Tewari & Sons, 23, Chandni Chowk

Chapter 5: Yeh Duniya Pittal Di

It was only half past five in the morning when she raised the shutters of Tewari & Sons. She was wearing a phiran, a Kashmiri coat like kurta to keep herself warm as the cold-wave in the city continued unabated. Preeto had gifted the phiran to her some years ago. It was purple in colour with intricately embroidered flowers in half-white. Khushi loved wearing it. For one she could wear her oldest clothes underneath it and secondly it was this giant, shapeless, loose-fitted box-like thing which was very comforting. When Preeto had gifted it to her, Khushi had returned home and worn it immediately. When she went to show it to Baba and Maa at Gupta Mithai, the radio was in the middle of classics-hour and it was playing, Meri Jaan Balle Balle from the film Kashmir Ki Kali. Baba had christened her Kashmir Ki Kali then, a name that stayed with her through that winter. Of course, that coincidence never repeated itself.

As was habit, Khushi turned on the radio as soon as she entered Tewari & Sons. Sometimes even before the light was switched on, she would turn the radio on. It was difficult to be alone with only her thoughts for any longer than necessary. All the shops played the radio on their little boomboxes. Though, every bylane of Chandni Chowk would have one enterprising teen who would sell CDs that would be loaded with the latest songs for thirty rupees a piece. On the counter Khushi found the latest one that Faisal Bhaii had bought last week. The cover said Baby Doll Remix. Khushi put the CD into a drawer that had several other similarly complied ones including; Dard-e-Disco Remix, Pyaar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Remix, Dil Hai Toh Dard Hoga Remix, Dard-E-Dil Remix, Dard-E-Jigar Remix and her favourite Mard Ko Bhi Dard Hota Hai Remix. Khushi was grateful that Faisal Bhaii had finally moved beyond the many hues of dard. Inspite of this alternative available, most of the shops played the radio, where music interrupted chirpy radio jockeys. Thankfully, it was too early in the morning for the radio jockeys to annoy her, so she listened to a Kabir Bhajan as she lit the lamp and folded her hands in prayer to Goddess Lakshmi. Bhakti Mein Shakti, a mellifluous voice announced after each song. Khushi, could do with some shakti today.

Normally, Tewari & Sons began work at half past seven and opened to the public by nine in the morning. Unless of course there were orders, in which case they began work earlier. It was Preeto's Godbharai this evening and she had asked Khushi if Tewari & Sons could provide the sweets for the function. She had called Khushi the other day to make this request.

"Khushi, I would love if you could provide the sweets for my Godbharai, but you have to charge me exactly what you would charge anyone else. No discount-shiscount. The only thing is you have to deliver it too. Add the taxi charges to the cost."

Khushi realised that her friend was doing this only to help her out by giving her some business. Otherwise there was no need for Preeto, who lived in Rohini, which was almost thirty kilometres away from Chandni Chowk to order sweets from Tewari & Sons. She also suspected that the reason she asked for delivery at Rohini was to ensure that Khushi showed up at the Godbharai function, because Preeto expected her to excuse herself. She would have, but now she had to carry three kilos of motichoor ladoo, two kilos of sohan halwa, three kilos of kaju katli and some artistic sweets of milk burfis moulded as diapers, teethers, crawling babies and a pregnant woman figurine. Preeto told that was the trend these days at godbharais. Why would anyone eat a diaper, even if it was made with milk, sugar and saffron, Khushi could not comprehend. She had never made artistic sweets, Baba used to be an expert at sculpting bride and groom figurines out of hot, reduced milk. Everything that Khushi learnt about mithai, she had learnt it from Baba, but some things could just not be taught. She missed Baba. And Maa. She felt so lost and alone without them. They were always her biggest support and strength. Baba was a vocal and optimistic sort, Maa, more cautious, less demonstrative, but just as loving. But they left Chandni Chowk for Lucknow, to never return. She would call them today. Perhaps Baba will finally agree to talk to her. But that was unlikely, he was still mad at her. She couldn't think about it now. For now, she needed to focus, Khushi thought and stared with concentration at the picture of a diaper that she had printed out for reference. Since she was not sure how her diaper sweet was looking, she carved H U G G I E S into it, just in case. Surprisingly the crawling child came out rather well. The pregnant woman was going to be more challenging though.