My sister and I got busy in the kitchen. She read out the ingredients from mom’s recipe book and I arranged them on the counter. Both of us aren’t too keen about cooking, but we were determined to bake cupcakes to make a birthday special and memorable.
As I mixed flour, eggs, chocolate, sugar and the remaining ingredients, my sister whipped up butter, sugar and cream cheese. Together we poured the batter into moulds and licked the mixing bowl clean as they got baked. When the lovely aroma of cakes wafted from the oven, we couldn’t stop ourselves from believing that we had put together perfectly the ingredients to happiness.
With the frosting, they looked beautiful and delicious. We carried the tray of cupcakes to the flat where Mr. Sen lived. He opened the door to our collective, “Happy Birthday!” He was visibly touched and had tears in his eyes when he said, “I just received a virtual cake on Facebook from my daughter in the States. I don’t think I’ll ever find out how it tastes though.”
I looked at my sister. She nodded and I knew she had read my thoughts. “In fact Mr. Sen, we baked these on the request of your daughter,” said I.
“She wanted it to be a surprise you see!” I stammered. We climbed the stairs back to our flat in silence, overwhelmed by a deep sense of satisfaction. We knew, we had gifted our neighbour more than just a tray of cupcakes.
Vidya Subramanian is a a novice blogger and loves writing with a passion. She blogs at http://ofthisthatandjustabouteverything.blogspot.in