The Woman Who Feeds Forty Every Festival and Is Thanked by Nobody Who Ate

She Was Already in the Kitchen When You Arrived

You didn't see her come in. She was already there, at five in the morning, or maybe earlier, when the pressure cooker was still cold and the dal needed to be sorted. By the time the first relatives arrived in their good clothes, she had already made three batches of something and was starting on the fourth. You walked past the kitchen. You smelled the ghee. You did not stop.