Home Cooked !!

Well I have done funny things in life. I remember during school times, the chemistry lab was something different from me. There was one particular incident which I don't forget. During the study of AgCl3, I brought the solution home once. I don't remember what I was thinking !!!. Playing with the solution, I don't know what I intended to do. I did spill some of the solution on myself, specifically on the hands.

Lazy as I am, I didn't bother to clean, because anyhow I was to head for the chemistry lab itself. ( I was a strict non-follower of the Lab Rules ) With some of the Liquid in my hand, I rushed down to reach my labs. During the walk in the sun, I realized my hands had magically turned black. It did not strike me immediately what had happened.!!

But for full 3 days, people were frightened, whenever I drew out my hand for a shake, to such and extend that they would jump and pull back there hands and would not shake it !!

Well that story is just a by-product. The main story is, in another experiment, I produced a lot of ammonia. And I went on to smell huge amounts of it for some time. I later realized that ammonia affect the outer layer of your nose's inside. This resulted in many side-effects including the leaking of my nose very frequently, cold or no cold.

Now past few weeks, and previously also I noted, I have not been able to smell things. To the extend that smell of burn whiles I am at the stove is not noticeable to me. I wonder whether it is temporarily or long term. But it sure has inhibited the amount of pleasure I could and should derive from eating various foods.

Mahesh Dattani in his article "Home-Cooked Love" (featured in The Week) points out that, it is the combination of the senses from touch, smell, and taste because of which we Indians will never be able to recluse the Home-Cooked feeling.Whatever we say, and wherever we eat, the best cooked food has always been and will be, for us Indians the food cooked by Ma !!! 90 % of the strong billion people will agree with me.

I always used to wonder, that japenese will never get that feel, as cooking is not part of there daily routine and agenda. But right now I am desperate to have that feeling. And finally after almost a year, it will come again tonite !!

To end, I will quote from Maheshs article
" I regret that I was never a part of the process of making food, but I am eternally grateful that I was at the receiving end "

I think it Sums it up in the best possible way !!!