Penance for the Vegan cake

Right from the time of the infamous ‘Let them eat cakes’ to the birthday cakes of the leading ladies of Indian politics, cakes have had a negative connotation with me. The situation has got worse with my turning Vegan, as anything Vegan or Organic means costing a bomb, cakes have been an absolute No-No for me. Imagine my chagrin when an overenthusiastic colleague presented a Vegan cake complete with a candle (a 50W bulb was more the requirement!). Having successfully played the Aurangzeb to people at home’s plans of a much muter celebration, I felt even guiltier at having been outfoxed in office.

The rest of the time between the fiasco and the time of going to press has been spent on trying to make amends. The first off the cuff Gandhian reaction was fast and spinning, but, fasting would have meant keeping off the run. So, I settled for an extra hour of spinning in the morning and a fine for the amount spent on cake to be donated for a charity (Akshaypatra which feeds children!), as nothing is more painful to me as parting with money! I guess a cheaper alternative from next year should be to take a day’s leave (like hiding from Holi revelers!).

Look at my agitation that the mandatory invocation about Biscuit also has been relegated to Page3. Biscuit finally got his inoculation yesterday. We really missed the convenience of the friendly neighbourhood Vet at Hubli when he had to be driven through oil fumes and bumper to bumper traffic for more than an hour to be rewarded with two of the juiciest on his back! To give him due credit, he was on best behavior with the new Vet.

 Morning run was the continuing Mann se charcha of penance for the cake and the spaces vacated by Amma were reminding me my indiscretion. A few runners who innocently wished me belated birthday greetings were sounding to me like ‘Get well soon’ of LRMB fame! It was some satisfaction that in my 55^th year, the first two days have yielded good runs. Here’s hoping for uninterrupted runs during the rest of the year.