Chickenn Nuggets

 Okay. Before I begin, let me say this clearly for the record.

We‘re mostly vegetarians - like 99.98%.

We certainly were,until the day I spotted my first wrinkle around my eyes around forty. I decided it was time to let chicken eggs crack into my diet…apparently, my skin needed more than just leafy greens and Dal!"

So this only was as far as I could go in giving up my ‘VEGETARIAN’ status, but guess what, my 3 beautiful 'VEGETARIAN' children who couldn’t bear eggs in any form other than baked into cakes and cookies, announced one fine day? 

“Momm! we want chicken. Now!”

It all started with my 13 year old daughter, Aarya, who has developed a sudden obsession with Korean skincare and K-Pop idols. She spends close to an hour everyday styling her K-style hair bangs and slapping on lip-masks and eye-hydrogel patches on her beautiful angel-like face which according to me is the prettiest teen-girl face I’ve ever seen. 

She walks into the kitchen one Saturday afternoon, sniffs the Aloo curry I cooked and says, “ No offense mom, but it’s time we move-on...from our hundred year old food-habits to more modern and tastier ones!"

Then comes my youngest: Aaryaveer.  7 year old, dressed up in spiderman shirt, Avengers pants and brandishing a toy Katana. He just goes, “ I want nuggets , Ma”.

And then there is my 17 year old daughter, Ana. who is my flex. She can do Bhangra as gracefully as she can dances Bharatnatyam and can sing in more than 6 languages!  "Mom, I don’t think we all are eating enough protein. You can allow us chicken. Of course, I shall remind you of Tuesdays and other religious days." Her advice gets more respect from me than my morning chai. And trust me, my chai is one of my gods who gets my daily attention and indulgence. Moreover, she has Biology HL and is aspiring to be a doctor so I am like 99.98% convinced. 

The 7-year old drives the last nail to convince me into the remaining  0.02%. “Mom, Chicken nuggets are, like, the best thing since Roblox! I promise. They are so lit. No cap!” 

Finally, all the reasoning, puppy dog eyes and Gen Alpha lingo manages to make me think aloud. I have to be a living example of evolution. And I am a cool mom, always re-inventing my parenting rules to suit the sense and sensibilities of the Gen Z, Gen Zalpha and Gen Alpha!!! I announce, “OKAY , tomorrow we all go to the supermarket and buy those chicken nuggets!t”

The next day, the execution day of the plan, I make the MISTAKE of going to Carrefour with all three of them!  And that is after they have scooped their favorite flavours of ice-cream from Baskin-Robbins which is strategically located near the entrance of the store. 

So, with all the sugar-rush and the long mall-walk to carrefour while shaking my head side to side to deter them from entering  ‘Claires’,  WHSmith and the Cheesecake factory, we end up buying, 1 industrial size pack of frozen chicken nuggets, yet another lip mask, another wimpy kid book and more than 500 grams of sugar shaped into cookies, cupcakes, chocolates and M&Ms.

As soon as the kids are home, they all literally raid the oven kitchen and shove the chicken nuggets into it,

completely ignoring their freshly acquired sugary loot.

Who knew chicken nuggets could outshine chocolate treats! 

And a few minutes later, I hear a squeal of delight and the chant, “Chickenn, Chickenn!”

And I stand outside with waves of mixed feelings of despair over the hijack of my veggie delights kitchen and the joy of watching the kids enjoy their first home baked CHICKEN NUGGETS.