing?”
“Tasting it..”
“No. not here”
“Then where?”
“You know what I saw today morning….”
Both of them came out with the big bowl of kheer in
their hand. They started walking towards the village behind their colony. It was
Jawed’s first time there and Rattan was guiding him into the tiny streets of
it. This morning, when Rattan was out to seek milk in his vicinity, he had seen
a world which was so close to him, yet so far from him. There were children roaming
around there, with a piece of biscuit in their hand which was a gift for them
from some stranger. There were no clothes on them but still the broken toy in
their hand was the dearest possession they were holding. On the day of Diwali,
they must have looked at the children in the tall buildings of the vicinity
enjoying with the crackers full of colors and amazing sounds. But here, their
day might have gone without a meal. Rattan saw all this with his eyes and was
shocked to see that a world outside his office was indeed in existence. This world,
in fact held more challenges than his office!
Today, he had decided to make kheer, not only for him,
but also for all those tiny angels of his locality who might have missed the
fun on this Diwali. He, with Jawed reached the village where the kids were playing.
As all of them smelled the aroma of something beautiful in the hands of their dada, whom they had met a few hours ago, they came running towards him. Jawed gave
them all spoons but didn't forget to keep one for him. Everyone enjoyed the experimental
recipe of Rattan. The children were feeding him sitting on his lap. It was a
wonderful afternoon indeed!
After returning home with the empty bowl, Rattan smiled and promised
himself to do this often. Jawed too was happy as never before. A week-day at
home was well worth it!
