11 years back....

6 year old bani, was sitting on the couch, watching cartoons with the then 4 year old equm, as they shared a packet of chips, if sharing included petty fights of one always trying to pull the packet away from the other. Purvi, attempted to come in between, as she handed another packet to them, but it seemed like that would invite only another fight. 

but she wasn't gonna pay attention then, as her phone had rung just then, and she immediately went to receive it. 

"hello kavin , kahan reh gaye ho tum?" questioned purvi, her temper raised, clearly the kids were way out of her control. 

the shouting noises from the kid's fight was getting intense, as purvi got away from there to actually here what kavin was saying. 

"haan, woh mujhe late ho jayega aaj...bhai satisfied nahi the marketing department ki performance se, toh woh baithke discuss karna department ke vp ke saath..." informed kavin, as purvi started to get tensed. 

"kavin thoda jaldi nahi aa sakte tum, main ghar mein bilkul akeli hoon..." attempted purvi to explain her situation. 

"arre bache hain toh!" exclaimed kavin, as purvi just sighed in distress. 

"unke saath toh akeli hoon na...i need some help...sambhalna mushkil ho raha hai unhe..." stated purvi, as kavin just slammed his forehead. 

"seriously purvi? tum apne hi bache kuch ghante nahi dekh sakti! come on yaar, don't be so immature..." rebuked kavin, as purvi felt apalled. 

"kavin..." she attempted to express her hurt over what he just said, but unfortunately, he had already hung up. 

purvi slammed her phone on the kitchen counter in anger, as she groaned in frustration. 

"aur maa bolti thi ek aur bacha karlo, rishta sudhar jayega....yahan toh rishta gattar mein jaa raha hai..." muttered purvi under her breath angrily, when suddenly, she was interrupted by a feeling that her top was being pulled down from behind, she turned back to find equm. 

"kya hua?" asked purvi, as equm, appearing quite scared, just pointed to the right, i.e the living room. purvi, knowing there had to be something clearly wrong, just rushed over there with equm. 

she reached the couch, finding bani unconscious, as she was seriously frightened, not knowing what had happened. 

                                                                  ***

purvi stood still in front of the doctor, as he carefully examined the still unconscious bani, she remained agitated. equm, on the other hand, was even more frightened, the poor boy thought it had something to do with their fight over the chips packet. 

"she's fine now mrs khanna....iska bp high ho gaya tha kyunki isne apna insulin shot nahi liya tha...agli baar thoda dhyaan rakheyega, bachi ko waise hi diabetes hai, haalat nazuk hai uski, aur na kharab ho jayein...." explained the doctor, as he got up, and purvi seemed to be a little relieved from the agitation that came from not knowing what happened to bani, but she still wasn't remotely close to not feeling disturbed. 

kavin rushed inside in a hurry, his coat in his hand, along with the bag that had almost all the zips opened, his hair and shirt were even more messed up, clearly, he was in an extremely stressful state of mind. 

"kya hua? sab thik hai?" asked kavin, still panting, as he looked over to bani. 

"haan, woh mrs khanna iska insulin shot bhul gayi, agli baar dhyaan rakhein bas..." assured the doctor, as he took his leave, while kavin only glared at purvi.

"i'm sorry kavin, woh mujhe pata nahi tha...." attempted purvi to present her defence, but it was all in vain. 

"tumhe pata kya hota hai! kuch ghanton ke liye bhi nahi chod sakta bachon ko tumhare paas...yaar purvi why do you even bother coming...it's beyond me!" yelled kavin, as he immediately went over to bani afterwards, leaving purvi hurt. 

                                                                 ***

9 years back....

kavin had prepared his special biryani and all the kids were damn excited, as they quickly started to grab hold of their plates to get as much of it as they could.
Bani rushed to grab a pink plate with a cute hello kitty drawn on it, unfortunately, it was first grabbed on by jasmine.

"Isse chodo, yeh meri plate hai! " exclaimed bani.

"Kyun? Kisne kaha tumse? " Fired back jasmine  a response that reciprocated her furiousness.

"Yeh meri favorite plate hai... Chod do tum!" Proclaimed bani, as jasmine, even more infuriated, just smashed the plate down on the floor.

Kavin, who was serving the biryani to nihaal and equm, was disturbed by this sound. He walked over to both of them, glaring for answers.

"Chachu isne plate girayi!" Exclaimed jasmine impulsively, as bani was shocked.

"Theek hai beta tum jaa kar shyam bhaiya ko bula lao woh saaf kar denge... " Instructed kavin, glaring at bani.

"Papa.. Maine.. " Attempted bani to defend herself but in vain.

"Tum jab dekho aise hi ladaiyon mein padti rehti ho...aur hamesha yahi hai ki maine kuch nahi kiya... Toh beta har jagah log kuch bhi hone par tumhe hi kyun bolte hain, huh? Jasmine se kuch seekho... Kitne sweetly baat karti hai sabse aur ek tum... Bas beizzati karalo!" Scolded kavin, as he walked away, only to turn back.

" Aur koi biryani nahi milegi tumhe! " Stated kavin firmly, as he walked away finally.

Bani didnt say anything, she was used to it. She just waited for everyone to get their bite before the cooker was left empty in the kitchen.

She grabbed big bites of rice in her bare hands, gulping them down incessantly and crying.

Who knew she'd the pain and the compulsive habit 9 years later too....