It is 1995. Tara Taneja lives in the small town of Siyaka, running Ultimate Mathematics Tuition Centre and working for Lalaji, her grandfather, at Lallan Sweets, his famous sweet shop. The laddoos sold at the shop are made using a secret family recipe that contains a magic ingredient known only to Lalaji.
When Lalaji chooses to retire, he decides that Lallan Sweets will not be inherited but earned. He devises a quest for his three grandchildren-Tara, Rohit and Mohit-to discover the magic ingredient.
Tara’s long-time crush and neighbour, fun-loving and good-natured Nikku Sabharwal, returns to Siyaka after years. Within the ensuing competition, we see Tara going through some regular challenges of womanhood – broken hearts and budding romance being at the forefront!
Find a glimpse of this in the excerpt below:
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‘Can you imagine how things would have turned out if I had stayed here in Siyaka? I would have remained stupid, not knowing anything of the world outside.’
Affronted, I raised my eyebrows. It was classic Nikku to say something like that. ‘What do you mean? You think just because I never went away from Siyaka I am stupid?’
‘No, that’s not what I meant at all. I meant, for me, I needed to go out, I couldn’t have stayed here, I knew that I had to go out and see the world.’
I nodded at him and looked away, trying to fight off the wave of indignation that came over me. He always spoke about going out there as if the rest of us were lazy idiots tonot want to do the same as him, as if our minds were smaller.
‘You turned out completely fine, Taru Taneja,’ he said,almost as if reading my thoughts. ‘It’s a battle I had, or stillhave, with myself. I’m so proud of what you have done,building a name for yourself, Ultimate Mathematics Tuition Centre. But my mother always wanted me to go, she told meto go and make a bigman out of myself, in Delhi or Bombay.’
I still didn’t look at him, continuing to stare at the lakeinstead. It was that time in the afternoon when everything fell quiet. He looked towards me once more.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t keep in touch,’ he spoke abruptly.
I swallowed my tears. ‘You said you would call every week, but you even stopped writing nice letters after a point.’
Out of the corner of my eyes I saw him hang his head.
‘I’m really sorry.’
Of course I wasn’t going to forgive him. Years and yearsof broken promises. I simply got up and ignored whatever he said, putting on a bright smile and walking towards the Kinetic. ‘Come on now, we are yet to have the orange ice cream.’
He looked like he was going to say something, but then thought the better of it and sat behind me.
**
What will this journey bring forth for Tara and Lalaji’s grandchildren? And what exactly is the magic ingredient? Join Tara in her quest to find out!
