■ Einstein da bhatijaa

“Curiosity killed the cat”; Shakespeare wrote in one of his play. If you go by my mother, my childhood curiosity killed the television, refrigerator and loads of other electronic appliances.

I was a curious soul, wanted to find out how things work! Now, those were the days when internet was not prevalent. It was not like every time you went "Aiilaa..Jhakkas" over a gadget and had million dollar questions about how it works, you Googled it out. The only way was to open the thing or as I used to say dissect It! My curiosity would more or less get satisfied but we ended up having a flash light that would start working only after u hit it like 12 times, a calculator, that would guaranty you 7894.888 as the answer, no matter what numbers you try to add and a radio that would only tune to a Malaysian station. Pretty sure, the sites like “how stuff works” were started by annoyed mothers who had kids like me.

After I had dissected most of the small appliances, it was time for the big kill - the Television! I wanted to open the TV. I wanted to take a look at it's inside desperately, as badly as you would be to open the email whose subject line goes -"katina kaif in bikini!" Mom sensed my evil intentions! She would live without the evening khatti with Mrs. Sen, would let go the annual sale on banarasi saree and even be ready to overlook the big ink stain on the new bed sheet (say, someone forgot to put the cap back on the pen even after repetitive warnings) but not without the TV! specifically on wednesdays. It was chitrahaar time on Wednesdays!! She played her ultimate card. She declared "if anything happens to the TV, I am going to my maternal home and this time for real!" that meant no fancy dishes for dinner! That was how the television was rescued from yours truly Einstein ka bhatijaa. But not for long!

As Paulo Coelho quoted, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. One fine day the Tele won't start! Apparently a mouse had made its quest inside the TV, goofed around with the wires and got electrocuted. There you see, I was not the only one who had the Khujli. That meant only one thing, it had to be opened. I was delighted! Years later I was that happy when one day my friend D, enlightened me – “abe! tere ko maloom, internet pe free ka pondy milta hai!!”

That summer, a sense of responsibility crept in! I had troubled my mom a lot, it was time to repay the poor lady! I presented her the ultimate gift, an Eco-friendly homemade solar cooker! Tan Tada!! No more long kitchen hours for dear mom cooking food for us. I had made it solely with junk items. Well, not totally junk. She freaked out the next day when she found out that the washroom mirror was missing and the solar cooker insulation was made out of her couch cushions!

The cooker served its purpose pretty well, if you decide to overlook few limitations. You had to be ready with the raw items at least five hours ahead of lunch time and better have a backup plan for rainy days. The vegetables would get partly cooked but then I pointed out that it was healthy over greasy food! Off all the people around, Ma was the happiest soul, not because she didn't have to cook lunch, but it was the longest time documented, that went without any of our household appliances reported broken!

For a week, I took care of the lunch. One morning I woke up to find the solar cooker missing! I rushed to my father to report the loss but found that he had given it to my younger cousin! I was told that my cousin was highly impressed with the "gadget" and wanted to use it as his school project. I felt proud!!

Later that year I met my cousin during holidays. While having general discussions, I brought up the subject. I inquired if the cooker was working properly and if it had helped him in his school project, with the sole purpose of shamelessly fishing for complements. He gave me a puzzled look and innocently replied - "what cooker??!!"