KITCHEN BLUES

The uproarious laughter coming from somewhere in the house woke me up from my afternoon siesta. After orienting myself for a couple of minutes, I remembered that my hubby was expecting ‘A’ friend. But, the laughter I heard was collective! I tip toed and peaked into the living room and I saw four of them. FOUR! Just then, the calling bell sounded and in came two more….SIX! Uh-oh! Don’t get me wrong. I am not averse to having guests over nor am I inhospitable. But, it is the thought of the time I have to spend in the kitchen preparing either coffee, tea or snacks that puts me off.

You see, I have been going through this phase of ‘not-wanting-to-cook’, for some time now. A year now! I don’t like cooking, in fact, I hate cooking. Phew! Now that I have said it, I’m so much relieved. I live strictly by the principle – Eat to live; and so whatever I cook is simple and fulfilling….nothing fancy at all. I plan such a menu that 

I don’t have to spend any more time in the kitchen than necessary.

And, when I am cooking….I am on the “auto pilot” mode, I function mechanically and I also like to be alone in the kitchen, no one else to talk to me and delay the cooking time. My pleas to hire a cook have fallen on the deaf ears because even though I find cooking a bore, I am an awesome cook or so says my family. Well, almost awesome. Ok, I’m exaggerating a bit….but a good cook none-the-less. In fact, I’m thinking of patenting my Rasam powder recipe or even sell it to the highest bidder, whichever is lucrative. Anybody interested?

And so, here I am in the kitchen, ready to make tea for the guests, when the door bell rings again! Now, it is my friend’s mother who is panicky because there is no cooking gas in her house. We all have piped gas in our housing society and I assured her that someone must have turned off the main switch downstairs. After guiding her as to how to find the main switch or the knob…I again set about the task of making the tea…..and as I turned on the knob of the gas stove….nothing! Nada! Zilch! No-cooking-gas. Now, I was panicky. Surely someone could not have turned off all the mains. I went down to investigate. All the mains were on. So, there must be a breakdown of some sort somewhere. As I was climbing back the stairs to my apartment dejectedly, realization dawned upon me and slowly the smile spread across my face. We are going out for dinner…..YES!