Parathas, pizzas and burnt cookers

I was craving for aloo parathas. So I decided to go to my parents’ home. I end up being there once in three days on average, and each time I come back with home made goodies. Living close to parents is such a delight!

Anyway, where was I? Yes. Aloo parathas. I went home, and the parathas were waiting for me, packed in silver foil. I had planned to bring them back with me, instead of eating them there. After spending some time at home, I left. The mother and I decided to walk down for some sev puri. After stuffing outselves with the tangy chaat, we walked in to a store to buy some steel utensils for our new home.

The moment we reached the utensil store, my mother noticed the bag missing from my hands! My precious aloo parathas! They had been left  behind at the little sev puri shop. Thankfully, I realised it in good time. So we turned around, walked back and found the bag that contained my aloo parathas lying there.

We then walked back to the utensil store. After making a few purchases, I hailed an auto, hugged the mother and left. When I was almost home, I realised the bag containing my aloo parathas was missing, AGAIN! So I called home, told them I had left the bag at the utensil store this time.

Since I was almost home, there was nothing we could do. I was feeling really bad. I had been fantasizing about the parathas all day. The parents were feeling bad since they wanted me to have the parathas they had made. Since we could really not do much, I told them to let go. But what do you know? They made the aloo parathas for me the next day again, and my papa came to my office to deliver them to me before lunch time.

I know, I am blessed. But really, how do I cure myself? This absentmindedness and carelessness has been a chronic ailment.

*****

It was a rainy evening and we decided to order some pizzas at home from a place called Joey’s. When I called the pizza place, I learnt that the whole world had decided to order in pizza from Joey’s on that particular day, and they were taking no more orders. We tried convincing them, but to no avail. Disappointed, we let go. We then thought of ordering pizza from a place called Pizza Craft.

They took our order and assured us the pizza would be delivered within 40 minutes. We waited, and called them after an hour to check. They said the guy was on his way, and the pizza should reach us anytime. After about 1.5 hour, when there was still no sign of the pizza, I called them again. This time, a little angry.

I was shocked, since a man on the other end of the phone seemed to be clueless about our order. He said they had not received any order from our address. I told them that the earlier two times I had called, there was a lady on the phone. He told us no lady worked for them.

I put him on hold and told Mint. He said he would speak to them, since he knows I am too much of a softie and don’t know how to sound stern. These are the parts that I heard him say.

” How can you do this? We’ve been waiting since an hour and a half and now you tell us there is no order from us? ”

“What do you mean you don’t understand? We placed our order at 9:38 pm. What kind of a system do you have if it can’t track orders?”

“There was a lady on the phone.  What am I to do if you say you don’t have any femlate employee? How do you explain us talking to one on the phone when we called here last?”

Meanwhile, the bell rang and there was a delivery guy carrying our pizza. We were confused. Mint continued on the phone..

“If you say there was no order from us, how come we have your delivery guy standing at our door?”

Then I asked the delivery guy his name. The pizza folks were as confused as us. Mint was still questioning them. And then it struck me.

I gulped. Looked at Mint and whispered to him, “I think, I dialed Joey’s pizza instead of Pizza Craft this time. We’ve been shouting at the wrong guy”

Mint looked appalled. He whispered back “What? You dialed Joey’s?! How could you? I trusted you”.

And then to the guy on the other end, he said a random “Okay thank you bye” and hung up.

Somebody kill me.

*****

We were back at home after a long day at work. After scouring the refridgerator, we decided to stir fry some ridge gourd and pair it with dal for dinner. Mint starting working on the ridge gourd and I was in charge of making the dal. Both the preperations were basic and got done in no time.

The dal however, seemed a wee bit watery. “Do you want to leave it on the stove and thicken it a little?”, asked Mint. “Okay”, I said. So I left it on a low flame and we moved on to doing other things. I am sure the next part is predictable. After about  40 minutes, a weird smell made me run into the kitchen. My dal was burnt. The cooker was black. I looked at my charred preparation in dismay. How could I forget we had left it on the stove? What do I do with myself..

I think it is time we get a cook.