Those Fever Day Feasts

Every event in my life is fraught with a nostalgic counterpart from the past, and memories come flooding to my mind without any prompting..

As I write this post, I am suffering from the annual quota of fever and common cold along with a sore throat. I just completed my dinner of "Karaicha Rasam Sadam"- regular south Indian Rasam with a lot more pepper than normal, mixed into a small amount of completely mashed cooked rice, and is actually meant for "drinking" rather than eating. This is the only food that the system can digest, considering that your digestion may be thrown out of gear, and that the pepper in the Rasam is meant both as a prophylactic as well as an appetizer to re-awaken your dead taste buds.

I immediately remembered the days when I was a child. I have been by no means, a very healthy child and used to fall ill quite often.. It was always the same pattern- a total of 5 days I would be sick- Day 1- I would be burning with fever, with appa applying a hanky dipped in Eu-de cologne water, my sister ( a year older than me) sitting beside me the moment she is back from school, asking me in her childish way whether I was feeling better and fussing over me, and my amma helping me to the rest room and back and giving me only bread and milk under appa's watchful eyes.. I would invariably throw up on the first 2 days.. On the third day, I would get better and would be able to stomach the bread and milk.. By now, the tongue would crave for something better than the insipid bread and milk..

By day 4, I could sit up, and appa would permit amma to give me "Karaicha Rasam Sadam". But because I was a child, amma would make a less spicier Rasam, and I was not a great fan of Rasam alone. Now, invariably and providentially, amma wouldmake either VEngaya Vethakozhambu or a wonderful tasting brinjal curry, both of which I loved to no end. I would implore to amma to give me the tasty dishes rather than the Rasam... Amma is always a sweetheart.. She would add some of the vethakozhambu or brinjal curry on top of my Karaicha Rasam Sadam after making me promise not to ask for more.. And I would only be too glad to eat the delicious things after almost four days of near starving..

Today, I am married.. I do not have the luxury of having people fuss around me when I am sick.. (of course, my hubby is always there for me, and my parents always call frequently when I am sick to make sure I am ok.. once amma was with me when I fell sick a couple of years back,, and I enjoyed the same fussy love) I have to run to the office anyway, and cannot play truant like I would do when I was a child..I have to make my own Rasam and eat my own bread and milk..

My aunt always used to utter a Tamil proverb which roughly translates to Ït is only when you stand under the sweltering sun do you realise the greatness of shade". How true!!! We take it for granted that all the love and attention that our parents shower on us is their "Duty". It is only when we have to fend for ourselves in daily life, that we realise that it is the love of our near and dear ones that is the greatest gift life could ever give us in this world!!!