The Narayanan family believed in three things:
- Saving plastic covers from new appliances.
- Fighting loudly.
- Pretending nothing happened five minutes later.
Their house woke up every morning like a railway station during festival season.
Pressure cooker whistles screamed from the kitchen.
Someone shouted for towels.
Someone shouted because towels were missing.
And from one corner came grandfather’s daily announcement:
“WHO TOUCHED MY NEWSPAPER?”
Nobody touched it.
He was sitting on it.
At exactly 8:07 AM, the first disaster of the day happened.
“THE DOSA IS BLACK!” yelled Meera from the kitchen.
“It’s not black,” said her husband Ravi calmly, adjusting his glasses. “It’s crispy.”
“It’s carbon.”
“Carbon is strong.”
“That is coal, Ravi.”
Their son Karthik entered dramatically wearing sunglasses indoors.
“Mom, where’s my protein breakfast?”
“You are getting coconut chutney.”
“That has no protein.”
“You have no job. Eat quietly.”
Grandmother Lakshmi nearly choked laughing.
Meanwhile little Anu had tied the family dog Bruno with Ravi’s office belt because she was “playing police station.”
Bruno ran.
Ravi ran behind Bruno.
The belt snapped.
Ravi’s pants slightly slipped in front of the milkman.
The milkman respectfully looked at the sky.
Inside the kitchen, Meera was now on her fourth dosa and seventh complaint.
“Every day I cook for this family like I’m running a hotel.”
Grandfather folded the newspaper dramatically.
“In hotels, customers pay.”
Lakshmi added,
“In this house, customers only criticize.”
Karthik opened the fridge.
There was exactly:
- half lemon,
- suspicious sambar,
- three green chilies,
- and one sweet box containing sewing needles.
“Why do we store needles in sweet boxes?” he shouted.
“Tradition,” Lakshmi replied peacefully.
Suddenly the electricity went off.
Everyone froze.
The mixer stopped.
The fan stopped.
Even Bruno looked emotionally affected.
Then came the loudest scream.
“My online meeting!” Ravi yelled.
Without electricity, the WiFi died.
Without WiFi, Ravi became a caveman.
He climbed onto a chair holding the router like a freedom fighter holding the national flag.
“Signal aa raha hai?”
(Am I getting signal?)
“No!” shouted the whole family together.
At that exact moment, Anu accidentally pressed the mixer button when power returned.
GREEN CHUTNEY EXPLODED.
Walls became green.
Curtains became green.
Grandfather’s white hair got green highlights.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Then Lakshmi looked at grandfather and said:
“You finally look modern.”
The entire house burst into laughter.
Even grandfather laughed.
Even Ravi laughed though he still had no internet.
And just like every morning in that house…
the disaster ended with laughter, hot coffee, and somebody stealing the last dosa.