A dish gone horribly wrong.....

.. can be salvaged. That is what happened today. I started out to make Yam Cutlets in Tomato and Onion Sauce ( big hit at work) and decided to pressure cook my yams...and then forgot to turn off the stove. Well ...umm.. too much pressure cooking is not always desirable and I ended up with a potful of orangey glop, that had no semblance of ever looking like a cutlet in this lifetime.

But my friends, there is hope, the "food network channel" - while you are huffing and puffing on the elliptical and got your ear phones hooked up to Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. What you take back from the tv channel are very good visuals with NO clue on the ingredients, procedure, measurement etc. And as they say ignorance is bliss. So as I looked at the orange glow in my kitchen sink and tried to salvage some lumps, scenes from various Food Network shows flashed before me like the short term memory loss guy in Memento.. or for the recent version.. Aamir in Ghajini in his strange hairdo ( or lack there of).

I decided to turn the glop into some tasty dip (nothing creative about this coz, that thing couldn't be anything else other than dippy !). Garnished it with some garlic, kalonji, green chillies, sauteed some onions.. got the orange stuff pretty spiced up. Having done that, more scenes from the Network channel flashed and I saw tortillas , rolls, and that was it.

I heated up some uncooked tortillas, plastered some of the spiced up orange glop, rolled them up.. cut them into bite sized pieces and voila.. one had

Yam Paste Quesadilla Bites... garnished with Pritha's every faithful cilantro...

Take a look.. you like? Neel ( and he can be picky ) gave it the taste test approval so I think I have averted major disaster of the orange alert kind...

6 Yams - $ 3.81
Uncooked Tortilla Pack from Sam's - $5.00
Being able to create an unexpected dish out of a total disaster - Priceless...

.. and I didn't even know his name...

For the last year that I have worked in my new job ( well not so new any more I guess), I usually have gone to the cafetaria first thing in the morning to fill up my water bottle, get a cuppa green tea and a bagel or a donut and I wonder why the scales ain't tipping left !!, aah.. the ironies in my life.. but that is not what this post is about. This is about a person I met there often but never got to know his name.

The first time I saw him, it was just another usual weekday morning and I was trying to balance my tea, bagel and water bottle when I almost bumped into this kindly looking slightly older African American gentleman in a pair of grey overalls, the wireless equipment hanging off his belt, a warm smile and a southern drawl that said... hey beautiful.. you ok with all that in your hands.. I looked up and smiled and said.. yup am good :) and walked away. Somehow the way he addressed me didn't seem flirtatious or rude... didn't even think about it even once through the day or later.

Since then, once in a while I saw him having his breakfast. If he was on his shift break while I got my tea I would see him, never spoke much; if his twinkling eyes caught mine, we would exchange a smile and nod. I can recall only once in this last year when we actually exchanged more than a few sentences. It was during lunch, I was waiting to heat my stuff by the microwave and I guess he was at the end of his break. Came up to me and said, what is your name :) ? and I told him.. asked him his and he did.. and like the idiot that I am, promptly forgot. I asked about his family and he asked where I was from. He mentioned a few knowledgable facts about India and talked a bit about his teenage kids. The microwave bell rang and I took his leave and he said in a very kindly tone, there is something so warm and beautiful about you. God Bless.. and walked away with this cheery smile. I stood there for a while, a wee bit dumbstruck but then my narcissism doesn't lend itself to much humility so off I went about my day with a spring in my step.

Today morning, I was back getting my tea and this time I was also balancing a little packet of cream cheese with my bagel. He saw me and stood up to come talk to me. I paused, wished him good morning asked him how he was .. his reply.. where have you been beautiful?, haven't seen you for the longest time, all good with you? I said.. yup, just been busy, and not been getting my tea as much ( which is true, coz I have graduated to a soy latte as some of you readers of this page are painfully aware). He smiled and said.. well I am here for just a week. I asked him why, how come, was he leaving? He in his usual cheery southern drawl said.. No hon, they gave me the layoff package.. so I am going to go back to Atlanta, that is where I am from, you see.

Everything kinda blurred for a few seconds, but then I maintained my oh-so-corporate demeanor and said.. I am sorry, good luck with every thing. He said.. thanks hon, I wanted to say goodbye to you, glad I saw you today. I flashed my pearly whites and said I am glad I saw you too and wished him the best with everything. I had to rush back to something and so couldn't even shake his hand coz both of mine were full. He gently touched my arm and said.. take care. I said, I will and wished him again, he touched his hand to his hard hat, nodded and walked away with a smile.

I came back to my desk and realized, I will never see him again but I wonder if I will ever meet a stranger who will wish me well each time he saw me. I wondered if, I should have put all the stuff in my hands down on a table and shaken his hand or given him a hug. I wondered, if I would remember him in 6 months as the kindly old man from my "green tea in the cafe" days. I wondered what he would do in Atlanta. I wondered if, I should have told him that my first city of entry in the US was his hometown. I realized our paths would never cross again and yet somehow, I felt I was richer by his fleeting presence in my life than I would have been without it.

How often do we sit back and think of the random acts of kindness that touch us? When do we have the time to be grateful for these moments when we are busy asking for a lot more tangible stuff? Even an idyllic moment like this will pass as I will complete this blog.. and some day when I look back , I will think.. yes there was this kind man who always called me "hey beautiful" and I didn't even know his name...

... There is more to Mexico than what meets the eye or the immigration reports...

Somewhere between the Tacos and dipping into the salsa in a mochahete, the endearments of being called a Senorita and not a Senora, the warmth of the winter sun while taking in the mystery of the Pyramids at Teotihuacan or the corn seller on a boat ride at Xochimilco, it hits you, Mexico is so much more than a destination, it is a journey.







A trip where it is as natural to see glass facade highrises in the city center, as it is to stumble right into the the ancient city of Cuicuilco which was inhabited during the period 700 B.C. to A.D. 150. It is a journey where amidst the sound of the Mariachis at Garibaldi Square or a new ice skating rink at the Zocolo, the murals of Diego Rivera stand out almost eerily reminiscent of a colorful and passionate history of a very culturally and historically rich nation.








While Mexico City holds the distinction of being the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere, it is the journey to the towns of Cholula and then to its little Tonanzintla church that take your breath away as you wind your way through some fantastic roads that offer amazing views of the Popocapetl and Izatccuhuatl Volcanoes.







So while you offer your prayers on Christmas Day at the Shrine of Guadalupe, or sip in some picante and passionfruit flavored cosmopolitan, or stand in awe at the Museum of Anthropology, you wonder if 5 days could have been any better spent ...