My Trysts with Cooking !!

"I dont even butter my bread, I consider that cooking !!"

First of all let me make one thing clear..Am a staunch follower of d above statement.Atleast I was. Then..... I started cooking !! :)

Cooking... Well.. sounds outright Greek and Latin to me.The only memories of my involvement with cooking that lingers on, is me helping out my mother in cutting some veggies,which in turn she'd prohibit me from doing, lest I should make a mockery out of it.I for one, can always draw parallels between wartime situations and the subject of discussion.All geared up, ammunitions in place, U start proceeding. One wrong step, and u are doomed.(doomed with a capital D)

Thought of putting this blog across in a conversation mode.. Let me introduce the characters,My first roomie Rafi, who I swear is the best cook I've known(Atleast after my mom!!) and Karthik,who atleast is prudent in technical aspects of the art and ofcourse theres this good for nothing me.....Wait.. Make that good for something..(Eating what they cook provides the transformation here !! :))Lets get started..

Rafi : What do we make blokes??
Me : Anything edible would do !! :)
Karks: We'l try out sambar today...
Rafi :(Sheepishly).. Well guys.. I don't have a damn idea how thats made.
karks : What, I thought u'd be adept at that.
Then.. the attention turned towards me..
Me: Hey... Y do u guys even bother to look at me??.. I can always eat whwtevr u can make.
Rafi : No probs guys... Lets give it a shot.. I've got a vague picture of how it can be done..
Here.. we were all set..
Rafi : De adi, anda thovaram parupa edu da..
Me : Now, for me.. locatin this goddamn thing was more difficult than sniffing out osama from his den. (Defeatedly..) Machi.. Neeye vandu edu da... Edhunu therla..
Rafi : Periya parupu mari pona??... (Now that was a comment!).. Moves menacingly towards the cupboard.. stops... gapes.. Dei.. Enada rendu parupu dabba iruku!!.. Idhula edhu da thovaram parupu??
Me : (With a downright irked up look).. Dei.. Idhuku than ivlo effecta potiya da... Atleast I accepted my ignorance..
Rafi : Vidra maapi.. Ariyamaiya enikume velipadutha koodadu!!..
Karks : To hell with u guys!!..(Picks up a box and hands over).. Idhu thanda thovaram parupu..
Me : Now that the identification part of the target is over, we can proceed with our execution.!!
Karks : Vetti scene ku onum korachal ila..

And then after following some preliminary steps, we proceeded in our amateurish way..
Karks : Do keep track of the cooker whistles.. We need to stop as and when it sounds five..

Cooking I believe is an art thats innate to certain folks. If at all I can proclaim myself to be a pro after a couple of decent cooking outings, I'd be commiting heresy.But in all eventuality I may call myself a pro,in cooking up this blog atleast..:)

To ward off time till that happened, we positioned ourselves before the TV. To our joy, we found Shah Rukh Khan,lighting up the stage with a thundering performance, at a filmfare awards ceremony.. As was expected we were heavily engrossed in the proceedings and inevitably, lost track of our cooking expedition. By the time we could realize, it was already half an hr since we set up the sambar!! Suddenly Rafi cried out in dismay "Our sambar!!"..We all barged into the kitchen striking up a frenetic pace.

We couldnt believe what we saw. Crestfallen, we picked up the overcooked sambar and started pondering patchup works."An artist's briliance, I'd say, lies in his ability to coverup his shortcomings!".. In the same vein,we proceeded..Adding a pinch of salt,then some masala powder,water and literaly whatever we could lay our hands upon..After finishing up, I took the plunge and tasted it.. Hey. tastes great guys!!.. And I bet the other blokes seconded my opinion that my tastebuds were in place atleast!!.

Just as we prepared to eat up, the doorbell rang.. Here, I guess is space enough to introduce one more character.. Bhai!!

Bhai : Ena machi.. Enada samayal iniku??..
Me : Hey.. welcome... Join us..
Bhai : (Tasting our sambar).. Machi !!.. Rasam super!!....
All three of us gave that baffling look..All our attempts of making sambar had gone down the drain with that comment. Atleast he din't know the truth!!
Me : Dei.. Enadu.. Rasama!!.. (Then I held myself back).. Ama machi.. That was indeed rasam... Nala iruku ila.. We dont take much pains cooking it up.. adhan.

Sometimes.. The best compliments are received when u least expect them !! :)

End of story !!