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Earlier my husband would say, 'Arey! What is there in making dal-roti? It's so simple.' After he had to cook everyday when I was ill, he has stopped saying that to me!
“Arey! What is there to do in making dal roti? Put a handful of lentils in the cooker and let it whistle and make two rotis. After all, how long will it take?” A handful of dal (lentils) and two rotis! This is the story of every woman and no one seems to understand.
Some time ago, after a shopping spree, my husband and I entered the house, exhausted. I had just about kept all the bags aside, when my husband said, “I am very hungry, can you make something.”
I looked at my husband in amazement and thought, ‘He had just had food, how did he get hungry again so soon?’
My husband, as if he had read my face, said, “Arey! You know that my stomach is not filled with outside food. Just make dal roti. What is there to do in making dal roti? Put a handful of lentils in the cooker and let it whistle and make two rotis. After all, how long will it take?”
‘Is this the way dal (lentils) and roti are made?’ The thought came to my mind. ‘After all, I also went along and now I am tired too.’ I was also getting angry at myself that after all, I had spoiled the habit of everyone in the house.
After some days…months…years…When the second wave of COVID-19 came, my children and I fell ill.
All the responsibility of the household fell on my pati dev (husband). With this, looking after his office, taking care of three patients together was a thorn in the side of my husband. It was like he was trapped.
Now, his first priority was cooking. On the first day, by asking me, he made something barely edible. When it came to cooking dal (lentils), the first problem came in distinguishing between jeera (cumin) and saunf (fennel), and poor lentils were made with saunf (fennel).
On the second day, he took the help of YouTube. But this path was not so easy for him. Even after watching a video, there was complication in distinguishing between coriander powder and garam masala.
At that time, the whistle of the cooker and the bell of his office phone sounded the same to him. Maybe the whistle of the cooker sounded sweeter than the office phone ringing which seemed to disturb him.
But his food kept improving day by day. It seemed that perhaps he had become friends with the spices.
When we were cured, we went to our sister-in-law’s place for a wedding. The whole house was busy with the marriage work. Confectionery-sweets and different types of dishes had been made, the fragrance of which was spreading all around. The gardener was decorating the whole house with beautiful and colourful flowers, which looked very beautiful and captivating. Small children are dancing on the DJ’s music. There was an atmosphere of happiness in Didi’s house.
Then, my husband and I saw brother-in-law scolding Didi, “You are here? There the children are crying! Why didn’t you make something? How long does it take to make dal roti?
Then my husband looked at me lovingly, laughed and went to Didi and brother-in-law. Looking at them with the same loving eyes, he said to his brother-in-law, “I know how long it takes to make dal and two rotis!”
And then, he smiled and walked away…
Image Source: Still from AAKH
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