Mom's guilt

So I was told to take it easy for a while. That meant no cooking for a while. Well, I did follow it - for a while that is. Until today. It so happened that we had the veg curry and a side dish, *(courtesy a friend and DH) but, a very important part of our diet was missing - dahi(yogurt). And another ingredient missing from our dinner plate was roti(bread). We came to know of an aunty who provides home-made rotis to the destitute like us. The dad was told in the morning to get them while coming back from work. Also, he was requested and reminded, at least, a hundred times to come home earlier than usual (not his normal 10 o'clocks). So, the dad cancelled his 6:30 meeting to pick up the rotis and dahi for his darling daughters. As luck would have it, he could reach home not before 8:00.

Of all days when momma rushes after them with the food, the girls chose this day to dutifully sit at the dining table at 6:45 sharp! It broke momma's heart to see her girls hungry- waiting for the dinner to be served. When she didn't have the plate ready. Mentally she calculated the time it would take to make the dough and roll out two breads for her jigar ka tukdas, but then, she remembered the last time when it had sent her head rolling and she toughened herself to save her emotions for later when she gets completely well. And that would happen only if she gave her a chance to recover. And then, it would be a few minutes when dad would be home! So she distracted the kids with their favorite episodes. Meanwhile, the veggies were heated up, the salad was cut, and the water bottles were filled. At 7:15, she checked on the kids again. Looking at their momma, they rushed back to the dining table, seating themselves. While momma wondered at her little marvels, who chose this very day to show such obedience, she wished within, for them to return to their normal bratty self - when she had to scream, at the top of her lungs, to have them seated - unmoving, so that she could shove the meals inside them. Not today, though. "Momma, what did you make? what did u make? And the guilt-struck momma, right then, there would have melted in water, if she wouldn't have seen those two faces - waiting for their dinner. So, she started feeding her little bird-lings - the salad, the veggie and the curry. And hungry as they were, they could have eaten a horse right then! Half-way through, the dad made his royal entry and the chicklings spared the horse and nibbled on the tiny bits of, probably, the yummiest roti they had.