One Bite Home

The smallest things often evoke the strongest responses. A faint smell, a passing car, the first drop of rain or even an unexpected happenstance.

Cooking is part of the daily routine here. Be it the hurried sandwiches when I come home for lunch or the pastas and curry at night. the goal of Most of these attempts is not culinary magnificence, rather it is the simple function of not going hungry. I eat so I must cook.

Every once in a while though, things happen in the kitchen that catch you completely off guard. Tonight was one of those times. When I sat down to eat my Anda Curry and 4 chapattis, little did I know what was about to happen next.

The first bite took me home. It instantaneously transported me 8000 miles, from the table in Milan to the kitchen in Pune. I do not know how  it happened but the curry tasted exactly like my mom makes it. I wasn't trying to make it taste the same, but it did. I felt this surge of emotion that I can't quite explain. This welling tide just kept building up inside me. I kept shaking my head in disbelief through the entire meal muttering after every bite. Now as I write this down I still can't believe what has just happened. How did I do it ?!?!!

Moments that move your soul are few and far in this life. Today a bunch of spices boiled in water with eggs did exactly that.