Sunday afternoon.
The children are playing in their room and I am watching them play.
They are pretending that they are selling mangoes:

Mieja: Amma, would you like to buy some magical mangoes from me?
Me: Ummm… that depends on the price. How much does your mangoes cost?
Mieja: Oh, don’t worry about that amma, the mangoes are free. Would you like some?

Namma than free-a koduthal phenoyl kooda kudipome (We belong to respectable family that will drink even phenol, a cleaning liquid, if it is free), so my eyes light up!

Me: Free? Sure, I will have 2 kgs.
Meija: Here amma.

She hands over the mangoes and says,

Mieja: Amma, but these are just the mangoes. The magic is separate. You have to pay me to sprinkle the magic on the mangoes. That is not free.

I am stumped! I am upset that I signed up for this deal without reading the fine print.

Me: You never told me this! I thought that I was buying magical mangoes. I don’t want your magic. I will just make do with my free mangoes.

Chula, neatly cuts in,

Chula: Amma, I understand why you are upset. But the magic makes sure that you don’t have to keep buying more and more mangoes. Once you eat a mango, another one will appear magically. Don’t you think it is worth it? Isn’t is a great deal?

And I did buy the magic, with many possible career choice for the girls running through my mind, with a sheepish expression, with my pretend money.