At Hyderabad, two days after having to take my wife to what used to be my favourite restaurants/mess (Hot Rottis, Ghar Ka Khana, Momz Roti), it was time to say “ENOUGH” to outside food. And so, we were out, on my infamous bike, to Reliance Mart. Keeping the helmet in the store’s baggage counter instead of just leaving it hanging on the bike outside was the first instance of the transformation (for good, ofcourse) I’d just been through after marriage. Several others followed in the span of next 30 mins, from going to third floor straight to electronics department TO going to ground floor grocery section, from going to “Ready to Eat” section to Vegetables section, from Bakery section to “Atta/Maida/Besan” section and many more. Ofcourse, one section was added: the make-up section! After buying a lot of stuff that I’d seen mom using few years ago, and paying the heaviest grocery bill of my life till that day, we head back home.
We just had 1 hr to cook before my brother & his wife were scheduled to arrive from Kerala, and I was pleasantly happy too see my wife taking such great care while expertly cutting the vegetables and elegantly cooking it in whatever limited number of vessels I had at that time. Till date, I remember the wonderful taste of each and every bite of the Mix Veg sabji and the wonderful Dal and Chapati. Since then, there have been numerous dishes she has cooked for me, each one prepared to perfection.
Fully dr
ained and exhausted after cleaning the house whole day we left home for shopping. There we were, in the Reliance Mart, one gets all the things he/she can think of at one place. He followed me to the Vegetables section. I certainly didn’t want S & N to run away after dinner! Decided on mix-veg sabji, I thought that was the best coz didn’t know which particular vegetable they might dislike.
Looking at the way he was pretending to read elaborately the details on the packets in the Grocery section, I recalled a quote by Cynthia Nelms, ‘If men liked shopping, they’d call it research’. We (or rather I) bought all the stuff that’d be required to survive for four people for four days, and finally out with n number of plastic bags that we dumped everywhere on the bike and ourselves, except our heads. The only thing I didn’t want next to happen was a traffic jam, but one isn’t that lucky always. We both being Mukesh’s fans, the only savior in that traffic jam-tensed situation was him singing the song… “Ye din kya aaye lage phool hasne”.
He helped me a lot cutting the fresh packets, putting things in place, while I cooked. Glad that everybody liked the food, and especially him. What a momentous day it was, left me behind with moments to cherish for a lifetime.
