THE RAVA UPMA

Yesterday I watched Everybody Loves Raymond for a full 2 hours and the episode that I loved was the one in which Debra tries to make meat balls which do not come out as good as Ray's mom's meat balls...so Ray asks his mom to teach Debra on how to make meat balls...and then follows the usual RAYMOND stuff which I completely love...

Well..it just made me think of my cooking experiments during the times I was out of my home....I was in a hostel when i did my engineering ..and then I worked in the North for some time..I stayed in a Working Women's hostel..yea and I used to feel odd about it cos of its name..working WOMEN...for god's sake I was still a girl when I passed out of the college...Anyways...I had these friends....er....rather I shud say Aunties..in the hostel who were from the same place as mine ...naturally you become friends with them for the GREAT reason that they talk your language....they were really nice and sweet to me and I liked them except when they apply these face packs,talk about face care tips,apply oil once in three days and go to beauty parlors..I mean I never saw my mom do all these things and yet she is beautiful..I shud admit that my mom is one of the prettiest and beautiful ladies I have ever seen and she has a lovely CLOSEUP smile...(Well,her smile resembles that of KR Vijaya, the actress, now can u picture my mom's smile ????) and seeing these aunties take so much care abt their skin and fuss about all these made me feel a lil irritated..Not to forget the topic about their respective husbands and their romantic interludes...uh....intha chinna ponnu mandaye stupid things solli solli nalla keduthutaanga.....

Coming to the story now......One day I was talked into buying some vegetables from a stupid crowded market in order to make 'RAVA UPMA'....That market is like the fish markets in Pycrofts road in Chennai..And I had this feeling that everyone in the market is looking at me when I went there..(One of my friends used to say that this is a disease...feeling that everyone is looking at you !!!).The stupid feeling of having rava upma for a change from the monotonous roti and dhal made me walk and go to that crowded,dirty market...and I got onions,peas,rava,tomato,salt....to just find out that I forgot the chillies..After the Aunties made fun of me that I din have this much sense also for which I gave one of my vazhinjufying smiles, I went again to buy chillies...( i would never do this now that too for a stupid rava upma)....I got the chillies and then the aunties made rava upma in their heaters that were actually for heating up rooms during the cold weathers..I was there standing outside the room looking if someone is coming there or not...My God..u shud have seen me..I WAS SOOO STUPID with that stupid look on my face...trying to make sure that we dun get caught... !!!! And then when the rava upma was made, I was given about 10 spoons of upma and the aunties gobbled up the rest..So much for walking all over to that Stupid market and getting all that and being made fun of....But I shud admit the Aunty made a real good upma...

Whenever I see Rava Upma this incident is wat comes to my mind..The day when the Aunties made rava upma for me....:-)