Paakhi

N I N E T E E N

1. Wash your hands carefully.

Aritro sighed, following the procedure again mechanically.

2. Boil bottle, bowl and spoon.

3. Boil drinking water and allow it to cool.

In the kitchen, he sensed another presence. Quietly, he turned back to look at his mother and aunt. While his mother looked away a little too quickly, his aunt's gaze widened with the same mocking and questioning glare he had seen a countless times since his arrival, as she let out an awkward cough and then, she walked away from the kitchen.

Aritro controlled the urge to roll his eyes at the woman.

No seriously, what did they expect him to do? Starve the little girl just because she wasn't his daughter?

"The water's boiling." He heard his mother's grave voice, and snapped back to the present.

"Thanks." He mouthed quietly, and then fumbled for the box of the infant formula again. No matter how many times he did this drill, he was always afraid of making a mistake, and feeding the child something inedible.

He couldn't take a chance. He was going to follow all the instructions at the back of the packaging to the T, and he was going to read the instructions as many times as was needed.

4. Consult feeding table, pour exact amount of previously boiled water into bottle. Pl look for the ml markings on the bottle.

To their credit, the feeding table really was detailed and fool proof. He didn't understand why movies and other mediums of pop culture had made the idea of a bachelor single-handedly taking care of an almost new-born child such a joke. They had plastered this scary image; making the whole concept seem like such a herculean task.

Yes, it wasn't easy. It was tiring and frustrating, and most of the times he wasn't even sure he knew what he was doing. But as soon as he had started treating it like just another day at work- breaking every little activity down into small, attainable targets; everything had started to feel so much more achievable and he had actually started to feel in control of the situation.

For every doubt; there were videos, articles and essays on the internet. Food packages were beautifully labelled and completely bachelor- proof. Diaper packs came with instructions too. And as for babies crying their lungs out went- he had figured that it was when they felt any sort of discomfort- say they were hungry, or they had peed or pooped themselves.

Sometimes; though he had no conclusive evidence to go with his theory yet; he felt like Paakhi cried just to get his attention. She especially did that when he was working on his laptop. And when he would leave everything and pull her into his arms; her wails would lower down to a sniffle.

Would it be too cocky of him to think that he was probably getting better at taking care of her now?

5. Consult feeding table and add exact number of levelled scoops for age of baby. Shake bottle well to dissolve powder.

He had just started shaking the bottle, when his mother walked over with a plate full of chopped onions towards the stove. Aritro started to clear out the mess; remembering how much she hated a messy kitchen. She turned on the gas and poured some white oil into the kadhai and then; without looking at him said, "Where did you learn to do all this?"

Aritro turned her way, surprised at her reaction. So far, ever since the small show-down in the living room upon his arrival; his family hadn't really talked to him about the child. He had briefed his mother about it; when they had started asking questions about why they were seeing a cop lurk around their house so often; but besides that, she hadn't really asked anything. His father too hadn't really spoken to him much.