“Mom! MOM!”, Anna shouted over the chaos of pots and pans, drawers and jars; all symphonising into some heavy metal song. Sarah stopped her wrestling bout and exclaimed, “What? What is it this time?”
“I don’t like this chapati, can you please make me some eggs?”
“I asked you before what you wanted to eat for breakfast and you said chapatis. Why can’t you ever make up your mind?”
She turned and grabbed an egg from the fridge, all the while grumbling under her breath.
Anna turned to her grandmother, Fanny, who was calmly sipping tea and smiling to herself.
“Nana, I just had the most brilliant idea. Earphones, but with wires! Imagine! I don’t think anyone has thought of it before.”
“Yes, that is something to think about,” Fanny said.
“Here’s your eggs,” Sarah slammed the plate in front of Anna. “You see what I have to deal with everyday?”
“Oh come on,” Fanny said, “she’s being an absolute angel.”
“Mother! How can you say that? She never listens to anything I say. She does not like anything I cook, never sleeps properly, disagrees with everything I tell her to do, and just terrorizes me all day. It’s just exhausting!”
“So what? This is all a part of being a mother.”
“I know that, but I think she’s being difficult on purpose. It’s like she loves to see me pull my hair out in frustration. Tell me, was I ever like that?”
Fanny laughed out loud, saying “You’re joking right? You were the worst behaved child of mine, and I had three.”
Sarah clapped the table, her eyes wide. “Mother, tell me that’s not true.”
“Oh it is, absolutely. You know, Anna, your mother would come home from school, looking completely dishevelled. Her Principal called me everyday with some complaint or the other.” Fanny was starting to enjoy herself.
“One time she screamed for a toy in a supermarket for so long they had to kick us out. They never let me in there again.”
“Mom, is this true?” Anna said, giggling away.
“No it’s not, I wasn’t as bad as you.” Sarah was flummoxed.
“Yes you were,” said Fanny, “but I handled you quite well.”
“It’s not like you were a piece of cake either,” said Jane, Anna’s great grandmother, as she hobbled in and settled down at the round table.
“I remember it like it was yesterday. When you were little, you never liked to wear clothes. And you would pee and poop all over the house. In this very kitchen, you used to sit at this table and complain about everything that I cooked for you and never touched a morsel.”
Fanny turned beet red with embarrassment.
“Ma!” she exclaimed.
“We are all the same,” Jane said, “all troublesome, stubborn and hot headed. It’s no use criticising each other. Now get me a cup of tea.”
All mothers and daughters looked at each other for a second, and then burst into laughter.
