Page 87 - NEW_English_Spring 7

Ramu: She didn’t sir, Rakesh baba made them for you. He knows how much you like
fried snacks, so he decided to make these for you at home. He doesn’t trust the oil the
halwai has been using nowadays.

Mr Bhushan: (visibly upset) Hmmmmm! Well! Am I to assume that’s where he’s been all
this while? Loitering about in the kitchen?

Mrs Bhushan: I’d hardly call it loitering. These are delicious! Besides Akshay, he’s already
finished all his homework. I don’t see what the trouble is.
Mr Bhushan: Rakesh! Come in here, please!

Rakesh: (offstage) Coming!

Mr Bhushan: (aside, whisper) This isn’t natural. (to his wife) Neelima! A young man
whiling away all his free time in the kitchen! Is this what he wants to do with his life?
You know only uneducated men become cooks!

Ramu: (coughs pointedly)

Mr Bhushan: (uncomfortable) That is to say…Rakesh!
Rakesh: (comes in—extreme L—plonks down on the sofa (CR), helping himself to a
samosa) They are quite good, aren’t they?

Mr Bhushan: (irritated) They are neither here nor there. Please explain to me why my
son is spending his time shut up in the kitchen fiddling about with chopping and boiling
and…and…

Rakesh: (humorously) Sautéing? Pureeing? Filleting?

Mr Bhushan: (now angry) Silence! I will not
tolerate jokes about this anymore! Rakesh!
You are not to boil a single grain of rice in
this kitchen henceforth! You will restrict

yourself to activities that are expected of a
young man of the Bhushan family!
Mr Bhushan storms off (L).

Rakesh: (turning in shock to Mrs Bhushan)
Mum? That wasn’t like him…What do I do?

assume: to think or accept that something is true but Mrs Bhushan: (getting up to follow Mr
without having proof of it
loitering: roaming in an area purposelessly Bhushan) Don’t worry dear, he had a
whiling: spending time in a leisurely manner stressful day. I’ll talk to him. In the
plonk: to sit down heavily
fiddling: making fussing movements with hands meantime, it might be a good idea to give
chopping: cutting something into pieces
sautéing: (pronounced saw-TAY) frying quickly in a little oil the cooking a rest, just for a few days. Okay?
pureeing: making a pulp of a fruit or vegetable
filleting: removing the bones from a fish before cooking Rakesh: (quietly) Okay, Mum.
(Curtain)
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