Teen Prowess!

“Aunty Malini, you and Uncle Alex, please sit and chat with Dadi-ma and Papa, while I go in and prepare breakfast for you,” said Malini’s nephew, Obaid.

“Breakfast?” blurted out Malini. “Nothing, Obaid beta! You go out and play while I fix breakfast myself for all of us!”

“But Aunty, we’ve all had our breakfast already! So, it’s only for you two that I will prepare something.”

“No, beta,” said Malini, thinking to herself, ‘what breakfast can this little teenager make other than bread-and-butter, I wonder?’

But no! Obaid would not take no for an answer and, on the contrary, prevailed upon them to spend time chatting with his grandparents, saying, “You have both come such a looooong distance to see Dadi-ma and Papa! So, I think Dadi-ma and Papa will be very happy if you do just that!”

The Secret of Bliss

Incidentally, Malini and Alex were visiting the former’s parental home after a gap of nearly three long pandemic-ridden years after having relocated to Mumbra, a town some 30+ km away from Mumbai, shortly after their marriage. Incidentally, Malini couldn’t help but notice that her parents, the Charpoys, both in their mid-seventies appeared to be at the peak of old-age bliss. But of course, it wasn’t long before she was to discover the secret.

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