My Daughter's Step Mom - ITC Kitchens of India

My Daughter’s Step-Mom

-          ITC Kitchens of India

An entry in my personal diary:

“23.9.2012

Got up early. Servant didn’t come. So swept the house, had bath and said a prayer.

 Thought to make some good old paneer sabzi, my teen’s favorite.

 Vegetablewalah came.

 Bought 1 kilo of tomatoes for Rs 30, 100 g of ginger for Rs. 10, 100 g of garlic for Rs 15, onions for Rs 20, a small bunch of coriander leaves for Rs 10 (Is there anything I can get for less than Rs 10, I grumble).

 I give him a Rs 100 note. He tucks it in his  pocket and on his way out shouts out that the balance will be adjusted with the following day’s transaction (which is his way of saying, never) I vow on catching him on his word the next day.

Vegetables bought, I ask the local grocery store for my weekly spices and naturally, paneer. That sets me back by Rs. 80...”

Chores beckon me. So I leave the diary incomplete with a promise to complete the entry sometime in the course of the day.

As the sun sets, I sit down to finish my cooking quickly, so that I can watch KBC on time. I grind all the masalas and simmer it in the spices. The smell rewards me for the pools of sweat that are dropping beadily down my nose. 

Just then I notice the teen in the kitchen, looking for something.

She yanks out a packet of ITC Kitchens of India and pours the contents into a hot kadai. (Blink, blink rapidly)

Within a few minutes, she is done with what she came in for.

She helps herself to a large spoonful of the curry and some rotis and removes herself from the kitchen with a, “I’m through dinner, ma. Thanks!”

 So much for nothing?! (Sob, sob!)

I swear I will never cook again…

…at least not as long as there is another KOI in the house!

And then comes a shout: “Ma, ask for some more KOIs. We’ve run out of stock…”

Silence

Huh? (Blink, blink!) 

Realization…

(Wail!)