Aisheeka Saha

Vanilla Cake

–        Aisheeka Saha

                                                            BSC Biotechnology & Genetics

                                                         SECOND YEAR, UNDER GRADUATE STUDENT

                                                         KRISTU JAYANTI COLLEGE, AUTONOMOUS

                                                        BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, INDIA

            (Member of Writers’ Association, Kristu Jayanti College, Autonomous, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India)

“Life’s a cake.”

“huh?”

“Life’s a cake!” said Molly while licking her strawberry ice cream.

“Mol, I assure you it’s not. You’re such a dumbo.”

She gave me a sceptical look. A look that said – I am right, and you’re too egoistic to accept it. So, I plodded on with her conclusion.

“Okay, let’s consider for a moment life’s a vanilla flavored cake with a strawberry centre. That’s your favourite filling right?”

“Mmmmmhmmmm”, replied Molly, still totally focusing on her ice cream cone.

“So would you rather have the cake first and keep the center portion to enjoy at the end? Or would you relish the amazing delicious strawberry center first and then eat the remaining of the boring cake?”

“Neither!”

“Huh?”

“You’re huh-ing a lot these days. Are you hearing impaired or just trying to be annoying?”

“You know, I’m still ten years older to you.”

“Then you should act like it!” said Molly, giving me one of her super dramatic eye rolls.

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she barely paid me any attention. She was almost finished with her ice cream and was intent on finishing it before she began speaking. Total queen complex.

“I said I’d do neither. I’d cut the cake in slices so each cake had a little of the centre and I could enjoy my favourite filling. That way, my cake can never be boring! See, I’m smarter,” and having said this, she got up and gave me a shimmy, which she did whenever she outsmarted me and went inside the house, leaving me to sit alone on the porch.

This kid is my sister. A 10-year-old with the philosophy of a 70-year-old. As I tried to understand what she said, it struck me that indeed life was a cake. At no point in our lives are we overwhelmed by only goodness or sadness? It’s always a little of both. Each of our life slices has a strawberry centre to them. And thus, life is always worth looking forward to.

I smiled, knowing I’d been able to raise my sister right. That I had not failed my parents. They handed me a four-year-old baby, never once thinking how I would manage to raise her, being only fourteen myself. Life seemed so unfair to me then. Was the accident essential? Did I deserve to be orphaned at the age of 14?

Molly was my strawberry centre filling. The one person who made me want to live every day. And I was going to live for this little girl, give her everything she deserves and more. As twilight set in, I smiled to myself. Life lessons from a ten-year-old, and the verdict? Life’s a vanilla cake with a strawberry centre.