Mother’s Recipe

I am sure we remember the cute dialogue by Ma in old Hindi movies… ‘maine apne haathon se thumhare liye halwa banaya hai’…!!! Farah Khan did her bit to immortalize this dialogue in ‘Om Shanti Om’ with the super talented Kirron Kher mouth it to a hilarious effect…

A friend recently had the good luck of spending some time in her maayka. She told me about how her mother kept calling her in office to ask what she wanted to eat… n she kept saying… ‘ma, anything u make will do…!’.

This post is a tribute to the best cooks in the world… Ma. I remember how, as a kid, I used to be finicky about food… and my poor mom would walk a tightrope daily trying to please dad, me n my kid bro… mostly failing somewhere…

A day into hostel I realized what I was missing. Mom’s night porridge felt like the tastiest broth compared to the sordid dinners in the mess… (do they call the canteen ‘mess’ literally…?).While at home, I used to always wish for dinners out… at least once a week we ensured that we had dinner out, ostensibly to give mom a break but actually coz we believed that the REAL food was in hotels. But, at home during the odd weekend from hostel, I just wanted my mom’s food… any vegetable, any main course… nothing mattered anymore.

I do not get to cook much at home… but the days I do, I try to cook the way my mom does… she is miles away from me… giving out the recipe on the phone… I try to remember how her tadka smelt when I dunk mustard into hot oil… I try to remember the color of her tomato gravy and wonder whether mine matches that…

I do succeed at times… I guess I have lucky genes… n the days I do match up to her, I am happy… I have somehow thanked her for all she did in those days I was difficult… those days when I used to make faces at her vegetable and leave the rice untouched for want of a better curry…

I do not live with my mom anymore… if U still do, lucky u… and if u don’t, I am sure u also feel like I do… coz Mother’s Recipe is so unique… even the best cordon bleu chef pales in comparison…!!!