The Case of the "Extra" Ingredient

Well, the other day, I was on my way home from office when I had the sudden craving for macaroons. I really can’t say why. It was that gut feeling, either way. So, I went and bought the first packet that I stumbled upon. Speaking of greed, I’m a Gemini. So I consider myself to have twice the quantity of whatever quality I have. So, twice the craving, twice the greed. Anyway, after rushing through the counter and surviving the drive home, while every second double proved Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, I finally reached. I couldn’t wait to remove my shoes. I didn’t.

Having barged in and scared the inhabitants of the house who are my family, I slowly opened my bag and took out the pack. I looked at it with the innate love in my eye. My precioussssss. My macaroonssssss.

Holding a macaroon in my hand, slowly putting it in my mouth and transcending into heaven- atleast, that was what I expected, after my insatiable hunger and the sudden macaroon craving. I stuffed one in and felt my mouth stick together like I had swallowed a whole batch of super glue bottles just produced. I thought I had taken too much for one bite and the next time, I took a small bite of an even smaller macaroon. The size of the bite was pint sized. I felt the macaroon turning into a strand of hard material that still begs for a name. I felt like a cow cud-chewing. Now you can calculate the amount of disappointment proportional to my hunger (always double the answer). Curious, I saw which reputed company had made the gooey-macaroon disaster. The label read, “Holiday Macaroons” and on top of that it “Hygienic Foods” (technically it’s at the
bottom) which cracked me up. But the best part was the ingredients listing.

The "Extra" Ingredient


The Holiday Package with the special surprise of the unknown ingredient

Well, I don’t know what to say, rather, I can’t… Probably because I’m still chewing cud.

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R&D in Mummy Laboratories

The time was 1:00 a.m. in the morning. Sleepless, I lay on my bed wondering about the amazing cutlets that my mom had made the previous evening. Needless to say, I had hogged every morsel that I could salvage. I’ve never tasted anything like that before. The taste still lingered on my tongue and I savored it; every moment. Because I knew that even if I get something like that again, the first time would still be the first time.

The same night before dinner, I praised my mom for the heaven that she had brought down from above.

I told her “Ma, those cutlets you made this evening, well, they were just amazing! I could sure grab some if you have some left. I don’t mind eating left overs (I didn’t, really)”.

“I seriously can’t get you. Are you being sarcastic??” She asked.

“No, no! I’m being honest! A very different, awesome taste!”

“In the morning you criticize my breakfast and in the evening you’re all praise for my cutlets. How is that!?”

“Morning you had made something I hate! You made kichadi! It’s all yellow, sloppy and gooey and what not!? I simply HATE it! Even if you disguise it and give it to me, I wouldn’t touch a morsel!”

“Really!?”

“A promise on those lovely cutlets…”

“Then, that’s precisely what you’re going to lose…”

“What!? How’s that!?”

“hmmm… those cutlets that I made? Well, let’s just say it was indeed a disguise that you had hogged.”

She couldn’t control her smile. And I couldn’t control my exact opposite reaction.

“WHAT!?!?”

“Yeah, just added some bread crumbs and a little batter to disguise it. Guess it paid off. Good night, dear!”

Speechless and confused I went to bed. The time was 1:00 a.m. in the morning, I was sleepless when a fine realization struck me as I lay there wondering.

“Food is sometimes created but never destroyed. It is just transformed from one form to another.”

Having learnt the day’s lesson I closed my eyes and went off to sleep with a little craving inside me for those cutlets, though, I might never admit it.

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Running in Circles

It’s the Festival season. A happy, lively time. The time when everyone is busy buzzing around making grand purchases. The road’s sides are filled more with pedestrians than parked vehicles, carrying huge plastic bags full of clothes and sweets and a million dollar smile on their face while their credit and debit cards are half worn out from swiping that it looks more like a fancy double shade visiting card. Nevertheless, one season when people really don’t mind spending. Well, really?

My dad is a renowned doctor in the city. And a doctor, in general, gets a compliment from time to time from medical companies as a sign of gratitude or loyalty for prescribing a medicine made by the particular company. I’d be delighted every time my dad brings home a compliment, even though it may sometimes be a small simple gift, it still remains a symbol of gratitude. The only thing about these compliments is that, they come with the companies names embedded or printed on them. Sometimes obviously visible and some other times not. During festive seasons, we basically amass sweet boxes that, I can simply say, our expenditures are being taken care of, except for our personal purchases. I happened to notice that some of the sweet boxes had the name straves* printed in a small font underneath the boxes. I tried to take care of it but I couldn’t.

It’s customary in India during the festival season that people visit their friends’ places and give away sweets as an age old celebration for the defeat of the asura(troll/ogre) Narahasura by Krishna. So, one day, we packed a few boxes of sweets to give to our neighbors and friends. It was fun, going around, meeting people, exchanging greetings. Deep inside our hearts we were also content that the sweets mound at home was rapidly decreasing.

A few days later, our neighbors, the good people that they are, visited us. As the custom goes, they too gave us a box of sweets that we could enjoy followed by a warm greeting. After a leisurely chat they departed. I took the box of sweets that they had given and went to place it in a nearby shelf. As I was about to push it into the top shelf, I spotted that the box bore a small red engraving at the bottom. I looked closer only to read the name straves*on it. With a wry smile on my face, I just pushed the box inside knowing I’ll enjoy the sweets at a later time of the year.

Happy Holidays everybody!

*the name has been modified from the original

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