My fixation with rotis began when I was in the 7th standard. Mom used to invariably pull me into the kitchen and seek my help in making rotis in the morning. In order to make a perfect roti, you need to have lots of skill, practice and patience. Starting from the dough to flattening it on a roti-maker to the way you fry the roti, it's all a part of the process of coming up with the perfect, round-shaped and soft rotis.
Hmm.. to begin with, I love eating rotis at any given point of the day. It's tasty, flexible and you can eat it with just about anything and it's good for health. Secondly, I simply love the smell of rotis.. yumm.. so heavenly.
I learnt how to fry rotis, with patience, one at a time. I still enjoy doing it. The fluffiness of the rotis is a must, for which you need to apply pressure at some key points. Mom never used to let me prepare the dough.. as invariably it would turn out to be some gooey stuff that she would have to deal with later. And so, I was content with frying the rotis.
However, mom used to ask me to flatten('bailna' in Hindi) the rotis, that is, whenever she wanted to amuse herself. My rotis used to come in varied shapes and sizes. And mom used to begin her litany of complaints. When will you ever learn to make rotis? What will you feed your husband?
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And so on and so forth.. And so I developed a guilty conscience. Maybe, I was never meant to cook in the first place. I would anyway do such a terrible job. So perhaps, I would just take food from restaurants, etc.. And this conscience soon became an ugly monster, resurfacing every time I failed to produce the perfect roti.
Time went by. Sometimes mom would be out of station. Survival instinct took over. I had to feed myself. So, no problem, even if I need to struggle, I would strive to prepare rotis. And after years of practice, now I can proudly say that I can confidently prepare a good, round-shaped roti. However, I still have some points to work on. My rotis are not uniform and the thickness of the roti is now an issue. This is a minor issue, but my quest continues.
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So my conscience can now be happy, as it is befriended by pride and guilt no longer can haunt it. I still enjoy rotis and can survive an entire day on it. They say 'Practice makes perfect'. Maybe, just maybe, the guy/girl must have been in the roti-making business.
Hmm.. to begin with, I love eating rotis at any given point of the day. It's tasty, flexible and you can eat it with just about anything and it's good for health. Secondly, I simply love the smell of rotis.. yumm.. so heavenly.
I learnt how to fry rotis, with patience, one at a time. I still enjoy doing it. The fluffiness of the rotis is a must, for which you need to apply pressure at some key points. Mom never used to let me prepare the dough.. as invariably it would turn out to be some gooey stuff that she would have to deal with later. And so, I was content with frying the rotis.
However, mom used to ask me to flatten('bailna' in Hindi) the rotis, that is, whenever she wanted to amuse herself. My rotis used to come in varied shapes and sizes. And mom used to begin her litany of complaints. When will you ever learn to make rotis? What will you feed your husband?
Time went by. Sometimes mom would be out of station. Survival instinct took over. I had to feed myself. So, no problem, even if I need to struggle, I would strive to prepare rotis. And after years of practice, now I can proudly say that I can confidently prepare a good, round-shaped roti. However, I still have some points to work on. My rotis are not uniform and the thickness of the roti is now an issue. This is a minor issue, but my quest continues.
So my conscience can now be happy, as it is befriended by pride and guilt no longer can haunt it. I still enjoy rotis and can survive an entire day on it. They say 'Practice makes perfect'. Maybe, just maybe, the guy/girl must have been in the roti-making business.
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