It was summer time, a time when Ammamma visited Radhika’s place for a whole month. Having her around was a blessing for Radhika and Gautam as Ammamma handled their six year old Ganesh with complete ease and it was delightful and satisfying to watch the grandmother- grandson duo weave their precious memories for life together.

On Monday morning as Radhika was busy finishing her chores quickly before leaving for work, Ganesh sat before the television to watch his favourite cartoon and asked for a packet of Oreo biscuits that he relished. Radhika quickly handed it out to him while she handed Ammamma her hot cup of coffee. Ammamma helped Ganesh open the packet and what followed next was a big, irritated, angry complaint by Ganesh, “what is this Amma, I will NOT eat this, all the biscuits are broken. I DONT like broken biscuits, just throw these away!!” No amount of convincing helped to make Ganesh agree to have those or stop crying. As Radhika was already getting late for work, Ammamma stepped in to her rescue. She took over the situation and Radhika quickly hugged Ganesh and left for her office.

On her way home in the evening, she brought not one but two packets of his favourite biscuits for him anticipating the morning drama to continue from where she had left it. To her utter surprise Ganesh happily came running towards her and hugged her when she reached home. She thanked Ammamma knowing well that this was her magic or else had it been just their maid Sarita didi to handle Ganesh, he would have kept sulking all the time till a new packet would have been given to him.

At night after dinner Ganesh shared sitting on the dinning table, “ I have a big surprise for you both Amma & Appa! I have made something SPECIAL and I am sure you both will love it too!!”. Excitedly he went into the kitchen and came out with a bowl of ice cream. It was delicious indeed. When Radhika praised the ice cream for its taste, Ganesh’s happiness knew no bounds. He proudly shared, “ I made this with Ammamma, she taught me to make it using the broken Oreo biscuits.” He added, “ do you know Amma, Ammamma said not all that is broken is waste and meant to be thrown away, it’s how we handle and perceive a situation or a thing is how it will turn out for us. When we apply our mind and thoughts to make something good out of it even broken can be turned into something beautiful and in this case ‘delicious’!! Ammamma always has solution for everything , isn’t it Amma ??” Radhika lovingly hugged her and said, “ yes, she always does. Ammamma triumphs even in those situations where Google fails”.

After all, just through a packet of broken biscuits, Ammamma had succeeded in teaching Ganesh a valuable life lesson that no matter the situation that life puts you in, a perfect or a broken one, a happy or unhappy one, the ones that you enjoy and like or loath and dislike, as far as you can fix it to make it work for yourself, you will always create your own happiness.

– Sonali Bakshi

19-05-2022