AFVOA Newsletter of Year 2021

Section 6 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 01 / 2021 Page 93 of 123 that I deliver the same at the mela grounds, as soon as possible. I had no option but to agree. The tension was building up, and both of us were getting jittery. Tasting a few more times resulted in small additions of water, salt, and imly water. A while later, we suddenly realized that the liquid would soon overflow from the vessel. At that point, very wisely, I pronounced that the sambar was ready for dispatch. I got ready, and with difficulty loaded the hot vessel on to our trusted Lambretta and set off to deliver the same to Ms Minu Sundaram, who was in charge of this stall. People had already thronged theMela and the dosa stall was proving popular. Everyone was eagerly waiting for me. I got a royal welcome, and the hot vessel, was literally snatched away from me. Ms Sundaram asked me when my dear wife was coming over. I had to tell her, that I had come to deliver the sambar and was going back to collect her. Accordingly, I returned to my quarters and found that my dear wife was far from ready. She was not only tired from making that extra huge quantity of sambar but was quite unsure as to the final taste of the mixture and the reception that awaited us. She just refused to keep me company back to the Mela. On the other hand, she commandeered me to go over and check the reactions of the aam admi about the sambar. Hesitatingly I went over to the Mela. As soon as I spotted, hordes of people rushed towards me. I feared the worst. Ms Minu Sundaram came forward and authoritatively asked me why Jaya had still not fetched up. I had forgotten to mention that at that time we had a teeny-weeny daughter just about a year old, who demanded much of our attention. Adroitly I used her as shield and said that the daughter was the reason that my wife could not join. There is no love sincerer than the love of food. ~ George Bernard Shaw At that point, I found the crowd swelling around the stall. And one could hear plaintive voices pleading – “Please Madam one more”. The scene was reminiscent of the boy Oliver Twist in the famous English novel by Charles Dickens. Readers may recall that Oliver and his friends were working in a workhouse, but were fed a fixed quantity of gruel, so that they remained perennially hungry. To overcome the situation, they decided one day to ask for a second helping of the gruel. All of them were mortally scared. Hence, they drew lots as to who would get to ask for more. And the draw resulted in Oliver being the chosen one to ask for more. And thus, it was that Oliver, after finishing his portion of the gruel, asked for more!