Food and Love

It was almost twilight. The rains had slowed down a bit by then. I was jostled with apprehensions and was juggling myriads of thoughts and emotions until I reached the cottage hotel. On reaching the hotel, the host and his team welcomed us with the warmest of smiles, some amazing home-baked cookies, and a comforting cup of hot Kashmiri Qahwa.

The warm reception by the team and the steaming cup of Qahwa melted all my apprehensions and worries. That was the first food that welcomed me to Kashmir. And what a beginning it was! Splendid, in every sense! In true way, it set the tone for the rest of my stay in the valley.

After the quick snack, we retreated to our room. After an hour or so, one of the staff members came to ask for our choice for dinner. There was no menu to choose from, just like we do not have in our homes. We could request for anything as long as the requisite grocery is available in the kitchen pantry. On further discussions, we got to know that Kashmiri rajma (kidney beans), unlike other rajmas, need not be soaked before cooking. That sounded interesting to us; ergo we chose it as one of our options for dinner. The dinner was delectable, to say the least. It had the comfort of dinner at home. What started with the cookies and Qahwa was cemented further by the dinner and I was finally at home, completely.

Food truly is an emotion. Good food, cooked with love and served with care, can establish an unfathomably strong bond, and can connect memories and emotions.

The next day I walked into the dining room for breakfast with the same feeling as I would have at my home. I knew whatever will be served will be something that I would definitely connect to- something that would have the solace of some happy, and amiable memories. And it was. Aloo ke paratha was just the way I would have liked. What better way to start your day! Normally, when on a trip, we prefer to visit other restaurants for lunch and/or dinner. However, this time it was different. We lived there for five days and we chose to have food there whenever chance favored.

We never missed any dinner there except once when we went out to a restaurant which I had in my bucket list for that trip. That restaurant was somewhere near Lal chowk area, which apparently was a place for protests and not as safe (as per some news media). Our host offered to drop us to the restaurant. Such warming gesture- who does that now-a-days! We did not want to be of inconvenience to him, but he insisted.

So, that evening, he accompanied us in his car till the restaurant. On our way there, we discussed about a lot of fun things. The songs in his playlist were some of the jewels of 70s and 80s music, which also happened to be one of our topics of discussion. He even sang few of the songs in his soulful voice. It never felt even for a moment that he was not a part of our family or we were there as part of for our trip. It felt as if we are just going out for dinner in our hometown. We halted for a few minutes near Lal Chowk. The place itself spoke about its magnificence and beauty.

On reaching the restaurant, he told us that he will not be joining us for the dinner. We insisted him to join us. He was an amazing company and a warm person. Insisting him to join was never out of question. However, he wanted to have dinner back at home, which we understood and did not force further. Further, he told us to give him a call when we are done with our dinner, so that he can come and pick us back. On listening to this, we were just out of words. I felt gratitude to a level that I never knew before could exist. We went to the restaurant, had Kashmiri Wazwan and some other dishes, which no doubt were scrumptious and brilliant.

During our dinner, we decided that we would not bother him again and we will go back by ourselves. But he, being the chivalrous person that he is, called us to tell that he is reaching to pick us back in 5 minutes. We were just finishing our desserts then. The sweetness of the dessert was nothing compared to the gesture our host showed us. It has been the best family trip we ever have had till date… all thanks to our host, his team, and the people of Kashmir. (You might have noticed that I never mentioned anything about the sightseeing places.) Food, which connects our mortal and immortal forms in some inexplicable way, and the love and warmth of the people made the trip what it was. Soulful!

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