Epistle 66: Cook to KillA/N: Hey there everyone! :D :D Here is the next update! :D :D
Happy Reading! :D :D
8th February, 2007:
Wow, another year bites the dust.
Happy Birthday to me! Well, officially nineteen and the last year of my teens. Sigh, I still feel like I'm just thirteen or fourteen years old. Nineteen is a big number and the last of this decade which is like an era of its own. This is the dusk to a glorious era before the 20's will come and swamp you even before you know what hit you.
Ranveer calls it the nuclear bomb.
God, am I absolutely incapable of talking about anything else apart from him? Anything I do, the first person who I need to tell is Ranveer. But no, then I remember that I can't because we aren't talking. He thinks I'm being stupid and childish; I think he's being an obnoxious brat. That ego of his is going to cost him big time one day. He says the same about me but well, I'm still not talking. Why should I say sorry first all the time? Okay, not all the time, just that one time four years ago. But still! That was our main fall-out and I caved in first! I'll see how he doesn't say sorry first this time.
I thought last month was bad, but this one's start has been even more terrible. I'm still under home arrest and Baa has called for this to continue for an "indefinite" amount of time until she deems it fit to let me enjoy my privileges of freedom again. This is madness! And with Ranveer not talking to me, this is steadily turning into a whole new level of torture.
The only saving grace is Sharman bhaiyya, Devarsh and Gauri di returning home for their study breaks before their exams begin in March. I didn't even know that they were going to be coming, but they said it was a surprise. Ranveer's idea. He knew how much I was missing all the three of them and so for my 19th birthday, this was my gift. And he managed to convince all the three of them to come down for two weeks so that I wouldn't get bored during my house arrest and could enjoy my birthday with them as well.
There was a time when they felt like headaches and addition burdens in the name of relationships and it was vice-versa. And look at all of us today, closer than ever and so close-knit. Our parents may have their differences and may not like me or even treat each other equally but nobody can break the bond between the six of us. Well, Disha is more like the additional burden now, but well, that's something I'll have to bear. But yes, the six of us are very strongly bonded and love each other a lot. We fight, play, prank but at the end of the day, we're family. That's all that matters.
Well, they brought me loads of things, especially Sharman bhaiyya! They even got Ranveer things, which is good. I don't like him being left out even though right now I want to take him on in a hand-to-hand combat and twist his arm and pull his ears. Ahem, I'm NOT being Sunny Deol! Stop it! How could you even insinuate things like that? I'm hurt... hurt!
Okay, I'm just being a drama queen now.
Sigh. I was so close to getting back on talking terms with Ranveer when Gauri di told me about what he did for me but then I saw Ranveer talking to Sharman bhaiyya and Devarsh about... well, Sunny Leone. It was bad enough that Ranveer watched it that even those two do so. Alright fine! I know it's pretty common for boys and stuff, but Ranveer is no common boy now, is he? He's... well, Ranveer.
My Prefect Perfect.
And so I haughtily walked past him, ignoring him completely. Well, everyone were bound to notice and they pestered both of us to tell them what happened. And so we did, though I think we ended up in another huge argument and decided that it was not time yet to patch up. And since then, all my cousins have been eating up our heads to talk to each other. And the game of wait begins again, two predators walking in a circle, waiting for the other to make the first move. Not going to happen this time. I thought that atleast he'd come and wish me first on my birthday but he didn't.
I'm not going to cut him any slack that he didn't do so not because of his ego but because he was knocked out with the painkiller he took for his headache. Seriously, how many times do I have to tell him to go and show the doctor? But no, that pompous idiot just won't budge from his stupid "resolution". Fine, die with it then! I'm tired and sick of saying the same thing over and over again.
Never mind. I'll come back and tell you how the whole day went. Right now, Sharman bhaiyya is trying something "innovative" for my birthday this time. He says that I have to prove why I should get gifts for my birthday and not just only because I was born. So Devarsh, like always, had to add in his extra comments. This time, he said that I would have to do something that I'd never done before to earn those gifts. And Gauri di put a seal upon the deal - I had to "cook". I can't even cook a maggi! And I can cook anything of my choice but not tea or something. Proper snacks.
I grudgingly settled for making cookies.
Nobody's going to help me out AT ALL except for the recipe book, so let's see how that turns out. I don't even know how to distinguish from half of the ingredients and nobody is even willing to help me. Sharman's made Ranveer critic number 1. Wow, just what I needed. I can't drive a car in front of him properly and I'm supposed to let him review what I cook today. Could things get any worse? If he tries to yap too much, I swear I'll poison him!
I just hope that it's a memorable first cook.
Ishaani shut the diary and got up. It was ten in the morning and she had just two hours in her hand. Well, so much for having a lazy birthday. She wondered whether they really had gifts for her birthday or were they just fooling her by getting her to cook. Either way, since nobody was at home today (how typical, really), it was just the cousins and herself. Made for a good past time.
Ishaani walked over to the kitchen and looked around the place stupidly. This was really dumb in her opinion, but she knew she had no option. It was a challenge that she had to have the cookies ready by noon sharp for her gifts. Not a minute more or there would be no gifts. She knew she wasn't doing it for the gifts because those were never her concern. It was the fact that she finally had something interesting to do after so long that piqued her interest.
This was going to be something different.
She walked over to the platform and put down the recipe book where the recipe of the Chocolate Chip Cookies stared at her enticingly. She read through the page, taking in a huge gulp of breath as though she were reading her question paper.
-x-
Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Total Time:
1 hr 5 min
Prep:
20 min
Inactive:
30 min
Cook:
15 min
Yield:
30 cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
Directions:
Evenly position 2 racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. (on convection setting if you have it.) Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets. (If you only have 1 baking sheet, let it cool completely between batches.)
Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave on medium power until melted. (Alternatively melt in a small saucepan.) Cool slightly. Whisk the sugars, eggs, butter and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon; take care not to over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips or chunks.
Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared pans. Wet hands slightly and roll the dough into balls. In case of a filling, use Nutella or any spread of your choice. Space the cookies about 2-inches apart on the pans. Bake, until golden, but still soft in the center, 12 to 16 minutes, depending on how chewy or crunchy you like your cookies. Transfer hot cookies with a spatula to a rack to cool. Serve.
Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days.
-x-
Ishaani sighed. God, this was going to be really tedious. She looked at the clock and gasped. It was now half past ten and she hadn't even gotten any of the ingredients out. Snapping out of her slackened reflexes, she quickly ran about the kitchen to fetch the ingredients that would be required as she heard all the others outside laughing at something Ranveer said. But she had no time to think.
Bringing all the required ingredients back to the platform, she ran towards the cabinet where all the measuring cups were kept. She thanked her stars that her mother kept those fancy kitty parties where all these ingredients came in handy for snacks. She quickly adjusted the temperature on the oven and set it for preheating, before working on the baking sheets adeptly. Now that she was getting it right in a flow of beginner's luck, she could feel herself get confident by the minute.
Assimilating all the ingredients in their respective measuring cups, she was about to get to the butter when she stopped. The book said unsalted butter. But where was unsalted? There was only this one bowl of butter that she could find all around the kitchen. Screw it, she thought. Who had unsalted butter anyway? She scooped the butter according to the required amount and sighed. Well, she still had to melt it. Phase 1 - done. Phase 2, batter making. Pulling out a big bowl, she followed the instructions to the word until forty minutes later, the dough was ready. It took her much longer than would have been preferred because she kept wondering whether she was doing it right or no.
Finally rolling the dough into thirty balls just like the recipe said, she read ahead and stopped abruptly. Filling. There was an option here. Her heart told her to leave out the filling because it would be great otherwise, but her mind seemed adamant to go for it. Well, it wouldn't hurt to flaunt a bit now, would it? Ranveer's words floated into her mind about doing it simple always, but the creative in her begged her to go for the filling. And in spite of remembering how Ranveer told her to listen to her heart rather than mind, she chose the latter. Well, it was just Nutella. It wasn't like she was experimenting with chemicals now, was she?
She quickly rushed back to the cabinet and searched for the Nutella bottle until she came across two bottles, both with torn out labels. She cursed in her mind wholeheartedly at her sister who had the habit of tearing away all the labels when playing with the bottles during breakfast. Damn it! But both the bottles looked just the same when it came to the colour of the contents, although one looked slightly fresher than the other when it came to the colour of the chocolate. She cursed aloud this time, knowing that she still had a lot to do when time was running out so quickly. She was about to open the bottles to taste when Sharman's voice rang out from the hall.
"Ishaani, you just have half an hour more!"
Ishaani looked at the clock in panic. There was no time to taste! Her guts yelled at her now to abandon the idea of the filling and yet her hands remained firm around the bottles. Wasting another two minutes in more panic than was required, she selected the lighter shade of chocolate in the jar and ran to her dough and quickly began putting in the filling. She stared at the clock in frenzy, her hands working in twice its original speed now. Seven minutes later, the cookies were spaced perfectly on the pans as she pushed them in the ovens, now sighing shakily.
The oven was heated perfectly and she heaved a sigh of relief as she stared inside the oven, the cookies fluffing perfectly over the next fifteen minutes. She pulled out the pans from the oven with her gloves on and the smell was practically intoxicating. Mission accomplished with five minutes to spare! She quickly put the cookies on the plate along with seven glasses of milk before she called in one of the helpers to take out the trays. They were set upon the table in the hall with one minute to spare.
Ishaani plopped upon the remaining chair as everybody sniffed at the cookies in appreciation, especially Prateik. Sharman and Ranveer looked the happiest.
"Wow! That looks like one bake capable to kill, Ishaani! Are you sure this is your first time?" joked Sharman, even though the affection in his voice didn't go amiss.
"Yeah... But don't just stare at it, dig in!" exclaimed Ishaani, more than happy with the initial response that she received.
"Well, pass them around now! Ranveer first!" added Devarsh enthusiastically.
Ishaani looked at Ranveer who was already staring at her with a pride glittering in his eyes. In that moment, Ishaani forgot why she was even angry upon him. This was the look she always wanted to see in his eyes for her. She passed him over the plate eagerly and he accepted three cookies along with the glass of milk. She passed around the cookies to all the others before stopping at Ranveer, waiting for him to take the first bite.
He took the first bite and munched at the cookie slowly, deliberately while all of them waited with bated breaths. He oddly reminded her of some kind of poison tester with the way they were all staring at him, until the biggest smile broke out on his face.
"I've been dying to see what your hand-cooked food would taste like. This is much, much better than I ever thought it would be. This is perfect!"
Ishaani felt her legs turn into jelly as she heaved a sigh of relief. Triumph! Victory! She needed to do a hoopla hoop! Everything was right with the cookies, even the stupid butter that had driven her crazy and the even crazier chocolate filling. But none of those silly battles of confusion mattered, not when this was her first attempt and she passed so spectacularly in it!
She threw her arms around Ranveer as he hungrily chugged down the remaining two in his hand. All the others looked ecstatic as they popped the cookies into their mouth greedily, looking awestruck and giving their own respective reviews.
"Wow, these are great!"
"One of the best I've had in a long, long time!"
"You're going to bake me another batch for USA!"
"All the remaining cookies are mine!"
"Yeah, they're alright..."
Ishaani looked giddy with happiness as she sat down and smiled stupidly at everyone. Everybody thumped her with praises as they brought forward their gifts and lapped them upon her. She was too busy to notice anything else except the happiness on everyone's faces and the colourful gifts that clouded her vision. She opened them all rapidly like a child at the peak of her happiness and out came almost everything on her bucket list that she wanted - a new pair of shoes, clothes, artificial jewellery, books, perfumes and birthday cards with wonderful wishes that made her go dewy eyed.
All of them pulled her into her hug while Ranveer sat back, looking at them happily. Separating from the hug, Ishaani was still in the daze with her gifts when she heard Sharman ask Ranveer, "What happened to your face?"
"I don't know..." replied Ranveer, looking uncertain as he scratched his arms with vexation.
"It looks like you've gotten rashes... and your arms..." observed Sharman, now looking bewildered.
"They won't stop itching..." replied Ranveer as he coughed. Devarsh broke away from the conversation with the others and walked up to Ranveer, looking concerned.
"Ranveer, are you alright?"
"I... I think so... My throat just feels a little irritated..." replied Ranveer with a lisp after some time, looking as though he had finally managed to regain some of his breath from the coughing fit.
"No, you are not alright... there's something wrong..." remarked Devarsh, looking worried now.
"He's probably just showing you his performance about how well he can fake it just like the memory loss thing," replied Ishaani tartly who didn't know whether or not to believe that he was genuinely suffering from what he was saying.
Ranveer scowled at Ishaani and was halfway to retorting when he broke into a fit of prolonged coughing. Ishaani barely looked behind and saw Ranveer's disheveled condition when Prateik's voice boomed out, his mouth full of the last remaining two cookies that were stuffed in mercilessly.
"Ishaani, you've got to make these more often! I love the peanut butter chocolate stuffing that you've used!"
Ishaani felt her heart stop in that moment as she stared at Prateik, her blood gone cold.
"Pea- peanut butter?" she choked out, now looking at Ranveer, aghast.
Ranveer in turn, gave her the same mirrored look of horror as understanding passed between them about what had triggered his sudden ailment. Sharman caught on to the eye lock the two friends shared before Ranveer fell off the couch, his breathing uneven.
"What- what happened?" remarked Sharman as all of them gathered around Ranveer, whose hands were blindly trying catch hold of something.
"He- he's allergic to peanuts! I- I meant to use Nutella... I- I don't know how-" replied Ishaani in a frenzy just as she cupped Ranveer's cheek's and urged him to stay awake.
Devarsh shooed everyone away from the hall and asked Gauri to call Harshad and Kailash and inform them about what had happened before returning back to the hall, looking serious.
"We need to get him to a hospital, ASAP! Peanut butter allergies are the worst! My roommate died of it last year!" remarked Devarsh, now looking aghast as the three of them watched Ranveer gasp for breath harder and harder, paralyzed by what was happening.
"Bhaiyya! Do something, please!" screamed Ishaani at the top of her voice as she rubbed his palms furiously, hoping for something, anything that could ease him of this misery.
"Wait... No..." began Sharman but trailed off abruptly, looking uncertain.
"What?" asked Devarsh, now vexed.
"Does he have an Epi-pen?" asked Sharman, and both the brothers had a look of understanding on their faces.
People in India weren't in the habit of keeping an Epi-Pen handy. Ishaani looked at her brothers stupidly before remembering that he actually did.
"No... Wait... Wait, yes! Papa brought him the new one six months ago!"
"Get it for me quickly! Devarsh, get over here and try to ease him out till I get the car out. We can't waste time!" boomed out Sharman, looking tense. Ranveer had already begun to hyperventilate.
Ishaani and Sharman both ran to do their respective tasks assigned as Devarsh now took over watching upon Ranveer, who had already begun to get hypotensive. Ishaani ran to his room like a woman possessed as she threw open the doors and fetched the first aid box that she knew was in his cupboard. She rummaged through the box until she found the dual set of the Epi-pen Auto-Injector that her father had been buying for him regularly now in gaps of six months ever since he'd first found out that Ranveer was allergic to peanuts.
She ran back to the hall where Ranveer had already stopped thrashing his limbs and looked nearly unconscious. Devarsh pulled the injector out from her hand and jammed the needle into his thigh, making Ranveer gasp suddenly before his head fell to his side, his eyes half open, his breathing easing slightly by the passing minute now. Ishaani cupped his cheek just as he tried to talk.
"Ishaani..."
"You'll be fine, alright? Look at me! You'll- you'll be alright! Just hang in there, okay?"
Ranveer tried to talk again before his head fell back upon the floor. The attempt had exhausted him and he shut his eyes tiredly. Before Ishaani could do anything, she heard a horn outside the house - it was Sharman. Devarsh and Ishaani both carried him out as Sharman jumped out of the car, making way for them. Devarsh opened the backseat and helped Ishaani lay him before he sat from the other side while Sharman took the passenger's seat.
Ranveer's eyes now snapped open as he stared around blankly just as Ishaani revved up the car.
"His, his nose is bleeding..." whispered Devarsh, looking at Ranveer aghast. The latter was now propped against the seat, looking slightly better.
"What? That doesn't happen for allergies..." remarked Sharman absent-mindedly, while Ishaani looked at Ranveer from the rear-view mirror. He was awake, but looked gobsmacked and disoriented.
"He's been having them randomly for three weeks now, and the breathing problems..." added in Ishaani, now driving the car with a newfound frenzy. She had to get him to treatment as soon as she could. Her heart felt like it would explode any moment and his sharp intakes of breathing weren't helping her concentration. Even before she could let panic overtake her sense, she brought the car to an abrupt halt as the traffic ahead of her remained as resolute as ever with no intention to budge.
"Oh shit! How long is it going to take!?" exclaimed Devarsh impatiently as Ranveer's breathing now came in shallow fits once again.
"The traffic is terrible!" yelled back Sharman, now chagrined at their bad luck.
All the four of them felt their hearts go cold at the thought that they might not even reach the hospital in time. They'd read enough about allergies and the medical repercussions to know that this wasn't anything to joke about. This could very well turn ugly.
"He should be alright since we've already given him an Epi-pen..." commented Devarsh after some time, now looking uncertain himself. He was going to give his medical entrance in a few months, but that didn't mean that he knew everything or anything, for that matter.
"How long has it been?" asked Ishaani, her voice quivering. The traffic began to move at a snail's pace. Ranveer remained silent, his eyes opening and shutting from time to time in a poor hypnosis.
"Half an hour!" replied Sharman, now sounding edgy as he poked his head out of the window and hollered at the traffic to make a move and avoid the two people who chose that road to fight upon their collided cars.
"It's still another half an hour till we reach..." whispered Devarsh as he looked at Ranveer, who didn't look that good to him again. The effect of the first Epi-Pen was beginning to wear off.
"I swear to God, you listen to me, Ranveer Vaghela! I will resurrect you and kill you if you die upon me!" yelled Ishaani, hoping that it would take away her own frustration and fear and would give Ranveer sufficient motive to remain awake for now that his eyes began to droop in earnest.
It didn't take long enough to understand that he was getting light-headed again.
"I... I can't breathe..."
"Devarsh, something's wrong with him! He's still lisping!" exclaimed Sharman, now looking horrified.
"Oh no..."
"What? What?!" shrieked Sharman, going pale.
"He's having a relapse! I've got to give him another shot!" he remarked as he pulled out the second injector from his pocket and threw off the cap from the needle by his mouth. Ishaani looked at him from the mirror, shocked.
"What?! Do you even know what you're doing?"
"We need to keep him awake till we reach the hospital!" replied Devarsh urgently just as Ranveer began to hyperventilate again.
He plunged the needle into his thigh for the second time just as Ranveer's breathing turned shallow, his eyes already shut now. The next fifteen minutes passed in dreaded silence where Ranveer's shallow and uneven breathing was the only thing that kept cutting through their unpleasant thoughts.
"There we are!"
All the crude thoughts came to an end with Ishaani's exclamation as the car halted rudely at the parking lot of the hospital. Sharman and Devarsh both pulled Ranveer out who'd already lost consciousness by now. Laying him on the stretcher, the ward boys quickly redirected him to the emergency room just as the three of them followed suit, looking for the doctor in charge.
"What's happened to him?"
"He's had an allergy from peanuts. Three cookies with a little peanut butter chocolate filling in each. We've administered two Epi-pens in a span of one hour because he had a relapse," informed Devarsh, now taking charge.
"Stay right here, we'll take things from here onwards," replied the doctor gravely, looking within the room to see the nurses connecting him to various medical equipments.
"Will he be alright?" asked Ishaani, the fear in her voice evident.
"I don't know, miss. We'll need to check him up completely," replied the doctor seriously before he headed into the room, leaving the three of them behind.
Sharman pulled Ishaani into a hug as she shivered, too afraid to cry and hope that he would live through it this time. Devarsh sat down upon one of the chairs in the corridor and looked shaken. The three of them remained the same way for another half an hour till the doctor left the room again.
"It was smart that you gave him the second epi-pen. He's not being getting sufficient oxygen. We'll be taking him into surgery though first thing in the morning," replied the doctor promptly. All the three of them looked confused. Since when did people with an allergic reaction need surgery?
"Whoa, wait. What?" asked Devarsh, looking bewildered.
"He has a deviated nasal septum. It's what triggered the nosebleed. And it's why he's not being able to breathe in sufficient oxygen as well, causing him to relapse back on the anaphylaxis," replied the doctor, and Ishaani now took the lead.
"But- but he's been having the nosebleeds for three weeks now! And headaches and breathing troubles! I thought it was something got to do with the pneumothorax he had six years back!" she poured out, finally admitting her fears and observations out aloud.
"Has he been into an accident recently?" asked the doctor suddenly. Ishaani racked her brains until it all hit her.
"No... Yes... Yes... We had one three weeks ago. He- he's been complaining of the symptoms since then," replied Ishaani slowly, now feeling a brick fall into her gut. Her fault, again.
"Ah, deviated septums are majorly caused by impact trauma. Don't worry, we're going to perform a septoplasty on him the moment he's stable enough. He'll be alright, hopefully."
"What about the allergy?" asked Sharman.
"Ah, I'm afraid we'll have to keep him under observation for a day just to make sure there is no other relapse. But the epi-pens countered the allergy well enough to not do much damage. It's a miracle that you had them with you in the first place or else he wouldn't have made it. Call it a new life," added the doctor with a small smile. Ishaani rolled her eyes at him.
"How is he now?"
"He's resting. He should be awake in a couple of hours, though," replied the doctor, giving Ishaani a gentle smile. Looking at the two boys, he continued in a somber tone once again.
"I need one of you to complete the formalities."
Sharman and Devarsh both nodded and followed the doctor back towards the reception, leaving Ishaani to stand alone outside the room where Ranveer was transferred to now. She stared at him sleeping peacefully, his expression devoid of any worry. She folded her hands across her chest as she felt relief sweep upon her at finally having an answer to his ill-health from all those weeks. Well, he was going to get fixed back very soon. But there was only one thing that would never get fixed and it made her lips twitch in spite of herself.
His love to die for her or because of her.
Constructive criticism will be more than welcome and sorry for any typos. :D :D
Next chapter:
Epistle 67
Edited by LadyMeringue - 8 years ago
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Bade Achche Lagte Hain Naya Season
Book Talk
Kabhi Neem Neem Kabhi Shahad Shahad
