Friday, June 29, 2007

A quick tale 191

This morning at breakfast

You will not believe it, but she has been thinking about it since Tuesday evening. In fact, shortly before you came home from work that day and just after the kids had finished their homework, she went into the kitchen to soak the lentils. And just after the dinner table was cleared, she had second thoughts about the amount of rice in the mixture and added quarter-of-a-cup more. The next morning, she went in to see if the pulses had soaked though and as soon as you were out of the house, she drained the water and ground the lentils and rice to a soft paste. This was not easy as the blade in the grinder had gone blunt. So she poured the batter back into a pot and unscrewed the blade from the grinder and replaced it with the spare one. This time the batter turned out smooth with no lumps or bumps. Satisfied with the result, she left the pot in the far corner of the kitchen to ferment.

This morning, she woke up 20 minutes before her usual time to get the accompanying chutneys ready for breakfast. The results are there in front of you. Steaming hot and straight off the pan. You wolf it down as you skim through the newspaper. I know you're pre-occupied with that client meeting this morning. But before you go, tell her that it was really nice. She will probably dismiss it with a wave of a hand. But after you're gone, she'll break into a smile. Brighter than the morning sun.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

ஒரு இல்லத்தரசியோட மனசு இன்னொரு இல்லத்தரசிக்குதான் தெரியும்..

Anonymous said...

yella illathu-arasigalukkum oru vendugol:

naam illathu-arasargal "idli vendum" endru kaetkaadha podhu, 3 manikum, 4 manikkum ezhundhu ozhaichu suda suda idlium kaaramaaga chutney-um pannivittu, adhai yen rasikkavillai endru kaetkireergale, idhu ungalukke nyayama irukka? ondru theriuma? neengal idhai ellam vittuvittu, pakathu saalai-il irukkum "udupi ottal" ilirundhu 2 idli potlam katti kuduthaalum naangal adhai "kaament" illaamal dhaan saappiduvom

aanal ondru - naangale ungalai "idli seidhu kodu" endru kaettirundhu, neengal panni-irundhaal, ungalukku miga-paaraattugal avasiyam undu.

ammani, naan solluvadahi puriyavendumaanaal, oru udhaaranam sollugiren: chennai-bus-il payanam seidhiruppeengale - eppovaavadhu oru muraiyaavadhu, payanam mudindhapparam, "driver"-ku nandri solli irukkeengala? avan paavam evvalavvu kashta pattu "traffic" il otti ungalai pogum idathukku saethu-irukkiraan.

adhaan.

enna panradhu - sila velaigal kadamaiya maari vittadhu - atharkku nandrigal ethirpaarpadhil thappu ondrum illai, aanaal andha nandrigal kidaikka villai endral, vedhanaiyum paduvathilum artham illai!

-prashanth.

Anonymous said...

Too much. You're fast turning into an anti-social element now, instilling bouts of depression on young creative minds. (Surely, this isn't inspiring.)

*bows in respect, anyway*

Rupinion said...

Striking again!!!!
And deep down somewhere, the pain is felt! :(

Swetha said...

Your quick tales bring a smile to the face everytime I read them :-)

This one, awesome as ever!

InTeGeR said...

:) Yet another sweet one.

Hope the idly was nice. Else the admiration, if given, would not be really appreciated.

jj said...

awesome!!!!

Harini Sridharan said...

awesomest! very touching inspite of sounding very light!

D LordLabak said...

Meticulous work need not produce best results always. Sometimes canned food produces magic.:-)