In the morning, I opened up the box of Moong lentils as I wanted to make dal. But the first thing I noticed in the box was a marching army of small brown creepy insects. I dumped the entire contents of the box into the dustbin and sat down on the chair brooding and missing my dear mummy.

All the time while growing up, mummy would say, “One day you will go to your home. Your husband will earn, you may earn as well but you need to look after your house and kids too.”

Never once she told me what the looking after entailed, nor did I bother to ask her.

Mummy, why didn’t you tell me that:

I would have to fuss over my husband and run after my kid even when I was exhausted.

I needed to tread carefully with the maids.

No amount of maths and accounts knowledge would help me tally my monthly expense book.

Running of the house was such a pain in the a#$.

Hiding under the blanket wouldn’t make my problems go away.

Oh mummy! Why didn’t you?