‘Dad! There’s a minor crisis. Mom’s ready with her new dish, all the best’.

That was the SMS from Pushpa with a mild enthusiasm.

What’s my way out?

Falling sick can be an almost safe option to get away from such instant disasters.

Can you fall sick suddenly?

I can, with a strangely familiar method.

I rushed into the office pantry and opened the fridge. It was there, all alone, a big onion.
Picked it up, cut into two pieces and kept them in my pockets. Before leaving for home,
ensured that the onion pieces were kept under my armpit. Only disadvantage could be that
you have to walk like a Robot, else the onion will climb down.

Before I could reach home, felt the mild heat in my body cells.

Putting up a gloomy face like someone suffering from sudden fever, I have entered home.

Pushpa winked at me.

Almost exactly I whispered to her.

“Do I act naturally?’

“Dad! You can get Oscars” giggled Pushpa.

“Where’s your Mom?”

“She’s in the puja room inviting all the deities. Even if half of them turn out now accidentally
on purpose, we will have to stand outside our house. It will be too crowded.”

When I changed from my office wear and relaxed in front of the TV, Janaki came out.

“Why you look so dull?”

“I am not well Janu, I have temperature”

“Really?” She was looking for the thermometer.

When it read 102, she was puzzled and I was thanking the onion silently.

“Poor thing, now you cannot taste the new dish I have made”

She brought a brown colored semi-solid stuff. You cannot eat it actually, but you can take a
big sip.

“Janu! What is this new dish?”

“Well, it’s not actually new. I have started preparing Halwa and it ended up second best, a
thick liquid type of dish.”
“Oh! Halwa has become a liquid, sweet sorrow. That means it is Jalwa”

On hearing that name, Pushpa started dancing terribly nice like Salman Khan and her lips
were murmuring that song.

“Yahaan bhi hoga wahaan bhi hoga aab tho sare jahaan mian hoga mera he jalwa”

Janu got wild.

“Both of you make mockery of my culinary talent. In future you may not get the chance of
tasting whatever new dish I make”

She dashed to her bed room with tears.

I thought that was end of the story.

But I was wrong.

When I was about to go to bed, there was a call in my mobile.

Boss? At this time, I was certainly unsure?

No, it was Boss’s wife, more mystery.

“Hello! Madam! What happened?”

“Your boss could not open his mouth after eating the dish sent by your wife”

“But, but, how did she …. I’m clueless, Madam”

“As you keep avoiding her new dishes, she planned to reach you through her boss but that
ended up in a total mess”.

“Madam, please tell me what happened?”

“That sticky substance has sealed his jaws and he was doing a peaceful fight to open his
jaws. I too tried with my two hands to open his mouth but I became consistently
inconsistent. Without wasting much time we have reached the nearby doctor. Since he was
a general physician, he suggested us to go to a dentist. He explained to us that it was the
first time he was approached by anyone with a TMJ problem. They call it Tempromandibular
joint”.

“Oh My God, then what happened, Madam?

“He checked the neck muscles and muscles near the jaws and was checking for any sounds
in the jaws. He also checked the facial muscle tension.

Then he said,’ See Madam, what a harmonious chaos, this seems, almost certain, a
complicated issue. Panoramic X-ray has to be taken. That would be a full face X-Ray. Then
only I could be able to diagnose further. If needed, we may have to go for MRI and CT scan.
Tomorrow is the appointment for X-Ray. I don’t know how will bear this till that time”
“Extremely sorry, Madam, this situation is totally unexpected, bad luck”

“I can understand. Please tell your wife whatever happened. Let her not become a specialist
in creative destruction”

The line went off.

I have started Googling for a new job.