"You will have to learn cooking the right dishes"he says.
"I can cook them." is my surprised response.
" At least some of them! I look at him with a smile.
Seeking for any reaction on his face i fail.
He is so occupied by his own thoughts that he
even don't notice my insertion.
My mind starts to wander while he
makes an excurse to the extraordinary relation which Indians have to food.
I had read concerning this fascination..in many of my thousands
of books about the country i love the most.
Kya aapne khaana khaa liyaa?
Have you eaten already?
After you have been asked "How you are doing" this will
be the next question if you meet somebody, no matter where or when.
For an normal european this is a quite weird experience.
Brought up in a country where nobody ever runs
the risk of staying hungry, except one is on a self-imposed diet of course,
like having 3 corns of rice a day, we hardly might be able
to understand the incredible importance eating has in India.
I lift up my head and try to concentrate again on his monologue.
"..and if you have cooked some new, tasty dish we can invite our neighbours."
HUH?
Oh yes..i guess i claimed i hate cooking for only one person
but i would be rather convinced, cooking for some more people
will be better, as in the price-performance ratio will improve due to
this fact.
But cooking for neighbours??
That was not really, what i was referring to.
This statement too is typical for an Indian i suppose.
Moreover for an indian man.
Stating the obvious it's not only the importance of cooking and eating itself.
No, moreover it's the pride to be blessed with a wife, who is able to
impress the neighbours and others with her "cooking art"
Again my thoughts diverting from the conversation.
I see myself standing in a small kitchen and outside
in the backyard of the building a huge crowd is waiting impatiently,
banging their spoons on metallic plates and yelling:
"Humein bhookh lagi hai!!!" We are hungry!!
I have a closer look to my pans and all i can see is they are filled...with emptiness!!
Hastingly i start skimmimng through my cookingbooks.
But i can't understand a single word.
They are written in some code.
I open the fridge. No edibles..
just a big black whole which impends to absorb me.
There is nothing i could serve to the waiting clanship!
I will disappoint all expectations badly.
What a nightmare!!
I look up and notice the sudden silence.
He is peering into my face.
"What happened?" he asks. "Why you are quiet?"
"Kuch nahi" Nothing, i smiled at him.
