Stories

Food remembrances… By Roshan

One of my earliest memories of food is when as a child (I must have been 6 years old) I remember taking a small pathre’ (a vessel) with a handful of rice and some water in a lota (a jug) with a matchbox in my pocket and going out into the landscape by foot on a kal dhari (footpath) towards Hesaraghatta. I remember an adult being with me, but I don’t fully recall who this adult could have been. My focus was in finding a distant location away from home, and for me at the time, a place where I didn’t have any connection or attachment to where I was actually intending to be in to complete my mission. My purpose I knew was clear i.e. to find a place which was unknown to me. A place I could rest by under a tree and cook my rice. It turned out that the place I settled with was in a naala (a rainwater drain) under a young tamarind tree which was precariously leaning over the ditch. To this day I know the place I chose was a secret place where I could be among the roots of a tree and believe I had become a dwarf, maybe an elf with magical powers that would transform the world around me into a fairy tale. I was very pleased I remember with myself. I knew exactly what I needed to do. I found three large stones close by and arranged them according into a fireplace. I collected dry leaves and some medium size sticks to light a fire. I distinctly remember cooking. The visual image of boiling water. The heat of the fire. The pleasure of looking into the pathre’ and seeing bubbles forming. I recall the foam forming on the surface of the boiling water. I recall the excitement of seeing rice boil. I recall in my mind to this day a dry grassy patch on which I settled down to eat the freshly boiled hot rice. It was a sunny day. The world around me seemed the most wonderful of all places! I don’t remember the conversation I had. I don’t remember whether there was anything else other than boiled rice to eat. I don’t recall heading back home. I don’t recall anything other than the moment of my joy of being in the perfect place to cook this handful of rice.