A Tale of a Cryptic Message - Invitation - Roshna Rohit Tamhankar - Adult

It was the beautiful morning, and we are celebrating our 40th anniversary in INDIA, it’s now been 15 years we returned from London and settled with my son Arnav, his wife and our grandchildren.

Just after celebration, tired but relaxing near the windowpane received a new email notification, its subject line reading: "An Invitation to CHEF World – Dated 4th Feb." I hesitated for a moment before clicking on the message. The contents were simple with Address which was nearby 5-star Hotel and ended with “Your Presence is awaited please don’t miss”.

There was no sender information, no hint of who might have written such a cryptic invite. Clueless, I ignored it and went to sleep as I was too tired.

Days turned into weeks, and it was my birthday, and Arnav planned a surprise to celebrate it in a nearby 5-star hotel. The celebration planned by my son and daughter-in-law was always special and a great one. We had good food and time with my great family, my lovely grandson and granddaughter.

And as we were leaving, I saw a Lobby Display Board, which said:

"An Invitation to CHEF World – Dated 4th Feb."

By seeing the message, I recalled about the mail I received a few days back and told my husband and son about the Invite with the same content I received mail about. Rohit told me that it’s more than half an hour to end this function lets go and find out. Despite my anxiety, our curiosity drove to investigating further wondering what brought me here to the same location and same date. And I agreed to go inside to our surprise, I saw one big younger picture of me wearing a chef dress and we were all surprised to see. Arnav inquired further that it was my Recipe Book named “Tried and Tested/Tasted” published by Ritika and Rishab and now in the book Opening Ceremony, there were many such chefs, me being one of them.

It was like a dream come true and then recalled the whole flash back of London days and last line which Rishab n Ritika told me on their marriage day.

It’s a long story about 20 years back when I was newly married and accompanied my husband to London. Newly married but in search of job and friends. I was trying to settle myself with the new place, new people and new surroundings. I had never gone abroad before this.

It was a nice location with surroundings of less families, but most of them were students and Interns. When I asked Rohit, why were there more students and interns here in our society and nearby apartments? He told me that it was because all the leading and prestigious institutions were present in the surroundings, so why were we settling there and the answer was because this was the temporary apartment which was given until we shift to a permanent apartment near the office.

The week we arrived was hectic though we managed to settle in time. Now after the weekend Rohit was going to join the office, and I was wondering what I would do full day sitting at home?. Here comes Monday, Rohit started going to the office and I started making myself busy in all household work, gardening etc. Many days passed and after a few days I saw few students shifted in our neighbors apartment. Towards right were 4 girls and beside them were 3 boys and all were from the same university. Slowly Rohit and I started getting to know them and they called me Di. If any help was required, they used to call us, and we started mingling with them. It didn’t take time, as they were all good and mature enough to get settled as they used to do studying for their final year and had part-time jobs too.

One day there was heavy rain, it was so heavy that after that day there was an announcement blockade of electricity for one week or more. Literally difficult to manage, 1-2 days shops were open but after that slowly many shops started to close till fully things got operational. No Vegetable markets, grocery stores for perishable item and all Restaurants started closing. It was the 4th day and all sudden I realized how these students are managing, as they used to order food from restaurants to eat. As soon as I realized I knocked on their door and to my surprise they were managing snack items. One or two days I cooked for them, and they used to like my simple meals, also very tasty, then they were like we would like to learn from you and start cooking. Days went blockade was lifted and things were normal soon and after few weeks we got our permanent apartment too. These guys already started missing us and my recipes and by this time they had learned to cook, especially Ritika and Rishab as they just loved my food. With glumness we left the city but we were still in touch with them. Ritika always kept messaging me asking Di please share any new recipe and I used to send, I sometime even used to shoot videos of what I used to cook and share with her. When she tried to recreate the recipes, they all liked sharing food pics and eating together, I missed them so much. Later we got the chance to meet them once when we got to know Ritika and Rishab were getting married, of course our family was invited, and my newly born son Arnav was also with us to attend the marriage.

I remember Ritika and Rishab thanking me for it as because of my food they both became closer and were getting married and while we were leaving from the marriage, I remember both saying that they will try their best to return the big favor I had done for them unknowingly and I just smiled saying “Have a Happy married life ahead”.

By the time we returned home with two celebrations we got a WhatsApp message from Ritika asking me how was your surprise and she could not call me before as was in medical emergency, Rishab’s father had been admitted for mild heart attack but were having a speedy recovery.

The cryptic Invite Message received and which I attended had been a gift that was as if the very fabric of reality and dream come true.

About the Author

Meet Roshna Rohit Tamhankar.

Roshna is a software engineer by profession, but a mentor at heart. With a deep love for cooking, reading, and listening to motivational podcasts, Roshna thrives on stories that spark action and uplift the spirit.

She draws immense inspiration from figures like Sachin Tendulkar — not just for his success, but for his humility and grounded nature even after reaching the pinnacle of fame. Her passion lies in nurturing leadership and vision in others, especially the next generation.

For Roshna, platforms like these are more than just spaces to share — they are opportunities to think deeply, act boldly, and give shape to dreams we've long carried within us.

About the Story

This story was submitted by the author as an entry for the BhashaLab Ultimate Story Writing Competition, 2025. We appreciate their creativity, thoughtful expression, and the courage to share their voice with a wider audience. Thank you!

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