The refrigerator door groaned as she opened and shut it at intervals of 1.5 minutes. A silky chocolate brownie stared at her every time she opened it. And she stared right at it, thinking of the ways she was going to devour it. But then she remembered her mother say a Hindi proverb—sabr ka fal meetha hota hai, which loosely slash literally translated to—the fruits of a long wait turn out to be sweeter. So she decided to put it to practice. Every time she opened that door, her eyes twinkled as the lights of the fridge came on. And her mouth watered a little bit more with each passing second. Just then the door bell rang and she saw her favourite uncle walk in bearing gifts. She jumped on the gifts with joy, losing her focus on the brownie. For those few minutes, there was no worry in her little mind. She got up holding her doll running towards her uncle—she wanted to thank him with all her heart and soul and life. Until she saw what was happening. He greedily bit into the last bite of the silky chocolaty brownie, the soft caramel oozing from its rich layers of goodness. Her heart broke into pieces and the doll dropped onto the floor with a thud. And then she waited. As the door shut behind him and he left their house, a tantrum broke lose, together with hell. She screamed at her mother and a sense of betrayal overtook her. “How could you do this to me?” She screamed hysterically. Her mother took her into her arms cajoling her with love and painful regret. “I’m sorry baby. I didn’t know you wanted it so much.” She screamed a scream louder, angrier, uglier than ever before. And her mother lowered her gaze as she drowned herself in guilt. The scene dissolved in her head as years later, she found herself holding the same brownie in her hands, thinking about her mother. She had lost her to God’s will. And this time, it was her turn to feel the guilt.