Quirky Indians 6-10

Suresh always carried paracetamol in his pocket while Kaira could cook everything except one dish.

Day 6

Kanchan loved the rain. But it didn’t love her back.

Whenever she got out in the rain, she would come back with a cold so severe, she had to take days off from school.

She would moan about holding her head over the steaming pot of water while her mother grumbled about her stupidity, “Why do you play in the rain when you know what happens?”

Come next rain, and she would sneak out again. Her mother would shake her head with a sigh, get a towel and run a warm bath. Kanchan loved the paya soup her mother made, but she hated the turmeric milk. It was also the only time her mother slept in her room, and she would snuggle close to her, hiding her face in her mother’s side.

Kanchan stopped dancing in the rain when she got married. The first time it drizzled, she stood back and watched till her mother-in-law came.

The old lady laughed while she stepped into the aangan, quickly filling up with water, and stretched out her hand to Kanchan, ”Why are you standing there? Come!”

Kanchan chuckled as she followed her.

Day 7

Mohan sold festival materials on his cart. rangoli colors on Diwali, gulaal during Holi and decorated threads to tie on wrist during Raksha Bandhan.

But he especially loved selling flags for the occasion of both Republic and Independence day.

He loved how children took it carefully so as to not drop it, puffing out their chest and carrying it away in the air. And he loved how older people took pride in carrying one. How the youngsters carried it on their vehicles.

His favorite time was peak hours when he could barely see a man’s face over the horde of people raising their flags.

It gave him a sense of pride. He had not been able to afford one in his childhood. There was barely any money for food, so any kind of colors, including painting the walls of their one-room home was a luxury they couldn’t indulge in.

Their festivals usually entailed a halwa with more water than ghee.

It was a dismal state and he had vowed to make it better. So he did. Not only for himself but others too. He didn’t need to sit at his shop, he had more than required hired help. But it gave him joy.

“Uncle, do you have an older one?” A kid, barely five, in tatters for clothes asked as he counted coins in his dirty hands.

Mohan smiled as he handed him a new one, bigger than his height.

The child beamed at him and ran off waving it happily over his head.

Day 8

Nag Chand was named after the snake that had sneaked into his mother’s hospital room when she was delivering him.

Thought to be an auspicious sign on full moon, the elders thought it apt to name the child thus.

Contrary to his name, he had the color of an almond and anger of sun.

Picking up fights from the time he was five, he soon found his way to the jail.

Ruling over his fellow companions, he spent his days in leisure.

The party ended when the supervisor changed and made him sleep outside as punishment for his latest brawl. Neither of the men changed their ways till it became routine.

He was only sent to his room after a month on a full moon when some minister was going to visit for inspection the next day.

Nag Chand was found dead in the jail cell with a snake bite on his left arm when the minister came.

Day 9

Suresh always carried a paracetamol in his pocket since he started going to college.

He had rare pangs of headache and always liked to be prepared. The habit also helped the people around him if they were in need.

Soon, he started keeping bandages too. Just to be sure he had one handy if he scratched himself or something.

Next came the medicine for body pain. Then the pills for nausea, stomach ache, cold and cough followed.

He would carry them everywhere, weddings and funerals alike. Till, it became a part of his clothes. Never in a pouch, but random strips of aluminum jingling and poking him through shirt and pants.

If he were at home, his children would come to him for medicines and he would take out all the little strips and search for the right one while mumbling, “This is why I tell you to make a first aid box. But do you listen? No. Always coming to me and asking.” He was secretly proud of that but wouldn’t show he liked being needed.

Soon, he came to be known as Chemist Chacha. And he loved his new nickname. Puffing in pride whenever relatives and friends asked him for help. He would monitor them till they gulped it down with just the right amount of water before telling them to rest. Other remedies and precautions came afterwards. First the pills from him.

Day 10

Kaira could cook everything except one dish.

It was a recipe that she had tried in the lockdown period. While her husband and children took care of everything else, she had time to try out new recipes from the limited ingredients they had at home.

Some were liked, some not so much, but she made everything perfectly by diligently following the Youtube recipes and applying her own years of experience in the kitchen.

She loved the fact that even if a dish is made exactly like the previous time, it would not taste the same. She liked experimenting with spices and kitchen gadgets.

So, a failure in her domain hit her hard. The recipe was actually difficult. A famous dessert called Ghewar. Made by halwais on special occasions, it is a delicacy few can master.

So when the first time she tried it, she almost burnt the house down. The next time her children were prepared with small fire extinguishers. And then she was banned from trying it again because it made her grumpy for the whole week.

But did she give up? No.

She knew her day would come. No one would be home and she would try the recipe again and surprise her family with a smirk on her face.

Till then, they make do with local sweet shop.

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