I got married in time. I won’t say early enough, however, I didn’t give myself a chance to have a full blown relationship with culinary skills. My mom was a working woman and didn’t really encourage me to get into the kitchen while I was supposed to be studying. I could gather only as much knowledge of cooking as I picked from watching her. Sigh, it was nothing like Eklavya adulating Dronacharya!!

When I started cooking after marriage, I treated Suvin right from burnt chapattis, straight out of steamroll, to a unique Sevaiyi cake. I clearly remember it was Eid-Ul-Fitar and I had prepared Sevaiyi. Enough preparations had gone into the dish. Of course, Google taught me the nuances. Somehow, I got mixed up with proportion of milk and vermicelli. It came out well.. little brick-type, soaked in milk. Suvin took a bite and exclaimed, “ Thank God we don’t live in United Arab Emirates. Otherwise, half the population will jump from Burj Khalifa after tasting the Sevaiyi. It was so rude, it was that day and till today, I have never prepared Sevaiyi again. Now after becoming mommy, twice, and that too a doting mom! I am an expert in a few dishes. At least, my daughter thinks I am quite a cook! My son also drools over Idli Sambhar and Nariyal Daal chutney. It’s easy to cook, is relatively healthier and kids just love it. I call it our ‘National Breakfast’. I can prepare it any number of times in a week. However, my man, detests Idli Sambhar! He thinks he is some Elvis Presley types wannabe wrongly born in India. “Idli Sambhar doesn’t go well with Audioslave.”, exults Suvin everytime I place Idli seperators in cooker. Makes many faces when I serve him. And gulps down the the lion’s share from the casserole! I remember one weekend morning after he was possessed by Jay Cutler’s spirit in Gym, hitting his legs. He came back to polish twenty-four idlis for breakfast. “Lasagne makes a better breakfast, close second to Aalu Parathas and butter.”, yelled Suvin, washing his hands from bathroom. “And what does cheese do to your stomach Suvin, afterwards?”, I snapped back! Everytime he ate cheese, he would snip Eno packets. Weak guts! Quite literally!! He came out holding his stomach like he was a pregnant goose.

He loves preparing us different egg dishes ,right from Egg Molly to Spanish, French Omelettes to Tamagoyaki, my version of Lachha Parantha Omelette that are popular in Japan. He has never faltered in flipping them on pan!

Today morning again, I prepared our National Breakfast. Life is going so well. Kids are preparing for their board exams. Everything comes around. I still remember the time when I was preparing for Intermediate exam, as it was called at that time. Nowadays, tuition are mandatory. We have enrolled both kids even before their school session has started . Education these days has become so commoditized. Suvin is doing well in his career. He has achieved a lot and he continues to be ambitious. Beside her studies, Ketki is also enjoying her Kathhak classes. It’s a solace to see her pursue at least something that I like too! Otherwise, she just blindly follows whatever Suvin loves!! My mom always said, “Everyone must have some hobby, it helps in making difficult times more bearable.” ‘Not wrong Mommy’

Don’t you think, our life is like Idli Sambhar? Fair and Dark. Sour and Bland. Sweet and Spicy. All of them together! Nothing alone would make so much sense as all different things coming together. One who criticize the most, savors most too! Unlike today’s Nuclear families, earlier, families were more populous! Joint families had distributed responsibilities. Distributed good and not so good times? There were lot of people with whom we could talk and share our feelings. With nuclear set-up things are more… testing, I would say. Hence new terms like mid-life crisis, depression etc are slowly becoming buzzwords!

“What do you want to have for breakfast tomorrow Suvin?”, I asked him as we lay on our bed on a Friday night. Chewing his Nicorette, he curled me up in his arms. “Let’s give another shot to Sevaiyi. It’s been long since we last tried it out”, Suvin whispered.

Is it single malt, or is he genuinely a cool guy? I hope I get the proportions correct this time.

I don’t know when I dozed off in his arms, trying to remember if we even had vermicelli in our life stock drum!

This blog of part of #A2Z Challenge, there will be 26 blogs in this series all the blogs are in continuation. I am writing them from Z to A, as the story also flows from Death towards life. Hope you enjoy knowing Antara’s journey.

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