A STREET SPARKED FOODIE ANECDOTE

It’s been days since I penned down a post in my own blog… some other things took precedence over my writing. Excuses galore, and laziness added to it, and I refrained from doing what I love to do best.

Even though my days were spent in writing to various magazines and random scribbles in my journal, I somehow neglected my own kind of writing for quite a while. What sparked the story teller in me was a random visit on my way back from Malayali club to a way side street food stall. Hari and I had walked in to get some spicy potato chips to munch while watching a movie, when my eyes fell on spicy red coloured mouth-watering cauliflower Manchurians in bowls over the counter. 

It was not just the cauliflower Manchurians ,in fact it brought back a whole lot of memories of another time, another era perhaps, of several summers ago, when Ninjoo was still at school.

Time stood for me while my thoughts raced back to the days at Sangam apartments in Kilpauk. Hot summers were most welcome then, and we used to look forward to ice cream smoothies, mangoes galore, and of course, these cauliflower Manchurians. Back in those days, we used to have a little girl living in our apartment complex by the name Nagarathinam. I used to call her fondly Naga, and on most days, she was always with us, and she used to reluctantly go back home to sleep. She was as fond of us as we were of her, and she was like a little kid sister for Ninjoo. 

Since I was helping her with her studies, she used to be at my place from morning to evening on weekends and on holidays.  She was family for me and Ninjoo and every time we thought of ice creams, Ninjoo and Naga used to make a beeline for the nearest ice cream shop.  On the pretext of studying, hot summers were whiled away licking yummy ice cream smoothies and biting into luscious ripe mangoes. She used to love my potato stew and I used to call her to have lunch with us whenever I made potato stew. 

One of those days, we discovered these cauliflower Manchurians and a street vendor used to come near our apartment every evening by 8. Naga and Ninjoo used to have their eyes glued to the clock and as soon as it struck 8, they made a run for the door and were back in minutes with packets of these yummy cauliflower delicacies.

 Years whizzed past, we moved away from Sangam, Naga had to return to her home town Rajahmundry because of her mother’s sudden and unfortunate demise. But we still managed to keep in touch, although randomly.

 The little girl who was in the fifth when we were in Sangam is now a software engineer. She used to call me occasionally and just a few days ago, she called to say that her marriage had been solemnised. I was so very happy for her and even though we couldn’t attend her wedding, we decided to meet up in Chennai.

Hello, mam’- the shopkeeper’s voice brought me back to the present. As a tribute to my little Naga, and for Ninjoo and for a glorious summer at Sangam and for all our fond memories , I decided to buy these cauliflower delicacies. 

While penning this down, as though there is a telepathic connect, my phone pinged. It was a message from Naga.

‘Hi Auntie, I am at your home town with my husband Yashwant. We are proceeding to Munnar from Kochi. We decided to honeymoon at Kerala as a tribute to you, Auntie.’

My eyes welled up at these words… Naga, you alre always fondly remembered and cherished,, may you stay blessed….