Tired of going to the same old place in Trivandrum, and even tireder(they should hv a word like that somewhere!!makes more sense) of having the same masala dosa for dinner, I thought I'd cook my own dinner for a change..No, i had not gotten the idea of being a self-reliant all of a sudden, and no, I wasnt about to charm any woman with cooking dinner for her too..If anything, I'd have killed someone with my own cooking..there was just one slight tempting reason, I had no one to eat dinner with..J,my friend, colleague, and flat mate, had gone home for the weekend, and I had the place all to myself, and nothing in particular to do..so i thought I might as well do some cooking..
So, went with Appu to Foodworld. And laid my hands on the easiest thing to cook up..2 minute maggi noodles (funny, it always tends to take more than 2 mins to get that done). Of course there was the usual dilemma of whether to buy Noodles or macaroni or Maggi noodles or Top Ramen snoodles or something of that same species..I finally opted for Maggis..the next thing was some ketchup...looked for a small satchet,couldnt find it (wasn't available)and then I had to settle for a 10 Rupee pack that looked more like a toothpaste container ( wonder what it would feel like, to brush your teeth with tomato ketch-up..mmmm)..Appu suggested eggs,but Foodworld wasnt selling loose eggs ( not wanton eggs you know..i mean, you couldn't buy just one egg..)so eggs were out..
Was home in a jiffy after that..changed my clothes, turned on the music, turned the kitchen lights on, and rubbed my hands together in professional preparation. The first question i had to ponder over was how much water to boil..
May be this is where I make a confession :
I dont exactly cook all that often..err..I should modify that, the only time I tried to cook on my own, I burnt half the rice..
So, the water...I read the pack and it said 250 ml..now that was easy..or perhaps not so easy..but then it also offered a tip..it said two tea cups of water..but then, I had no tea cup either..so it was back to square one..made a random estimate and then filled up a container with some water..put in onto the stove..
Next was the most important part..turning the gas on..I gingerly reached for the lighter..it was one of those long pointed things that looked more like a ..err..cross between an ink filler and a pipe(bad comparison, i know..but hey, you know what I am talking about..so there!)..I turned the knob on the stove, and pressed the lighter's button..........
no fire.
pressed it again, same result. Now i must admit that I am a tad scared of dealing with fire that is any bigger than what comes out of a matchstick or a cigarette lighter..well not scared exactly, but i've been seein too many movies where people get roasted in the kithcen! so I wasnt exactly very comfortable on not seeing fire when i pressed the lighter..so i went a bit closer and tried to smell out any gas..my nose dint get no smell..i turned the knob off, and then turned it on again..pressed the lighter, no fire again..hell!it was almost 10 pm now..i had been standing in front of the stove, with about 250 ml of ready to be boiled water, for about 20 mins now..still no sign of what Prometheus brought mankind..
Half an hour later, a humbled and more worldly wise me was seen eating a masala dosa at a nearby rundown restaurant.
1 hour later, as I was wondering what probably went wrong, J called up..asked me what I'd been upto, and other pleasanteries, but I was dying to ask him sthin else.
Me : J, what's wrong with the gas
J: Why, nothing I guess..
Me: Err, is the gas over then?
J:nope
Me: Errmm..duh...how do you turn the fire on?
J: You got to turn the gas regulator knob on, and..
Me:the gas what?
J:the regulator..on the gas cylinder..
ME:Oooooo( in sagely understanding)
I'd forgotten all about the regulator. How wise of me! I'd hv made a great cook otherwise!
Shain
PS: Tis the season to be jolly people..so my cooking woes apart,
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!HOHOHOHOHOHO!!!
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