When Students Become Friends
A Grateful Heart: Day 11
When I remember, with gratitude, some of the students who graced my classroom, and taught me more than I taught them, I think of Sujona Chatterjee first. We were born on the same day, three decades apart and we talk about things that not many people know I talk about. She knows me well enough to realise that if she gifted me ‘Fifty Shades of Gray,’ I wouldn’t stalk out in high dudgeon, or stare at her in righteous indignation. So she did. We kind of complete each other’s sentences and the things we know about each other are positively incendiary. We even laugh very loudly in public spaces and scandalise all the very ‘propah’ people. By the time we return to our respective homes, we have a stitch in our sides.
Some time back, we went out for lunch to this place called ‘Fable.’
I decided to step out of my usual comfort zone, and comfort food, which is roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and greens, and experiment with something new. I had ordered crepes for both main course and dessert: and I suffered a moment’s anxiety, when our friendly waiter while repeating our order, called it chicken crabs and fruit crabs. But it was alright.
The food took a long time to reach the table: and that was fine with me. I am rather suspicious of food which reaches me immediately The main course was bursting with so many flavours, colours, and aromas that it was a feast for the eyes, the nose, and the tongue. Each bite was deliciously sinful and swoon-worthy. I could have stood up and danced in my Mysore silk sari and it would not have been compliment enough. In that little padded pillow, was a treasure trove of riotously flavourful bits and pieces, that tumbled out every time the fork touched it, in succulent profusion.
The dessert was a white pillow garnished with ribbons of cream. Gingerly, I sliced the edge of it, the very edge. Out flowed a river of cream and butter and delicately diced fruits that were coated in the cream and the butter and a blend of sweet sauces which ran together, tumbling hither and thither as my knife and fork approached them, gently, gently, gently. It was not a meal that could be gobbled and bolted down. It had to be savoured, each sweet, delicate forkful of glorious anticipation, and the swirl and rain of taste on the tongue.
If the first course lent bells to my feet, this led me to flow together and drown, inducing a state of near coma.
And yet, and yet, it didn’t make one feel uncomfortably full. There was not the feeling of having swallowed a rubber shoe that was swelling up in the stomach like many food places reduce you to. That is the ultimate test of great food, skillful cooking, and fresh ingredients.
Life is good, I thought. Great food, warm people, scintillating conversation. What more can one ask for?
©️ 2021 Suma Narayan. All Rights Reserved.
Today is Day 11, of my month-long Gratitude Calendar, which is a response to Ravyne Hawke’s November prompt, for her publication ‘Promptly Written.’ Thank you for the prompt, Ravyne. It helps us to remember the many things in our life that we take for granted.
