💬 My father counts 3 seconds for his biscuit and I still can't get it right

My father dunks an Osmania biscuit for exactly 3 seconds. He counts it under his breath, lips moving. I used to laugh at him. Then I tried it myself and my biscuit drowned in the first week. It's not a hard job. Chai, biscuit, wait, lift. Somehow I still get it wrong every time. Two weeks ago I was at his place and tried again, with him sitting right there watching. He didn't say anything. He just held up 3 fingers and went back to his newspaper. I left it in for 2 seconds. It came out dry in the middle, hard as a roof tile. Tried again with 4. Half the biscuit slid into the cup and sat at the bottom like a small shipwreck. My daughter was filming by then. That video has now gone to 11 relatives. The thing is, you can't see it happen. The biscuit looks fine right up until the second it isn't. My father says you feel it in the weight. A wet biscuit gets heavier just before it breaks. I tried feeling for it. All I felt was the cup getting hot on my fingers. He's been doing this since before I was born, so I'm not going to win. Last morning before my flight he made me a cup and handed me the biscuit without a word. I counted 3 in my head and lifted it. Soft on the outside and still in one piece. He nodded once. That was all. I've been thinking about that nod for a week now. I ate the biscuit in 2 bites before it could change its mind.

Holding up 3 fingers and going back to the newspaper is the most fatherly thing I have read all week. My uncle dunks his rusk for what he calls one breath, and nobody else can copy it either. I think the tea matters too. Hot and strong tea softens the biscuit faster, so it needs less time. Try it with a cooler cup and see.

Your father counting under his breath made me laugh, because my grandmother never counted anything at all. She dunked and lifted the moment the chai stopped bubbling around the edge, every single time. I tried copying her once and my biscuit hit the bottom of the cup in 2 seconds. Some people just have the touch. The rest of us eat the sludge with a spoon.