By Meghna C H
“Make it faster, the train leaves in 4 hours for God's sake”,
yelled achan, while my amma’s spine shivered
A warm morning in 2006 it was, except for my amma
We were to travel from Kerala to New Delhi
My amma, she tightened her shoulders, pressing down on the chappathi dough
As strong as she could, as fast as she could
She collected the sticky bits of dough from the sides of the steel vessel
Achan shouted again, more thunderous than ever,
“Don’t you forget to add oil, or it will spoil during the ride”
My amma poured a generous amount of sesame oil into the dough,
as she began to thrash and calculate,
2-day train ride, 6 meal times x 3 people x 2 chappathis totaling 36,
she murmured to herself
The math made her sweat consume whole, her baby-pink floral maxi
She called out to her husband softly,
“Chetta, will you adjust with bread and jam for the morning breakfast?”
“Tch tch”, achan tsked with a half-hearted nod
Oh no! -not the “bad-wife” stamp, not today
Determined, she soldiered on, a little more dry flour to the dough
As she wrestled, hands in mush and fire in brain,
achan splashed water on his head, and screamed from the bathroom
“Where’s my shirt? “
My amma clicked her tongue,
there were bits of dough stuck to her fingers now,
She washed, splattered, jumped straight to the bedroom,
Spread neatly on the bed- achan’s ironed shirt
And sprinted back to the kitchen again
Maxi sounds whooshing in the air, almost as if it would make her trip and fall,
but she didn’t
She planted her hands in the dough once more, sighing,
this time managing to make it into a clean sphere
Tiny dough-balls were made,achan was in the kitchen already,pointing to the clock,
“I am out of this house in an hour with the child, Chappathis or no chappathis !”
His ultimatum invited beads of nausea to pool in between my amma’s eyebrows,
she rolled swiftly, she lit the burner as she dropped the Chappathees-
onto the hot tawa,
Some of them did not fluff, some made small burnt pimples all over and-
some stuck to the tawa
32 chappathis were done, whilst achan ordered and hastened
My amma huffed and puffed, hurrying to change,
Achan was already out trying to book an Auto-rickshaw to our home,
He came back in less than 7 minutes, my amma still pulling the top of her Churidar- through her head,
Achan barked into the house impatient, “The vandi is here, let us leave“
My amma yelped, pinned her dupatta, and ran into the kitchen-
to double-check the gas stove
Achan came roaring from behind, “Do you have no understanding of time?”
My amma quietly rushed out of the kitchen, grabbing her bags
I was already made to wait in the Rickshaw
Achan ushered my amma down the stairs after locking the house
30-minute Rickshaw ride, no-one said a word to each other
We made it to the Railway station with 40 minutes to spare
Achan calmed down,
He started joking about the local news and the terrible watered-down-
Railway Chaaya
Faint smile on her face, my amma nodded
And then I overheard achan on the phone,
“Yeah yeah, we are at the station already, my wife is a superwoman, -
packed chappathis for the entire trip!”
Achan laughed,
My amma, well she stared into the railway tracks, one hand over my head and the other on the bags.