The ATM Machine – Part I

Naina invited her kids for a lunch treat, being Saturday she wanted to pamper her kids and spend some quality time with her. She was a lawyer by profession; tried hard to keep the personal and professional balance though sometimes had 7 days working too. Post her divorce; she got the opportunity to spend time with her kids only on Saturday and so as per the plan she had planned to prepare their favourite meals (pasta and pizza) for them at home.

Amaira and Neel were though not very enthusiastic regarding the visit to their mom’s place yet they were visiting her as per the court order.

Naina gave them a warm welcome, after all, she was meeting them after 1 month; they tried hard to put on a smiling face.

As they sat down on the dining table, waiting for the food to be served they had the following conversation

Amaira: Neel, again she would have prepared that old boring homemade food for us? Thank God because of Dad, we have our meals outside so frequently else life would have been so monotonous.

Neel – You are so right Amaira; junk food is so yum, she doesn't understand?

Amaira – Dad is so supportive, never refrains us from playing with the gadgets, hanging out with friends, accessing internet unlimited, no restrictions regarding anything, in short, he never monitors or control us. He never asks us regarding college activities etc. Even with the pocket money, he is so generous. In short, he is everything that our mom is not.

Neel – Agree with you; I would say our dad is more like ATM Machine; you can keep withdrawing machine.

Naina couldn’t believe what she heard just now; she stood still hearing her kids thought about their Dad. She felt bad for Pratyush and herself; what went so extremely wrong in their upbringing, that their kids considered their parents just as an ‘ATM Machine’.

She served meals to her kids and pretended as if she has not heard anything. Even after seeing their favourite meals (pasta and pizza) being served they gave a cold response to their mother. They had their meals in silence to avoid having any conversation with her.

As she saw them having their meals quietly, she was more determined to change their perspective soon.

To be continued.......