A/N
Please imagine that Virat doesn't know ABCs of cooking (just like me) and that it's been 4-5 months since Sai's ditch accident.
Sai came running into Chavan Niwas with a bag on her head. She quickly closing the door behind her, shook and squeezed the water at the ends of her of cotton kurti. She took a deep breath in, after running along the drive way and relaxed when the comparatively warmer air of her house touched her skin. It was freezing outside with the heavy rain, cold winds and it's still 4 in the evening. She started walking to her room, when she was attacked by sneezes. She could feel her nose and cheeks turn red due to sneezes and felt a cold a cold creep up her throat.
"Great. Sai Joshi, you're done. Aai will hit you with a belan now and then everyone will switch on their mother bear mode. I don't want Kaku, especially, to do that.", she thought to herself. It's been months, but a motherly Kaku still freaks her out. Not that she was complaining. But weird things do need time to get accustomed with.
She changed her path to her room and crisply walked to the kitchen, wincing now and then at the uncomfortable feeling in her throat.
"Aai, I want-", she abruptly stopped speaking when she noticed that the kitchen was empty with no sign of Aai.
"Wait a minute...even the house is so silent. Where is everyone ?", she thought to herself, before going on a tour around the house. Kaku was not there, Aai-Baba's room was empty as well, Mansi Bua and Shivani Bua seem to have vanished as well. As a last resort, she slowly knocked on Samrat dada's room, praying to all the Gods above that if there was someone inside, it was Dada. Fortunately or Unfortunately, the room was completely empty. She only had one way now, to go to Virat sir's room. Sai sighed to herself heavily and started walking towards, what was once, her room.
She was about to knock on the door, but stopped herself remembering Virat's words.
"Sai..don't need to knock. You can enter whenever you want", she heard him say.
"I don't know what is wrong with this man. What does he have against knocking ?", she muttered sarcastically to herself and slowly opened the door, wishing that she didn't have to see anything embarrassing. And this room was empty too.
"Khadoos Jasoos, always lounges around but vanishes, when you need him. I want to break that-", she shrieked, jumping two feet in to air, leaving her thoughts of vandalism incomplete.
"Jai Hanuman gyan gun Sagar ..." she turned around reciting Hanuman Chalisa, praying with a fervour that the hand she felt on her shoulder wasn't that of the resident chudail. She felt air enter her lungs again, when she saw a confused and perplexed Virat with his hand stretched out.
"Humphhh...it was this Gabbar.", she sulked to herself, calming her racing heart. She felt her temper flare up try to cover the embarrassment of shrieking like a banshee and got ready to fire on her newly made friend.
"VIRAT SIR !!", she screamed at him, "What is wrong with you? Who does that to a person standing alone in a room? Do you know how scare-, I mean, how shocked I was ? Do you want to give me a heart attack or something?", she questioned him, question after question. What she missed to see was the absolute confusion that dawned on Virat's face.
" Wha- ..Why?... How are-..When did you..Sai !! stop screaming. What are you speaking about ? When did you even come back?", he questioned her, putting an effective stop to the temper.
Sai cooled down and decided to let it pass for now. She planned to answer him properly, because, frankly she was beginning to feel a little cold and she needed a change. Her cotton pajamas were calling her.
"Virat sir, I just got back from *achoo* from college and I was *achoo* searching for others. Where did *achoo* everyone go ?*achoo* ", Sai struggled to answer Virat, with her sentences being punctuated by sneezes.
Virat was shocked to say the least. Sai's nose was slowly turning red and as much as adorable it is, she will be falling sick if the sneezes don't stop. He slowly got a complete idea of her state and realised she was dripping wet.
"Urghh..why is this girl so irresponsible about her health", he thought to himself.
"Sai..you're wet. Go change into dry clothes and come to the kitchen. Meanwhile I'll make some Haldhi doodh for you. Also, everyone went to the temple when the weather was fine and are waiting there until it clears ", he informed her and saw her face turn into weird shapes at the mention of milk. He felt a smile creeping on to his and immediately hid it behind a stern look. He directed that stern look towards a stalling Sai. She stomped her legs and ran out of the room, but not before voluntarily stomping on his leg, making him jump around in pain.
Virat shook his head at her childishness and went to the kitchen to make the required. It took Sai another 15 minutes to come in her dry pajamas. Virat slowly glanced at a Sai looking cute in her Tinkle themed dress and shook his head, adoration in his eyes.
"Here's your milk. And you're supposed to drink it without any tantrums. Come on, bottoms up!", he ordered her.
Sai put on a puppy face to escape that horrible drink but had to give in looking at the Khadoos. She quickly drank all the milk, choking at the end because of the weird taste and making all kinds of funny faces.
Virat laughed at a pissed off Sai and decided to pacify her with some aloo pakoras. The weather was perfect for it, and he might as well feast on some pakoras in the name of Sai. The only problem was that he didn't know how to make them and Sai was banned from the kitchen by Kaku.
"Sai..you know, it's raining. The weather's good and I'm thinking that maybe we can, you know, eat Aloo Pakoras?", he blurted the last lines out, hoping she'd have a solution for his sudden craving and also that she'd not figure out his craving.
"Virat sir, but..I'm not allowed to cook, frankly, I don't know how to make pakoras and no offence, but you can't cook. We cannot order in because of the weather. What are we going to do ?", she fired a question in return and Virat felt his hopes crashing. All he could think of was hot, spicy and steamy pakoras that were calling out to him. Virat felt drool forming and wiped his lips frantically, only to realise it was imaginary and he must have looked like a maniac to Sai.
"Think, Viru, think. If you don't think, how are we going to eat Pakoras. Remember, hot, steamy and spicy ?" he conscience prodded and pricked until he forced his brain to figure something out and Eureka !!!
"Sai !! I found an idea", he started jumping around trying to pull his phone out, " We can always see it on youtube or google. You can tell me from the phone and the great Master Chef Virat Chavan will cook"
"Are you sure, Virat Sir? I mean, are we going survive after this experiment? I haven't completed my MBBS yet, so please don't trust on my medicine skills." Sai answered looking at him suspiciously.
"Offo..Sai. You worry too much. I'm a very good learner. Just tell me what all we are supposed to have apart from Aloo, because I know only that much", he ended sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.
"Alright, let me see this..Aloo Pakora....yes !! Found it. Quick, take out all the ingredients as I speak. Besan, Rice Flour, Turmeric, Chilli Powder, Chaat Masala, Hing, Ginger Garlic Paste, Salt and Baking Soda...", she quickly recited the ingredients and lifted her head up.
And there he was, with a single container in his hand and rubbing his forehead, where she could see a bump forming. Sai was horrified at seeing the single container and shrieked his name.
"Virat Sir !!!! What is this, why do you have a single container ?", she yelled, the vein. n her forehead popping out.
"I got confused listening to all those names and seeing all those dabbas. So I picked the only thing I knew confidently, Salt !!", he said proudly, handing out the jar to Sai.
Sai walked towards him, like a lioness walking towards her prey. She quickly grabbed the container out of his hand and whacked his hand away with the spatula she picked up on the way.
"This is BAKING SODA ! Not salt !", she yelled at him, " And you wanted to cook? Virat sir, one final time, give up. We'll wait for the others"
"No ! I want to eat Pakora. And this time, help me pick out instead of just reading okay??".
Sai couldn't help but sigh and walk up to help him. 30 minutes, 3 smacks, 2 banters and 1 discussion about what is rice flour and what is all-purpose flour, they had their ingredients ready and sorted. Now it was time for Potatoes.
"Virat sir, peel the potato and cut them into thin, fine slices. Meanwhile, I'll see where my phone is and take care of your fingers", saying this Sai quickly ran out of the room in search for her room.
Virat sadly but determinedly looked at those potatoes and decided to get on with his work. Chopping board check, Knife, check.
Sai walked into the room, head bent in to her and snapped her head up at Virat sir's grunt. " What the hell is this man doing ?", she thought to herself and ran to Virat. There he was, Grunty Mcgrunt, trying peel the skins off potato with the help of a knife and in the process chipping at its pieces.
"Virat sir, why aren't you using the peeler ? Why are you being so brutal on it ?", she questioned him, only for Virat to jump 2 feet in the air, dropping the knife on the chopping board.
"What is wrong with you Sai? Why would you startle a person with knife ? What if one of us had gotten-....Wait !! What did you say, Peeler ? There's a peeler? Why didn't you tell me beforehand ?", Virat shrieked, his voice reaching 2 octaves higher.
"How would I know that you don't know peeling? Anyhow, it's in the second drawer to the right and come on, peel quickly, chop chop", she ordered him. Virat followed whatever she said and peeled the potatoes and looked at them as if they were his newly born children. It was now time to cut. He took the knife and began the process of cutting them exactly like Sai showed in the video.
"So what next Sai? Frying them?", he questioned her, only to see her shoot a glare at him. She quickly gathered the slices and began rinsing them in cold water. Virat stood there, shocked, at Sai's precision in work. He was brought out of his reverie when Sai thrusted dried slices into his hand, directing him to the next work. She quickly gave him directions as to teaspoons, tablespoons, pinches and cups and Virat was lost again. How the hell would he find these measurements?
"Sai..Sai", he whispered slowly into her ear, as if they were sharing a secret,"Which one is the bigger spoon, the table or tea? Also, where will I find all these measurements?"
Sai felt a headache creeping up and she wasn't sure how? Could it be because of the rain or the Pakora-crazy man standing in front of her, with the absurdest of questions ? She was strongly leaning towards the latter, if she had to be truthful to herself.
"Virat sir, the measurement utensils are in the same drawer as the peeler. They're markes. Tea spoon, table spoon, cup everything. Please use them and mix the batter. And don't get confused between besan and rice flour, they're quite different in colours", she answered him, tired from all the cooking they did, or rather she made him do.
She saw him mix the batter as if he was mixing explosives and couldn't escape a fit of giggles. As she saw him finish the batter, she got up to instruct on the further process.
"Virat sir, heat some oil in the pan and start deep frying those potatoes after dipping them in the batter.", she answered him and turned around to walk to the stool she was sitting on. As she turned towards Virat again, she saw it..He was holding his hand at least 30 cm in the air and was about to drop the potato into the oil
She ran to him and pulled him back, exactly at the time of the potato dropping. She saw that he was frozen into shock because of the oil that shot up because of the force with which potato dropped. She gave him a once over to make sure he's fine and breathed in relief after confirming that he was fine.
"Sai..I'm so sorry. Are you okay? You didn't get hurt didn't you ?", he questioned her, worry dripping out of his voice.
"I'm okay Virat sir, and why would you do that? You could've gotten seriously hurt!", she reprimanded as he flushed in embarrassment, his hand quickly reaching to scratch the back of his neck.
"I-...I was just trying to escape the heat of the flame and oil. Didn't expect the oil to try and reach me instead ? Is this an Airtel advertisement or what Wherever you go, I follow?Tchhh", he tried making a joke out of it and Sai couldn't help but sigh. He was never going to change.
"Alright, now move to the stove, I'll show you how to make one and only one. You're on your own after that.", saying this, she moved to the stove and quickly began putting the potato slice in sizzling oil. She saw him observe keenly as she fried it, making sure it didn't over fry. She handed over the bowl to him, and moved behind, making sure he was still making it properly.
He did stumble at first. Over-fried some and half-fried some. Some Pakoras stuck together and some potato slices came out of their coating. But he did manage to make them without sending either of them to the hospital. at least not before eating them. 40 minutes. He slowly brought the plates onto the counter-top and sunk deep into thoughts as if another thought was brewing. Sai was scared.
"Sai, do you think I should make chutney and-"
"NO. No more cook. Let's eat these with ketchup for now. Please. I'm hungry", she pleaded him, successfully hiding her fear at the prospect of him cooking further. Both of them picked up their respective plates walked into the drawing room, only to find the surroundings eerily quiet. Sai was surprised by this quietness. "What changed?", she thought to herself as she walked upstairs to balcony along with Virat. She found the answer for it there.
"Virat Sir, the rain stopped. What are we going to do with them now?", she whined at the lost chance. She saw him standing deep in thought and waited for the answer.
"We eat, Sai. That's it. It isn't about the rain, but the company that we spend the rain with. We still enjoyed it, didn't we?", he turned towards her, grinning. He walked up to her, sat next to her and picked up a Pakora from his plate, signing at her to do the same. Both of them held their Pakoras in their hands
"Here's to our first Aloo Pakoras and not going to hospital with food poisoning", she heard him say and chuckled, taking the first bite along with him. They tasted heaven. The conversation flowed, pakoras eaten and gossips shared.
2 hours later
As Samrat Salunkhe slowly entered the house along with his family, he was surprised at finding it empty. He quickly walked up in search of his brother and his dear sister. He walked into the balcony and couldn't help but stare at the sight.
There they were. Virat and Sai. Sleeping. Sai's head leaning on Virat's shoulder and Virat's leaning on Sai's head. There were plates lying around with crumbs and ketchup packets opened. Samrat quietly captured a picture in his phone and walked in giddiness to share the same with family, letting the pair sleep in their wonderland.
A/N
I remember having control over the shot, but it then slipped out of my hand. I apologise in advance if it's utter nonsense. Also, "To Break and To Bind" chapter is coming on Monday, because I need to do some research on writing therapy scenes. I don't know how to make Aloo Pakoras, the knowledge is from google.
Health and Fitness
