Mrs. Pinkcheeks gets her first Kindle

By - Mrs. Pinkcheeks

I had a secret agenda of talking to the closest family members. Like every other woman I could not get their attention ever, which often bothered me. Though they often sounded their concern for my work load in office and at home too, they did little to understand what was simmering in my mind. I tried to hint my daughter, my daughter-in-law and my son too but they seemed to be too preoccupied. Today I was too adamant to give up.

One evening when our wi-fi was down, I took the opportunity to finally speak to them about my future. Inviting ideas from each one of them was a difficult task. But today I had firmed up my plans. “You should just rest mom”, came a very concerned but easy suggestion from my son. Even before he could change the channel, I said, “what do you mean, have I become so old that I need rest?” He was startled at the tone of my voice. “Oh no mom, you are young and you look so pretty, but you have done enough all these years. Now you just chill.” He was pacifying me now.

Oh so he thinks I am not a chilled out woman, I thought. “Until now I have done something that was expected of me now I want to do something that gives me an inner joy, Yash.” This statement probably hit the bull’s eye. Yash lowered the sound of the television and daughter-in-law intervened. She was silently watching the mother-son duo verbal exchange. “Mummy, you should now give me all the responsibilities and rest”. Give her all the responsibilities and go to the Himalayas or what? The thought crossed my mind and bahus of all Hindi serials swam before my eyes. “I mean you should take a break from the routine and do whatever you wish to. Go out with friends, read books, watch movies, listen to music etc.” Isha said. 

I felt a little calmer after listening to these words, but I was still not convinced. I could still feel the undercurrent of ‘these people’ not paying attention to me at all.

Rajshri, my little princess spoke. “You need to teach me to cook mom”, she said absentmindedly. By now the wi-fi connection was off and on. She said all this with eyes on her cell phone. I was very upset, “Rajshri, I am talking about my future here and you are concerned about your own things. You don’t come and take lessons when I ask you to and now, when my future is at stake you are talking about it?” Unprepared for such a strong response, Rajshri put down her phone at once and said, “Do you know what I am doing online?” “You must be busy chatting up on your WhatsApp, what else can you do?” I retorted. “Mom, I was ordering a kindle for you to read? You need to spend time for yourself. You have been only slogging for all of us since our childhood so I thought I should gift you a Kindle so you will be able to read the books of your choice.

“Isha has already downloaded the books you like and she is going to help you transfer them to Kindle. Yash has given me his credit card details and is paying up for it.” Now this was a shocker. My own children had beaten me to my own game. All the while when I was thinking that nobody was caring for me, all of them had my interests uppermost on their priority list. Inspite of their busy schedule they were thinking about me, my interests, my comforts, my likes and my happiness.

Finally my hubby darling also spoke, “You should start writing. Your heart is in writing. You have been writing for leading dailies and all of a sudden you took up this job. But you will be happy only if you resume your romance with words.” I could see the concern for me writ large on his face.

I couldn’t agree with him more. I also realized that he understood me more than I understood myself. Though I could not fathom he was concerned about me and was proud of my passion for words. And Mrs. Pinkcheeks was born. I owe this new me to him!!!