Birthday gift

It was his mother’s birthday the next day. Fortunately it was a Saturday and it was a holiday. No school!! The whole week he had been confused about what to gift his mother. With a paltry budget of twenty rupees, there weren’t many options. He had spent long hours discussing the options with his friends. But even after four days and endless discussions later, he was clueless. Until Komal had suggested something! She was his tuition friend. “Cook for her. She will feel good!” she had said absent mindedly while solving the Mathematics problem in the tuition.

The thought had stuck. He would cook for her. But there was a problem. He didn’t know a thing about cooking. Suddenly something struck him and he knew his solution. As soon as the tuition ended, instead of staying back and chit chatting with his friends, he flew on his bicycle to Malti aunty’s house. Malti aunty was his mom’s friend and she stayed in the street next to their house. With a notebook and pencil in hand he quickly made his way to the kitchen where Malti aunty was preparing lunch.

“Hello aunty. How are you?” he said with the sweetest smile he could put on his face.

“Hello Raj. What mischief are you up to today? And why have you got this notebook and pencil for?”

“No aunty. No mischief. Actually tomorrow is Mom’s birthday and I have decided to cook for her” he exclaimed.

“Wow. That’s great. What do you plan to cook?” she asked.

“Aunty, I don’t know to cook anything. Please teach me something. I ll write down the steps.”

“But what do you want to cook, beta?”

“Whatever is the easiest.” He said after thinking for a moment.

“Ok. Here we go then.” she smiled.

Fifteen minutes and three pages scribbled with instructions later, he had the recipe to prepare aloo gobi sabzi. "Hehehe" he grinned in his mind.

The next day, he got up early but he didn’t wish his mother. It was to be a surprise for her. After a quick bath he raced to the nearby vegetable vendor to buy the ingredients.

“Bhaiya, Aloo aur gobi chahiye.”

“Kitna chahiye. Ek kilo?”

“Six aloos and one gobi” he said referring his notebook.

The vendor smiled but handed him the required quantity of the vegetables. Soon he was back home. He rushed to his mom and wished her. She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Where is my gift?” she asked naughtily.

He showed her the polythene containing the vegetables. “Today you will not cook. I will make aloo gobi sabzi for you.”

“Wow. That’s great, but do you know how to make the sabzi?”

“Yes. I have learnt. I will make it. But I don’t know how to make rotis.”

“Don’t worry, I ll take care of the rotis”

“Hmm…well that kind of makes you cook something. I wanted you not to cook anything, but I guess we ll need rotis. So its fine.” He said.

They made their way into the kitchen and he sat on the platform.

“Mom, I need a knife to peel and chop the vegetables.”

“Arre. First you have to wash them. Give it to me I ll do it”

“Ok. I also need a big plate to cut the vegetables into.”

“Here you go. Here are the washed vegetables, a big plate and knife. Be careful with the knife.” She said.

As he started cutting the vegetables, she stood there monitoring him, worrying about that he might hurt himself. At the same time she took another knife and decided to help him out by sharing the work.

“No….” he shrieked “I will do the work myself, you just stand here.”

“Ok beta.. as you say.” She said quickly putting the knife away.

Some minutes later all the vegetables were chopped. “Now we need a cooking utensil and some cooking oil.” He said staring at his notebook. “Mom.. give me the utensil and oil and also please throw the vegetable peels into the bin”. She acquiesced quietly.

“Beta, how much oil do you need?”

“Hmm… its written as per needs.. so I am not sure.. why don’t you put in the required quantity” he said sheepishly.

“Fine.” She said.

“Now, let me light the burner.”

“No, you are too young for that. I ll light the burner, you might hurt yourself.”

“No.. No.. as I said I ll do all the work today .. Pleaseeeee!!!” he screamed.

“Ok. But only this once.” She said handing him the gas lighter.

He lit the burner in the first attempt and said proudly “see..its so easy and safe. You are worrying yourself for no reason. Now we put in the vegetables.”

“No son. Not so soon, you have to wait for the oil to heat up before you out in the vegetables.”

“Strange.. I have not written this down in my book. Ok we ll wait” he said tapping his fingers on the kitchen platform.

“Is it time yet?” he asked her after growing restless in a few minutes.

“Yes. But I ll do it, since on putting the vegetables in the utensil, the oil drops may splash out and you might get hurt.”

“No. Its your birthday. I will do it.” He said adamantly.

“Ok if you say so. Try with this one piece of potato and see for yourself.”

As soon as he put the potato piece into the utensil, a few drops of oil splashed onto his fingers and he instinctively pulled his hand away. “I think you should do this mom. You were right.”

She smiled and put in the vegetables expertly into the utensil.

“Wow.. that was great. Now we wait for few minutes and then add the spices” he exclaimed.

“Yes. You seem to have mastered cooking in one day.”

He blushed in reply.

A few minutes later his mom added the spices because he didn’t know the exact quantity to be added. Finally the dish was ready. “Its ready.” He shouted. “Mom taste it and tell me how is it?”

She tasted the sabzi. “Its great beta. Thank you for a wonderful gift. I love you.”

“I love you too. Cooking isn’t difficult at all” he said smiling.

In the afternoon, when his dad came home for lunch, he ran to him and told him about his gift. His dad smiled and lifted him up and kissed him.
During lunch his dad mocked his mother, “My son is a better cook than you”.

His mom gladly accepted the fact and replied back “Obviously! He is the best son in the world”.

He was overjoyed with himself. He had chosen the right gift.

After lunch as she was washing the dishes, she glanced at his sleeping face. He was smiling in his sleep.