Date: Saturday, 15 February, 1997
The clock ticked 7:00 pm and it was like any other Saturday evening for us at door number C-136. My dad had finished his coffee and caught up with his usual newspaper reading. My sister (Deepika a.k.a Deep) in her 7th standard was doing her home work assignments. With just couple of weeks for my 12th board exam, I had a long day of fervently reading through my school books and had just taken a small break and was sitting with my dad. Mom on the other hand was contemplating in all seriousness the menu for our family dinner tonight.
After few minutes of pondering, mom proudly announced she was going to cook daal and chapathis for dinner - one of my favourite off her menu. At this, dad with a bit of thoughtful consideration looked at my sister, me and said "Mummy has been cooking for us all these years, let's give her a break tonight and let us all cook for her instead". Deep and I immediately jumped at the thought of it and we all stormed into the tiny kitchen of C-136 and asked mom to step aside. We then realized, none of us really know cooking and gave a blank look at one another.
Mom then put on her master-chef hat, sat in a corner of the kitchen and orchestrated the remaining of the cooking. Deep had to flatten the chapathi dough, dad had to roll the dough with a circular precision and I had to cook them off the tawa. The next 30 minutes was one of those rare family union moments which is etched deep in our hearts. We laughed, mocked each other, openly acknowledged mom's contribution to our well being, in a way thanked her for everything and most importantly felt complete as a family.
Little did we know this was going to be our second last dinner as a family and that this moment will be the poster picture of our last moment together....
(p.s. - The following Monday my parents met with a fatal accident and never returned home. The together family was never together anymore.....)
