Its just the magic of this simple snack that takes people into old memories of rainy days, the pitter patter of the raindrops on the roof and windows, and the inviting aroma of mother making pakodas and chai in the kitchen. Earlier, this was one of the many ways the family would come together leaving their busy work and sit down joking around, pulling each others legs, enjoying chai and pakode. Everytime the bowl would seem to be running out of pakodas, the great fairy godmother amma would come and refill it and what fun it was! Pakodas of potatoes, onions, big fat chilies, spinach, cauliflower, raw bananas and so on and so forth, you name it and it can be converted into golden brown sizzling hot pakodas.
Interestingly in the times yonder it was also one of the ways to test the culinary skills of the newly wed daughter in law. The better pakodas she makes, the better person she was by nature and by skill also. The enthusiastic shout of the children, parents all alike, just by seeing the clouds in the sky, the sermon would be served to have the delight served and the ever capable woman of the house would rise beautifully to the occasion proving her prowess again and again.
So… why am I telling all this? Because I recently hosted a chai pakoda party at my place. With approximately 20-25 people to enjoy the pakodas and everyone in the age group between 18 and 28, you can only imagine how much fun it all was. The initial idea was very nice and appealing to have a party, and then the shopping happened of 4 kilos of this and 2 kilos of that. The complete gravity of the situation sunk in only when I realized that there were 20 very hungry people coming home, that too belonging to an age group where eating is not just to satisfy the hunger but also to comfort the heart with the warmth of the food. With the majority of the janta being hostel dwellers missing home, it only got worse. And thus, began my stress levels. I have never thanked God enough for giving me the angel of a husband that I have. It’s a blessing to see him qualm my doubts about how things will turn out. I do thank dear lord nowJ .And so the huge army of hungry and happy people arrived and the mammoth task of peeling potatoes started. The frenzy that I was in an hour before is known only to my hubby and me. Right from running to the grocery store and picking groceries obviously to driving like a maniac to the vegetablewalla and buying loads of them to going home and putting all the stuff in the bottles and jars, cleaning the vegetables, followed by cleaning the bathrooms all over again because there were guests coming, and then taking a bath myself to re enter the kitchen, all this topped by my husband hooting every half an hour because I had asked him to, so that I can keep a track of time.
By the time all was set, I myself was finished. My back was sore, I was hungry and I am sure even he was, every cell in my body wanted to crash into deep slumber for a couple of hours. You know there are times when we question if God really exists and then suddenly there is a miracle and you go whooopppiiieee!!!!! I love you God! Something very similar happened that day. As the people arrived, I realised that they really wanted to help. So the trays of potatoes and raw bananas arrived and everyone happily started peeling them. There were jokes, singing, laughter, leg pulling and so so much fun. But you know me being me, I now started worrying about how are we going to manage frying all those pakodas. Just then the bell rings and as I was expecting more people my maid makes an entry and she smiles, and what a smile it was. There are right now at my immediate help two angels who get me out of sticky situations, one as I told u is my husband and the second is my maid. She is so cute oh! My God! She loves cooking and she loves cooking for more people, so you can only imagine her delight when she saw 30 odd hungry people who needed to be fed, and just like Mrs. Weasley in the Harry Potter series, the kitchen started functioning on its own under her command and guidance and I became a combination of her assistant and a waiter.
The flow of pakodas that day was like pure classical music, like the melodious gurgling waters of a stream snuggled in the beauty of a lovely mountain and trees and birds and mother nature. Just like there is a variety in music, there were varieties in pakodas. There were pakodas of spinach, potatoes, raw bananas, onion, cauliflower, capsicum and so on and so forth. To sum it all up it was an extremely delicious. And the finale were the hot steamy cups of tea, the Indian chai with ginger, lemon grass, cardamom and other varieties. There was bitter kahawa also, traditionally the tea of Jammu and Kashmir which I completely killed because I boiled it too much, but I think the crushed almonds in the tea made up for it :-)
So, all in all it was pretty much a day of fun, frolic, happiness and warmth. I am now slowly understanding that what is it that makes moms so happy to feed not only their babies but also the babies of other moms, just like their own. I will be a mom one day and I am sure I am going to love it. Its like mother nature you know, feeding and taking care of everyone just like her own little ones. I don’t know if my culinary skills were demonstrated well, but the bonding with everyone over food was beautiful.
Its lovely isn’t it, how happiness in life is not costly at all! It’s the small little things that give happiness, the simplest ones, really. As simple as some chai and pakode, and they don’t even need to be perfectly doneJ and we still run after big things searching for a smile and being happy not realizing it lies right in us.
See? See? A full stomach gives spiritual insights tooJ . Some food for thought…
