My cook is a bubbly, chirpy Bengali lady. She must be as old as me, or maybe a lil younger. She comes twice a day, and goes about her work, cutting, chopping, frying, clanking the pans in between. She cooks in about 10 houses, twice a day.
Her nimbu pani is to die for, and its the ideal thing in the dirty, humid summer of Delhi. I look forward to 11am, when she walks in I say 'good morning' with a smile. One thing that is constant on her face is her smile. Off late she has started opening up, she talks about her kids- a 14 year old daughter and a 7 year old son. She got married very early. She works hard because she wants her kids, especially her daughter to study, and not meet the fate as hers, daughter is intelligent, goes to good school, and has now got 100% scholarship because of her excellent grades.
She spends one hour in my house, and for that one hour, am also in the kitchen, drinking nimbu pani, which she happily makes, wiping the sweat, talking to her, doing a lil bit of work.
I noticed a bruise on her neck and arm once, and with a lot of concern i asked her what happened. To which she just casually replied that her husband got angry and he hit her, he caught her arm tightly so it left a mark, being fair skinned, the mark clearly showed the colours, a mix of red, blue and black. I was horrified, I went to my room brought out the anti mark cream and applied it on the bruise. To which she said, "let it be Didi, it will be back in couple of days so no point" she said that also with a laugh. I asked her, how can you allow it? She said, 'arrey Didi, you don't understand, for the next 5 days, my husband will treat me like a queen, he will get my favourite sweet or he will take me out, he will behave like a hero'. Then I told her whats the point, after 5 days he will hit you again! To which she replied, "that again for 5 days he will treat me like a queen, so it's good na Didi, for just one day of pain, I get 5 days of pleasure and there is always pleasure in pain, she winked, I am a happy soul Didi, who knows what life has in store, I live each day to the fullest".
I kept looking at her for sometime, and wondered, here is a woman, who still praises her MCP husband after all the torture she goes through, as she thinks that few bruises on her body are nothing compared to the pampering and attention she gets. And on the flip side, there are people I know personally, who are never happy with what they have. They have doting husbands, some are henpecked, who wouldn't dare to humor their marriage in public, who put up a show of 'die hard romantics' even after many years of marriage, not to forget the over the top pics on fb, and the endless comments that follow about their chemistry and biology. Still, they find reasons to crib, there is a cut throat competition in everything, from the cuisine thats cooked to kids achievements, to who saw the newly released movie first, who has got a good figure, and how some love to be labelled as, "you still look like a teenager" God!!
From desperate measures to lose weight to win an upmanship, we so called educated people are constantly competing, without realizing that we are losing out on the simple pleasures. If we stop focusing on our muffin waist, or large hips, or our kids achievements, and look around, take a deep breath, then we would see, how blessed we are, instead of pushing our children, wouldnt it be better if we hold their hands and show them the way, and instead of getting worked up about work outs, won't it be better to take it a lil easy, so what if there are couple of love handles, love them ;), and lose weight for yourself not for others, please. The experts around the world say, that the most important ingredient in cooking is 'love', we are not staging our food or participating in a Masterchef competition everyday, we are cooking for our loved ones, catering to their tastebuds, thats all!
And here is a woman, who smiles at life, her simple funda..."Love life and life will love you back".
Her nimbu pani is to die for, and its the ideal thing in the dirty, humid summer of Delhi. I look forward to 11am, when she walks in I say 'good morning' with a smile. One thing that is constant on her face is her smile. Off late she has started opening up, she talks about her kids- a 14 year old daughter and a 7 year old son. She got married very early. She works hard because she wants her kids, especially her daughter to study, and not meet the fate as hers, daughter is intelligent, goes to good school, and has now got 100% scholarship because of her excellent grades.
She spends one hour in my house, and for that one hour, am also in the kitchen, drinking nimbu pani, which she happily makes, wiping the sweat, talking to her, doing a lil bit of work.
I noticed a bruise on her neck and arm once, and with a lot of concern i asked her what happened. To which she just casually replied that her husband got angry and he hit her, he caught her arm tightly so it left a mark, being fair skinned, the mark clearly showed the colours, a mix of red, blue and black. I was horrified, I went to my room brought out the anti mark cream and applied it on the bruise. To which she said, "let it be Didi, it will be back in couple of days so no point" she said that also with a laugh. I asked her, how can you allow it? She said, 'arrey Didi, you don't understand, for the next 5 days, my husband will treat me like a queen, he will get my favourite sweet or he will take me out, he will behave like a hero'. Then I told her whats the point, after 5 days he will hit you again! To which she replied, "that again for 5 days he will treat me like a queen, so it's good na Didi, for just one day of pain, I get 5 days of pleasure and there is always pleasure in pain, she winked, I am a happy soul Didi, who knows what life has in store, I live each day to the fullest".
I kept looking at her for sometime, and wondered, here is a woman, who still praises her MCP husband after all the torture she goes through, as she thinks that few bruises on her body are nothing compared to the pampering and attention she gets. And on the flip side, there are people I know personally, who are never happy with what they have. They have doting husbands, some are henpecked, who wouldn't dare to humor their marriage in public, who put up a show of 'die hard romantics' even after many years of marriage, not to forget the over the top pics on fb, and the endless comments that follow about their chemistry and biology. Still, they find reasons to crib, there is a cut throat competition in everything, from the cuisine thats cooked to kids achievements, to who saw the newly released movie first, who has got a good figure, and how some love to be labelled as, "you still look like a teenager" God!!
From desperate measures to lose weight to win an upmanship, we so called educated people are constantly competing, without realizing that we are losing out on the simple pleasures. If we stop focusing on our muffin waist, or large hips, or our kids achievements, and look around, take a deep breath, then we would see, how blessed we are, instead of pushing our children, wouldnt it be better if we hold their hands and show them the way, and instead of getting worked up about work outs, won't it be better to take it a lil easy, so what if there are couple of love handles, love them ;), and lose weight for yourself not for others, please. The experts around the world say, that the most important ingredient in cooking is 'love', we are not staging our food or participating in a Masterchef competition everyday, we are cooking for our loved ones, catering to their tastebuds, thats all!
And here is a woman, who smiles at life, her simple funda..."Love life and life will love you back".
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