Krishna Chronicles - 2

Ayee and the smell box

Some days back, Dajee brought a big smell box home. I first thought it was a big car, for me, but when Ayee opened it she looked so happy, I knew it wouldn’t be a car. These days, she gets annoyed when I play with my cars… but that’s another story…

This smell box is the most wonderful thing in Ayee’s kitchen. Ayee loves boxes… her kitchen is full of them. Inside one she keeps all things cold. I often open that big box because when I open it, something cold hits my face and it feels cool. She keeps all kind of things inside that. Every morning, she takes things out of that and heats it for hours and makes mummum for me and Bhayya.

Earlier she used to have another big box on which she made all the mummum. Once she made something that smelled so good… My mouth kept filling up and I tugged at her dress till she took out two small brown balls and put them in a bowl for me. She calls them gulab jamun but I call them happy balls…. Because eating them makes me very happy… The problem is she never keeps anything where I can reach them. So once I tried to see how many happy balls she had kept. I could not see anything because the box was big. But there was a big door to the box. I pulled it down and climbed over it. I was just about to peep into the big vessel when Bhayya ( I have half a mind to call him ONG KA for the rest of his life!) came to the kitchen… “Ayee…! Krishna has climbed on the oven door…!” he screamed and that brought Ayee running into the kitchen. She dragged me down and shut the door of the box. That evening she and Dajee brought a flat thing they called ‘stove’ and told watchman chacha to take that big box away. I do miss that… it was easy to climb on that door and see what she had cooked. I had often done it till Bhayya caught me at it.

After that for many days there were no boxes in our kitchen…till this smell box came.
I didn’t know it was a smell box till the next day when Ayee’s friend- aunty came with some packets and funny looking vessels. They talked and talked and talked… but all the time they were doing something… mixing all kind of powders… and then later they cut lots of vegetables and were cooking something when I noticed it. There was some smell coming from the kitchen… something good. I left all my cars…and even the singing bus… and ran to the kitchen. I couldn’t see on the new box. Some sound was coming from it. The smell was coming from inside it. I wanted to ask Ayee what it was… but since all I can say is ‘Ayee’ or ‘Dajee’ I could not… I kept saying “Ayee Ayee… Ayee” till she yelled “WHAT?” I pointed at the smell box and she said “Wait… It is not done yet!” I hate waiting… but there was nothing else to do. I forgot even my cars… I wanted to see what smelled so good. Later I saw it ! Ayee opened the smell box and took out a funny shaped dish. Inside that was a brown round thing that smelled soooooo good, my mouth was filling up. I tried to touch it but Ayee slapped my hand off saying, ‘It is OOOOH!’ I kept jumping up and down in the kitchen till she turned that thing over and the flat brown thing fell on the plate.

“ Do you want cake, Krishna?” asked Ayee.

What a stupid question. Here I was drooling all over the floor because I could not bear the smell… She gave me a small piece of hot cake… It was the tastiest thing I had ever eaten in my life. I stuffed it into my mouth and stretched out my hand again for another piece. Four pieces later, I had to throw a tantrum to get another piece. I rolled on the kitchen floor till she gave me a piece. But she was clever. She kept that piece on a plate and led me from the kitchen and kept it on the side table in the hall. By the time I had finished that and ran to the kitchen for more, she had hidden that thing and said, it was over.
I knew it was not over because I heard her tell Bhayya that the rest we will eat when Dajee comes home in the evening…

That was the longest day…
…and was I happy to see Dajee that evening!
I hugged and kissed Dajee … and he was so happy and kept boasting to Ayee that I am Dajee’s bebbey…

He doesn’t know that I was thanking him for that smell box…

…and for coming home early so that Ayee would take the rest of the cake out of its hiding place!