Reason Demands

Mom excitedly told she watched a YouTube tutorial. “I will do degree coffee today, drink,” she said.

I usually don’t prefer coffee. “But,” she said, “Today you drink.”

She brought a frothy half cup of coffee. I started to sip and she started, “First you should boil milk with jaggery very nicely.”

I said ‘mmm’ coldly and my lips still sandwiched between cup’s edge, sipping.

“Then add a pinch of salt to the decoction.”

Once again, I said ‘mmm’, the same way.

“Then you pour the sweet boiling milk into the decoction from a height so that you can see froth. This is called degree coffee.”

“Should the decoction be hot or cold,” I asked so that she knows I’m paying attention. She smiled, rightly.

“Fresh decoction is always hot,” she said, took my cup and went off to kitchen with a content feeling. May be she wouldn’t be so satisfied if I hadn’t asked her about the decoction.

She wants to be heard. I mostly do.