Walking towards the car, Vicky told her how he had made a clay robot that his friend said looked like a cockroach, but how it really didn’t. Just as Anu began unlocking the car, Vicky spotted McDonald’s, ‘Mumma, I am hungry.’

But Anu had a perfect afternoon meal planned for the two of them. Vicky was going to be served the chapati and curry the cook had made the previous night. He was a growing boy who needed his nutrition. Meanwhile, she was going to set herself up with a honey cake and aalu bun she had planned to pick up from the bakery on the way home.

But Vicky went on a repeat mode. ‘I want burrr-ger. I want burrr-ger.’

Anu relented. She could have the burger now and the cake later.

‘Mumma, look, Padma aunty!’ Vicky’s delighted squeal made Anu freeze. That was Sanju’s aunt, who made no attempts to conceal her dislike for Anu. It seemed that Anu’s perfect day had come to a halt.

‘Vicky!’ Padma aunty planted a slobbery kiss on Vicky’s cheek, which he duly wiped away. ‘Where are you going?’

Oh, no! Anu groaned inwardly. She was not ready for Padma aunty’s lecture on how evil fast food was. So Anu quickly intercepted Vicky’s truth with her instant lie. ‘To buy some fruits, aunty.’ Waving her hands in a random direction, Anu added. ‘From that organic store. You know how bad fertilizers are.’

‘But that is not an organic store. That is a fertilizer store.’ Padma aunty raised the glasses on her hawk-like nose. Anu was tempted to shove her to the side and run.

‘No … Mumma. No fruits. We will eat burgers.’ Vicky! Stop!

Padma aunty’s eyes narrowed, and nostrils flared. ‘Anu, you must know better than to feed Vicky such harmful foods. You can make tasty and healthy burgers from millets at home.’

Argh! Millet burgers! Even the thought made Anu’s stomach churn. But she nodded in agreement to get out of there as fast as she could. ‘Yes, yes, aunty. I will take the recipe from you.’ Anu had to find a way to get rid of Padma aunty. Luckily, the woman removed herself from the scene, citing bank work. Phew, between McD and Padma aunty—the winner was, for a change, McD!

After having the ‘burr-ger’, Vicky fell asleep in the old Santro stuck in the narrow streets of Mudalpalya. It was one of the clogged arterial roads that connected Vijaynagar to the rest of Bangalore. But you would know that only if you, like Anu, lived in Vijaynagar.