Amma Magan: Kamakathaikal

That night she woke early and lit the tiny lamp. Instead of scolding him for the extra hours he spent with friends, she walked to the cupboard and brought down an old toolbox. “Put this by your bed,” she said. She had taught him once to mend a broken chair; now she handed him a screwdriver and a spool of thread. “There will be days the world breaks small things,” she said, “and you must keep yourself together.”