To find a
good flat in Bangalore is a very daunting and back breaking task. Especially if
you are doing it all by yourself it could take a while. But you know I was
lucky enough to find a flat for myself near Mavalli overlooking the beautiful
lotus pond. It was at this place I found a new aspect of my creativity. The
best part about cooking is that you enjoy it even more if you are doing it for
someone special. It gives you that added sense of achievement and
responsibility an joy. It isn’t important what you are cooking. “Anything that
you cook out of creativity, love and belonging would absolutely taste superb”
as told by my roommate.
And this
is that part of cooking I like the most.
She was
my dance partner back in the college days and was visiting Bangalore for a very
short time. Some days I would be so happy with what I cooked that I would brag
about it on Whatapp to all. So after knowing that she would be in town I
invited and insisted her to come down to my flat for lunch and test my skills
and she was equally enthusiastic about me cooking for her.
The next
day she arrived at my flat. She was wearing a beautiful white top and blue
jeans. She threw her bag in the hall and straight way found her way into the
kitchen which was a bit messed up. The kitchen top was L shaped with both wall
having big windows facing the lotus lake. I didn’t find it weird as there was
no-one else apart from me to give her company that time.
“Do you
mind if I sit here” she queried and sat on the empty portion of the kitchen top.
“You are
the guest… you are the boss” I said looking at her as she sat at a right angle
on my left side.
Then
there was a weird silence for a while as I made my way through cutting of onion
and tomato.
“you know
you remind me of my mother, even when I was at home I would do the exact thing
at 6.00 am that you did now and that would make my mom seriously angry…” I said
and heard a very sweet giggle “and she would beat me with anything that was
handy to her.” And it got converted into a loud laugh as I ended. It was more
of a ice-breaker kind of thing.
“Where
did you learn to cook” she asked me.
“a little
back home while avoiding “mummy ki laat” and rest in this very place and I love
it ”. I said
“That’s
good to know, I never thought a person like you would cook.” She said.
“Well
thank you I take that as a compliment and I hope it wasn’t sarcastic ” I
said to her as the pressure cooker whistle blew.
“but I
didn’t had any other option,
it was like a ‘need to cook’ got converted into the ‘want to cook‘ ” as the second whistle
went off. I noticed that she was giving her full attention to what I was
telling her. As if there was another communication going on between us.
Something that could not be explained in word. It’s what you see in the eyes.
“What
about you? What do you feel?” I asked.
“I don’t
feel anything I have been doing it from my childhood it more of responsibility
that a fun activity for me. ” she replied in a very casual way.
“I don’t
think its right..” I said to her looking in the eyes.
“What?”
she said with a loud pitch.
“I mean I
don’t think it would right for you to sit here while I do the tadaka to dal,
and you are wearing a very beautiful white top, and I like white color and I
don’t want to spoil it.” I said without breaking the eye contact. I never
noticed that she had such beautiful eyes there was a hint of brown and it was a
bit transparent. The best part was the transparency of her brown eyeball gave
them lot of depth. Felt like god specially painted her eyes all by
himself.
“I won’t
mind it” she said and turned slightly to have a look at the lotus lake from the
adjacent window. And the sunlight was falling diagonally on her candy brown
eyes. The orange sunlight refracting from here eyes mad e her eyes even more
mesmerizing and it suddenly changed it color from candy brown to golden dark
orange. Like honey.
Then
suddenly while starring at the blue shining lake bathing in the chilled winter
afternoon of October she started “There is no better way to let go of all your
stress than cooking. It one of those creative activity that can be enjoyed all
by yourself and make others happy as well with what you create. It that kind of
activity where you can actually bake your cake and eat it too… and I mean
literally…” there was this really amazing glow that somehow came on her bright
dusky face. She had narrow eyebrows that would dance according to her
expressions. Her top had very wide neck and only a thin golden chain was ruling
that beautiful area. Occasionally a brisk wind would come along and mess her
curly dark black hair and she straighten it up by tucking them behind her ears
and continued
“it more
like doing meditation, you stand with yourself, you take decisions sometime you
follow the rule and sometime you just go by your instincts and you enjoy the
result. You invent, you play with ingredients and then you just start loving…
”and looked straight into my eyes as she paused. Those magical eyes and those
perfect thin eyebrows had me enslaved.
“and the
best part is that is savors more than one of your senses ” I completed her
sentence.
And then
again there was silence as we enjoyed dal rice and capsicum.
Neither
the food nor us made it too the dining table. People say “never let good things
pass” It isn’t that I regret it but I wish I had fallen in love with her that
day.
please
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