Thanks, fellas!

Take it from me - seeing your mum faint and fall off a chair is not the best way to start a morning. Well, that’s how my day got underway yesterday and believe me, the sight of my mum’s bleeding face did not improve matters. Fortunately, she had improved considerably by the end of the day. My uncle (her younger brother) had come over to hold the fort and things seemed to be drifting back to normal.

I was honestly a mess myself in the morning. And while my mum’s feeling better did a lot to improve my own state, so did the efforts of a number of others, who made their presence felt in the nicest way possible. To them goes my sincere gratitude.

So, without further ado, here is my vote of thanks to the following (in no particular order):

• Donna Jane Clark: For telling me to keep calm, while seeming rather flustered herself. It worked, you know! I calmed down in no time at all. And for calling me time and again to check if I was OK and for advising me on how to cook khichri. And she says she does not know what to say to people!

• Ruchi Hajela: For offering to come down and help and not letting a dwindling mobile balance stop her from calling me up twice - once to advise me to give mum lots of coffee, and the next time to tell me not to. As if that were not enough, she called Rajat too and asked him to come down and visit me. That busted her balance, I reckon. Owe you one, little lady.

• Rajat Agrawal: For offering to come down and help, no questions asked, even before I had told him about mum. Does it get better than this?

• Nidhi Singal: For patiently enduring hours of editing by me over the phone, in spite of not having the smoothest day herself. And for insisting I stay home and bravely offering to do the editing herself. Finally, for looking genuinely pleased when I did drop in for an hour late in the day.

• Pranav Kumar Singh: For six words : “if you need anything, tell me.” I will, believe me.

• Anannya Nath: For advising me to give mum Tomato or Sweet Corn Soup. Unfortunately she hates both, but the sentiment was appreciated.

• Reshma Sanyal: For ordering me to get a grip and ‘take care of the sweet thing.’ Aapka hukum sar aankhon pe, madam!

• Kalpana Sharma and Preethi Jayapathi: For expressing concern and doing something that they had not done for MONTHS – call me. I was not able to take either of their calls but they proved that out of sight was not out of mind for them. Mind you, I am going to go back to sulking about why they don’t call me in a few days!

• Someone I work with who I unfortunately cannot name: For NOT calling. I would not have been able to tolerate any arrant and idiotic nonsense today!

Thanks, fellas. You were awesome. Who says being an only child is lonely?