Greedy Love

By Anushka Swain

I slumped down beside my wife as I was extremely exhausted from all the paper works earlier. She went inside and brought a glass of water for me. 

“I’ll take a shower and be back” I said in an exhausted tone.

“I’ll set the table then” she said and went away inside the kitchen to arrange the dinner and I went to relax my tensed muscles under the warm soothing water. The dinner was quiet as none of us bothered to utter a word. Sensing the night grow longer, we both headed to sleep. Turning off the lights, I turned, my back was facing her. The night was serene and dark, as if the darkness had its own beauty, a divine one. The moon seemed to be unsure of its grace tonight, hiding behind the faint, grumpy clouds. The wind had weight in its flow, a cold one. After some time of being silently still, I sensed some shuffling only to feel my wife was staring at my side, precisely at my back as that was the thing which she was facing. 

“Honey, shall I tell you something; I hope you won’t be angry at me” she said in a way knowing that I was wide awake. I hummed in response assuring  that I won’t be mad at her and then turned to face her. 

“Do you know what your mother did today?” she started out in a dramatic way.

Upon hearing that the topic brought was about my loving mother I was intrigued and gave an attentive ear to the words of my wife as I thought it might be some quarrel between both of them.

She started off, her words sounding more like complaints rather than mere discussion. “Today I was cutting those mangoes which you had bought the previous day” she said while fiddling with her fingers. “You remember?” she asked looking up from her fingers. The darkness of the room prevented her from looking at my face but the faint moonlight that was seeping through that tiny creak of the window which I had left open for some air to pass in helped me to distinguish her features. She was beautiful, sweet and caring too. It was hard to tell everything about her because it had been just 5 months of our marriage but I was sure of the fact that she was a kind hearted soul who did not dare to even think ill of anyone. She snapped me out from my thoughts while asking, “Honey, you good?” I had completely forgotten that we were in the midst of a discussion about some mangoes. 

“Yeah, I’m good, go ahead what happened about those mangoes?” I asked, once again preventing myself from zoning out in the discussion.

“Yeah…so when I was cutting those mangoes, your mother came in the kitchen and told me to keep the seed cladded part of the mango for her and the rest slices for the rest of the family members” she said.

When I asked her “Mother, why do you want to eat that seed cladded part and not the slices”, she replied  “Oh daughter, that seed cladded is sweeter than those slender slices”.

I was in a daze listening to my wife. She again looked up at me with her innocent eyes and said , “Honey do you see how greedy your mother is, she took the sweeter one for herself”. I was silent, not uttering any response to her words.

Now, she got herself into a more comfortable position which was she rested her head on her palm and lied down sideway, now directly facing me.

“Hun, do you remember the sweets that had come from my house the previous month” she asked with a hope that I remembered. 

I nodded in affirmation.

“What about that?” I asked.

“So, when I was serving those sweets, mother told me to pour out the sweet syrup in a separate container and told to serve the sweets to the rest of the family. She took the syrup for herself and responded with a cheeky smile “The sweet syrup is more cherishing than the sweet”. 

At this point I was unsure of what I was hearing and my wife didn’t even bother to ask me this time whether my attention was on her words anymore or not. I was doubtful and uncertain of something. 

But my attention was there. Totally.

She continued, “Honey that fish curry which was cooked last Sunday.” 

Well that fish curry was savory as well as scrumptious. And that was the very first time she had cooked such a big fish as a curry for the whole family. I smiled secretly thinking about that day but I was once again snapped out of it when she trailed off.

“Mother said to serve the pieces to the family members” and when I asked her “Mother what would you eat?”  

She said with a tone of disapproval, “Ah! Those pieces aren’t delicious, I’d love to have that mouth-watering head and tail of the fish. The real taste lies there.”

“Do you see how greedy and selfish she is” she said in a tone full of disappointment.

Now something kept clicking at me and those flashbacks started flashing up.

"Maa! When will we eat those mangoes" I shrieked excitedly.

"We'll have it during lunch, you have to wait until then" she said softly looking at my excited figure.

While devouring the mangoes, I looked up at her and asked, "Maa do we have some more?"

She nodded at me with her beautiful smile and went away to the kitchen to bring them. I once again continued to relish the mangoes enjoying each slice. 

Some days passed by and it was one of our neighbour's son's birthday. 

I heard the main door closing as I saw my mother's figure walking back to the kitchen, holding something which seemed like some sweets. 

"Go and finish your homework, we'll have dinner in a while". She yelled from the kitchen.

I went back to complete my homework and like that without even realising time had passed by and it was already dinner time. 

Times weren't that great during my childhood and getting a proper meal was a heavenly dream. My father worked hard. By hard I meant extremely hard just so he could provide our small family a decent and peaceful meal. 

The dinner table was adorned with dishes but the one that caught my eye was that little utensil which my mother had brought earlier. The contents caught my eye and those were 3 sweets from earlier, my ultimate favorite. I couldn't contain my excitement anymore and squealed, rejoicing.

"Sit down. First finish your dinner and then have the sweets". She said looking at my excited figure. 

I quickly followed her orders and started eating my food as fast as I could. I didn't want to waste anymore time. Finally she served me those sweets and as I held that round, white, squishy item, I could feel my mouth watering heavily with saliva. Without wasting any time I ate it and as soon as the sweet touched my tongue, my tastebuds ignited with its sweetness. I could feel the softness as I started chewing it and closed my eyes in satisfaction. 

But that one piece didn't satisfy me and I felt insatiable.

"Maa can I have one more?" I asked with hope flowing in my voice.

She passed me one more and gave the other one to father and without saying anything kept on chewing her food.

"What will you have?" I asked her looking at the container which now was only left with the sweet syrup, void of any sweet. 

"Oh. See the sweet syrup's still there and let me tell you that's more fun to have than those sweets." 

Well I didn't agree to that but I didn't even protest either. That was one hearty meal that I had enjoyed that day, leading to a peaceful sleep.

Sundays were my ultimate favorite. 

One: Because it used to be an off from the school

Second: The delicacies that used to be prepared on that day. 

Fresh luscious fish was the sole dish. The queen of our table as well as of our hearts too. Father had gone early in the morning to buy fish and some groceries for the upcoming week. I was playing in our neighborhood, when my mother called me asking to take a bath. On my way home I was whistling, plucking random leaves and kicking stones. 

"Maa, can I take a bath after lunch please?" I pleaded, showing her my puppy eyes.

"No" a firm reply came ignoring my puppy pleas.

I sulked and made my way to the bath area, ready to pump water from the tubewell and to eventually enjoy my bathing time.

A while later, I combed my oil soaked hair and patted them to my left. Wearing my loose clothes I dashed to the eating area where the aroma of the luscious fish was already spreading. The fish was cooked in slow flame and was richly soaked in mustard along with smoked chillies and garlic. The aroma itself was enough to make my mouth water.

I saw my mother serving and arranging everything and I quietly went beside her asking if she needed any help. We all sat down to devour our lunch. In the midst of eating, I noticed that we all had been served pieces of fish in our servings but mother had taken the head and the tail. 

With curiosity lurking in my tone I asked her, "Maa won't you taste the pieces?" 

"The fish's head retains the whole taste and the tail is the epitome of rich flavour, so why would I eat those dainty pieces", she answered, taking a bite from her food.

I continued eating my food, carefully segregating the fish bones from the fish.

"Honey...Honey...HONEY"

I was brought back from the figment of my thoughts. All this came lauding right to me now. Those seed cladded mangoes, that sweet syrup and the fish's head and tail. It made absolute sense, they automatically joined like those missing pieces of a puzzle which you thought was complete but in reality it was never. 

"You see your mother is so selfish", she again said with a hope that I'll agree with her.

"Absolutely, she is selfish", I said while a lone tear escaped my eye.

By Anushka Swain