A BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY (PART III)

the Pudin Hara

Once she came back all washed, we took out our Tiffins.

“I am sorry I took your bottle without asking………Actually I only brought one bottle and thought some extra water would help…especially after we have our dinner….”she said.

“Oh, I appreciate that; and besides we won’t have to get down refilling it at night……..”

I intentionally threw in that we to compliment her our……

I was really feeling as if I am having my Tiffin with my kiddo friend at the school recess. My mother made some usual prathas and aloo ki sabji. Malvika just took out some sabji out of my tiffin and tasted it. I mean what the hell was she doing????......... I could have been a terrorist who had poison in the sabji.The Railways was sick and tired of cautioning people not to take food stuffs from unknown people and here you have a teenager girl eating straight out of a guys Tiffin. Now one thing is for sure, I don’t look like a terrorist.

“Mmmmm……nice sabji, Aunty is a good cook I suppose”. She said.

“Yeah, somewhat. I am kind of lucky I guess……”

“Would you like to try mine………I made it; I am not that good a cook though………..”

Her sabji looked one of those delicious types which smelled like heaven. It’s hard to say no to pretty girls or to good food but when it’s offered together, it is highly impossible. So, I dug in. To my surprise, her cooking was just opposite to her character. As far as the taste is concerned I couldn’t experience it, because once I put that thing in my mouth the only thing I could think of was water. The amount of chilly she had put in was more than what my taste buds were used too. Just when I was about to spit fire she asked with an innocent face……. “Are you OK Rahul…………”

I was not OK …certainly not. My mouth had caught fire. But the sad part was I couldn’t give it back to her. I couldn’t tell her that her cooking had more chilly powder than the vegetables it is supposed to have. I could’ve actually taken her to court for being partial towards the chilly powder……..

“I am fine………, it’s just that your cooking is slightly on the hotter side…. and moreover my stomach is not that well……”.I said making up….

“Oh, wait I can give you something for your stomach……….,” she said and opened her bag pack from which she took out a purse. She started taking stuff out of her handbag and a million things came out-lipsticks, lip balms, creams, bindis, earrings, pens, mirrors, wet tissues and other stuff that one can live without. She found what she was looking for eventually.

“Here, you can have this Pudin Hara after your meal………”…..she said, reminding me of my mother.

“Oh, that’s so kind of you……..”…..first you give a bad stomach with your combustible sabji, then give a Pudin Hara…..phew…..but I wasn’t complaining

This was the best Pudin Hara of my life...........

to be continued............