My most memorable tastes

My most memorable tastes:

1) While in Bihar, we used to go out eating once every month. When we moved to Vellore, we were trying to do the same and friends introduced us to Darling rooftop. Having just arrived from North India, I liked to taste dosai, a bit differently. My eyes careened on to a dish which I still order in any restaurant in Tamil Nadu - Mutton Keema Dosai. Since then, I have had different versions of the mutton keema dosai at different places, but none beats Darling Rooftop of Vellore.
*********

2) In 2010, after about 6 months of bland English food, my tongue was craving for something hot and spicy. It was the last day of a workshop in Dar-es-salaam, Tanzania. As I was one of the organisers of the workshop, I was the last person to leave the venue. By now, the staff at the venue had become familiar with me - and it was owned by an Indian. While I came for breakfast that last morning, the person at the restaurant said, 'Sir, you wait, we'll make something for you'. These apparently, are some of the perks, if you are part of an organising team of a workshop in a hotel. Gazing at the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean warmed gently by the February sun, and the curved coconut trees, sitting in a red plastic chair, under the shade, miles and miles away from home, missing home-food like crazy, I saw food coming, finally. When I opened, it was poori-sabji and masala chai!! You never know how much something means to you, until you are deprived of it. Borrowing a Biblical metaphor, like water on a parched land, I let the poori, the sabji and chai sink into me. The memory is so fresh that it still feels like bliss. Against the lilting waves and the classic scenery, I got heaven summoned to my desk.
*********

3) While staying with Jordy's family, in Melbourne, she took me to a Malay restaurant. I ordered a soup, the name of which I cannot remember, because those are the types of names I order when I go to restaurants, especially when I am not paying!! It was a chilly night, and the restaurant was cosy. We had a long, winding chat about college and friends and friends' families and the soup arrived. As I tasted it, my eyes lit up and a zillion things were happening inside my mouth, like the taste buds were having a dance party. I was smelling with my eyes and seeing with my tongue. My senses got mixed up. It was orgasmic.
***********

4) In our office, we get treats or order treats or bulldoze somebody into treating for sometimes, the lamest of reasons. It was somebody's treat and the sweet ordered was Rasmalai. Evergreen's Rasmalai. THAT is a royal treat!! It is when you taste a dish like that you realise, how much joy, food can give!!
****************

5) But none of these even come close to the last dish. And that is my pondatti's meen kozhambu (wife's fish curry). Soon after I fell in love with Anitha, I also realised that she's an amazing cook. She's lived up to the promise, almost every single day of the last ten years. And her meen kozhambu, served with love, is epic. And it gets addictive as it ages. I say to God, that if you have food in heaven, please have non-veg in the menu and let my wife's fish curry be there.

That - will - make - it - everlasting.