The Years They Will Remember

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Akhil and Sahana with thatha. Akhil is in sixth grade. Sahana is in fourth grade. My own fourth grade feels like a blur, but I remember sixth grade quite well. Mrs. Vijayalakshmi was our class teacher. She was outstanding at teaching English. At BP Indian, grammar, punctuation, and the structure of a composition mattered. Some of my classmates had a natural flair for writing, and I loved reading how they put their thoughts on paper. I came third in class that year and received a merit prize. I still remember the books: Five Have a Wonderful Time by Enid Blyton and Grandmother’s Tale by R. K. Narayan. I still have my copy of Grandmother’s Tale . Inside is the school’s prize label: third rank, Class VI D, 1992–93, awarded to Subbarathinam—the name I went by then. My sixth-grade merit prize. I still have the book. ...

What's cooking up?

So, here we are, a bunch of four gluttons, ready to devour almost everything in the world provided it is absolutely vegetarian. What do we cook today? is a question that gets our taste buds rollicking. To be honest, we are not bad cooks either. From Sambar to elimichapazham (lime) rasam, semiya (vermicelli) upma to godhuma ravai upma, everything has come out highly edible. We are getting the basic ingredients right to match our ever-demanding appetite. It was just a matter of a couple of days, and we were getting bored. We tried to shift the protocol to something slightly different and jeera rice it was. We were absolutely bang on target. It was perfect and different from what was cooking up every other day. What surprises all of us is that whatever gets cooked, doesn't last for more than a course of meal. The quantity does not matter, but the quality definitely does! No wonder it beats us as we tend to realise the quality of food thats being prepared. Is it that good? To top it all, we have got ulundu and arisi appalams that when roasted on the gas, adds a new dimension to the rich aroma of South Indian food. The ghee soaked ven pongal whet our appetites to new limits.

Talking about food all along, I am reminded of a wonderful quote by the legendary Mark Twain

Eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside!
And that's exactly what we are upto!

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