11 Me, She & Momos

I was waiting for her at the ATM, reached there in time. and suddenly felt like to go to ATM for some more cash. She had told me to come by 5.30. I checked my watch, I still had 3-4 min and I went inside. While getting out of ATM my phone rang.

me : hello

she: yes.. where r u?

me : here.. at the ATM. told u na..

she: where..?  am right there..oh yeah

and we met... met after 3 years of knowing each other.

me: Hiii !

she: Hiiii !

me: wow.. u didn't change

she: what re... I recently put on so much of weight.(blushing)

me: oh come on !! y u girls r so conscious ? but whatever u look good. (smiling)

We were meeting after a long time. She was carrying the same simplicity as I have seen her last and always the beauty formed by simplicity has given me feeling of butterflies around me. yeah she has put on some puppy fat but it was adding to her beauty rather u can say was making her kind of sexy... a girl with a good amount of oomph factor. we had started walking. 

me: where were we going by the way?

she: say where do u want to go? to any calm place or with crowd?

me: why planning to go disco kya?

she: chalo.. if u say..

me : humm now am in ur city so do what u want. but a calm place would be better as there we can talk a bit.

she: (smiling) nah we r going to restaurant.

We hired a taxi and headed for some unknown place to me she has selected and we reached at a restaurant. which was indeed a good place planned well with a small bar at a corner and was emitting a cozy kind of feeling to spend some time being with yourself or with your loved ones.

me: umm.. nice place. 

she : I know

me: so what would u like to order. pick what u want.

she: no it's u who is going to do that and I know u still r not that fond of non-veg... r u ?

me: yeah.. but u pick non-veg and pick something veg for me.. actually fact is not that i am not fond of. but it's Saturday today and I have my reservations.

she: I know that's y asked. u like paneer na. ( scanning thru the menu)

me: yeh I do. but don order anything heavy. I had my lunch. tried to take it light as u said but ended up with full stomach. u know colleagues. by the way what did u take in lunch?

she : no I didn't

me : Arey ???  then why did u deny when I said that we will have our lunch together?

she : no but I told you not to take heavy then y did u take.. tell me first. anyways am ordering paneer tikka and ... lemon juice..with soda. will it do ?

me : U stupi.. coudn't u say this directly that don't take lunch we will have it together u left home at morning 7 and not taken anything? yeah it will ..

she: excuse me !! (looking at the waiter)

And she placed the order. we started our conversation.. from where we left. ranging from my family to her recent break-up. I was floated to the old days with her. But a kind of loneliness i could feel in her eyes. the same loneliness I had seen when I met her last. She was a kind of reserved may be I was failing to take her to the old days when we were so comfortable in sharing.

The restaurant  was really good. within a short time we were served in spite of presence of a good amount of customer. There were 5 paneer pieces on the plate and I passed 2 pieces to her plate.

she :  Arey arey what r u doing ?

me : Don't u shout.. chup chap khalo...

she : arey I don't like Paneer

me: what ??? then why did u order? u na.. u could have order anything of your choice..and how r u taking these then.. I thought u like it

she : "naa re i ordered it for u.. I know u don't like non veg so what would have i ordered. I thought u will like it. and u nodded also when I asked so ordered

Being surprised to listen her (as she had already taken 3 pieces of paneer of her share) I was thinking what a stupid I am.. I said to myself chalo beta aur ek baar... as I was going to take a decision against my reservations (for that particular day)

me: who told u that I won't take non veg (handed over her the menu again) see u were saying na we have to keep something in our    plate to sit here..so order something of your choice. I will take... why don u pick something of chicken?

she : Are u sure u ll take?

me: yeah pakka... i don have any hard core reservations i can take in any day... any time.

she : okay (scanning thru the menu) 

then she ordered something of chicken ( I haven't even remembered that item but yeah they were pieces of chicken without any spice much similar to the paneer we ordered.. was tasting well)

she: ummm.. yummy almost screamed with low voice

me: yeah tasty

she: if u would have told me before that u take  then I would n't have ordered that paneer... never ..and what was that tasting...yukk !! i only know how i took that.

I was thanking to God ! chalo khus to hui..

me: really ! yeah that was not tasty like this.. (was only smiling and enjoying her enjoyment)

she: hey ! you sure na u r taking it willingly.. i have a doubt. 

me: arey nah.. enjoy the chicken..

she: hope u ll not go to bath room to vomit as that Madhavan in RHTDM 

We both laughed... 

Though we had a good time there but I couldn't make her comfortable to speak her heart out though I could see the loneliness in her eyes.

We came out and were walking on the road crossing the market while talking. Suddenly she saw a something and again screamed "wow momo !!". hey ! Pranab u like momos ? I looked to my both sides and saw a momos shop by my left side. 

"oh yeah sure.. chalo. I also love momos" I said. (as if I take it every other day)

Now I was realizing the secret of that lovely puppy fat.

We entered into the restaurant. I was going to taste momos for the first time. though I had heard about momos a lot .. that it tastes great and all. They took 45 INR for 4 momos, for one plate for chicken one. It was looking familiar. I looked around while sitting on the chair just to see how everyone was eating it so blissfully. I felt what the hell people are enjoying so much this thing and I have not tasted yet. My mouth watered seeing the small whitish oval things with sauce. I looked at her sitting by my side she had already started and seemed to be enjoying. (as I was hearing her screams & expressions..) Taking the plastic fork I took the first bite and just remembered something.. and said to myself is this so hyped momo?? aah ! I have been taking this from my childhood only the difference is the inside is filled with chicken gratings in place of cheese, coconut or cabbages gratings. I remembered  how I love eating these "MANDA pitha" filled with cheese and how I hate these with cabbages. How every year my mummy prepares this as a custom of Odia culture. How mummy pampers me to take different tastes of  them prepared with an extra dose of love and affection. The things which are so common for us sometime if branded can create so much of craziness i didn't know. And then I realized if people are so crazy for this taste then what will happen if they will taste the "MANDA pitha". Am sure they will run mad after this old customary food of Odisha as well as India. Thought why didn't anyone given it an Odia name or presented it as Indian food instead of Tibetan food. Amidst this I was hearing the "wow" "what a taste" expression from her.

And seeing her happy I felt as if I have won some prize in stiff competition.

me: so..

she: so what ? it's time to go..

me: umm.. I know..

she: Taxiii !!

The taxi stopped. and before going in she raised her hand for a shake hand... so did I..

she: Thanx for the nice lunch (grinning) 

me: Thanx to u too for a nice time.. (smiling)

she left.. and I kept looking at the taxi for a moment.

Back home.

Suddenly mummy called me and I looked at her. she was smiling and holding some more manda pitha in her hand and was asking which taste u would like to take. lastly before going to kitchen she again said " am so happy that u ate so much of Manda pitha and if u children will eat like this then only I will have the willingness to make different dishes."

I know may be my momo experience may not be that exciting to read or know but written it to let u know how we are running after brands and in those running how we forget the goodies that we already have. I googled "Manda pitha" and got a blog by Soma Pradhan possible by a female from Odisha and putting here for your reference.

Many thanx to my friend who made me taste MOMOs and many thanks to the momos who made me love my culture as well as the food prepared by mummy more.