Last month I happened to travel a lot with family. While
driving all the way from Mangalore to Coimbatore via parts of Kerala we stopped
for breakfast at a small restaurant at Udupi. I ordered a ghee rost, like every
other time because I love how its served.. Golden, crispy, oily cone with two
chutneys and sambar. The smell itself is soooo intoxicating! But as I was eating
it, I realized that it just dint taste that good. The sambar was watery, it had
coconut in it and there was just one chutney. Coconut. Coconut and I do not get
along well you see.. Bad breakfasts lead to a bad day. I knew then. Food
changes our outlook. It affects our mood. It makes us happy, sad or mad. Food
is magic.
Food means a lot to me, and it is pretty evident! It is
associated with many memories good, bad and weird.
The very first time I had a pizza, I thought my hands smelled
funny! The last time I had fish was the first time I had to be rushed to a
doctor to remove the bone stuck in my throat! I gave up chicken believing I would
get chicken pox if I had them! Well that was a good decision; I saved many a
chickens life if not a patient’s! :D
My love for food started in school. So many tiffin boxes,
all with different types of snacks and hungry us.
School
life was all the more memorable with “pepsi”ice, and Kucchi ice, which were
priced at 2 rupees and 5 rupees! There was one time when the kucchi ice had a
small worm in it. I saw it as soon as I removed the cover and cried a lot! I
wouldn’t get 5 rupees for another week! I dint give up on kucchi ice! Never
will.
It was in school that I betrayed maggi. I
was loyal to maggi, all throughout high school, until my friend had top ramen
in her lunch box. We were in 11th standard!!. That day we were sent out of
class for not completing our physics record. I pledged alliance to top ramen
that day as I stood outside the class! Who really cared about physics record?
A few evenings after school, I would walk to my friend’s
place and have real hot aloo bondas her mom made with a glass of boost, ignoring
the world including her dog beta who would bark his head off. Not just
coconuts, I don’t get along well with her dog either.
Then came college. It was the work of stars that I found
friends who were foodies, all except one! :D We bonded over the pathetic hostel
food. Aloo bonda came back into my life as that was the only tea time snack we
would flick from the mess hall. We got a little bolder and started ordering food
from nearby restaurants. This was all behind the wardens back. We would plan
days ahead…the food we wanted, who would order, which number would we give, the
name we would use.. And then come up with a plan to sneek the food into the
hostel without the warden’s knowledge. It was our own version of Mission
impossible minus The Tom Cruise!! Feasting on that food was our sorgavaasal!
And I also happened to have this wonderful roomie in the
first year....we would have picnics in our room with packets of oily chips,
bread, Nutella, ceralac and pointless discussions. The recurring topic of discussion would
mostly be “how to lose weight!!”, as we kept stalking people on orkut :D
The food court opened when we started our second year.
Every evening we pooled our resources and ended up with a single dosai or one
glass of juice split 4 ways! Birthdays were spent at budget hotels with good
food. At once such “food craving” outing, we were left with hardly any money to
get back to coll and ended up begging and fighting on the roads of Adayar!
Adayar has been my favorite place ever since.
We attended conferences after discussing in detail if the
travelling expenses and time wasted at the seminar was worth the food being
served at the venue. We would mostly end up going; because good food is worth
any trouble.
During internship, food became all the more special. We
ditched the food courts and started patronizing the D block canteen right in
the middle of the hospital. We would demand for the coffee to be strong, less
milk, high on sugar without aadai! :D That was heaven in a tiny paper cup.
During the night duties, we would set out to the dosai kadai, or karai kudi
chettinad. Two roadside eateries that fed us and kept us happy. We had the
opportunity to have candle light dinner at the fried rice kadai every time they
were out of power. Candle supported by a Miranda bottle. The most romantic
dinner my group of 6 interns ever had!
There were times in the hostel when one vessel of plain
white rice, homemade sambar, with garlic thokku and chips made with a loot of
love and care would make its appearance every time my friend’s mom (Jessie bhavan’s
ownwer!) came to visit her. That food would feed about 10 to 12 of us .when you
are away from home, and you get home cooked food life looks a lot better and
filled with love.
Food, has always been something special. It fosters
friendships, ends arguments, promotes sharing and just makes us a better person.
It engages all our senses and makes memories that come back later in life. Even
now, when I look at aloo bonda I’m reminded of my friend from school, her mom
their terrace and for some annoying reason her dog!
P.S: I’m on the look out for Amudhasurabi as a gift for Jessie
Bhavan’s owner. It’s supposed to be a vessel from which we get endless supply
of food. If you have not heard of it, never mind. I have probably been fooled
to believe its existence.
Give food. Spread love.
