one plate kesaribath!

The third story on food:

I have a core gang of friends..we have known each other for more than 18 years of our lives..that is most
of us studied together right from LKG.We are 4 gals -Smitha,Tej,Soumya and myself and one guy called
Kiran.
Kiran is 4 yrs elder to us..so he had to stand 4 unimaginably pesky girls:)
Not only that… being the only guy in the gang..he had to put with wild bouts of giggling, total lack of logic..unreasonable behavior…and lot of hugging!!!
He was Teju’s senior during medical and till he met us he was unaware of the existence of she-devils:)
None of us are alike but we all love food..we romance eating!
During the long holidays after 2nd puc,we would all go to Chamundi hills in the morning.
Chattering nonstop…taking rest every 10 steps..we would comment on the rest..laugh at everything..and enjoy the company of each other.

At about climbing 700 steps we would reach Nandi ..where we would coax Kiran to sponsor
sugarcane juice and pineapple/thothapuri maavinakaayi for us.Then we would continue with our
incessant giggling..talk loudly.sometimes sing loudly..and tease each other…complain that the hill was way to high for us to
climb..and then finally manage to reach the top.We would then feast on garam
chai or Nandini toned milk,tender coconuts.The first person who would get their tender coconuts would be chased
with straws…so that we could all empty someone else’s share!

It was hilarious to watch all those serious people with their stern faces..climbing the steps as if their lives depended on it.
Climbing ch.hills became a ritual..though later many stopped coming , Smitha and  I continued to go till i left for blore.
So,we both can claim that we have climbed ch.hills everyday for 6 years!!!

Every Sunday,the whole group would assemble and after climbing ch.hills..we would pack ourselves to GTR for breakfast.
This was common for many ch.hill climbers…kind of replensihing the calories they burnt sweating it out in chamundi hills:D

We would order the exact same thing every week:
Teju and Kiran-masaladosa
Smitha-Kharabath
Krupa-Idli Vada

And sometimes kesaribath for the whole group.
When the server brought the plates..we would literally pounce on the kesaribath plate;
Blessed with a big mouth and amazing determination when it came to food,i would manage to eat the 3/4th of the kesaribath.
Once Smitha’s cousin..saws us eating and made two very wise remarks:
“Your husbands will have to borrow from the world bank to feed you all!”

“No wonder you all are single…no guy would go out with gals who hog like this!”

Sitting there eating off each other’s plate,we would discuss opinions, thoughts…topics ranging
from “how to improve our country” to”fidelity in marriage“,”what is faith?”!!!

Sometimes in the evenings we would go to chaat centres…where we would wait like hungry wolves for the waiter to get our order.We would each hold a spoon and jump on the plate…and when Kiran was new to the gang..at the the nth minute..snatch his spoon and throw it on the ground.
By the time he could recover from the shock…there would be nothing left for him:D(Everything is fair in war and eating).

Later he became hoshiyaar and stopped bothering with spoons..and simply ate with his fingers..

Now,I have well mannered friends who don’t even eat from other’s plates….and some how eating is not much fun anymore:(
I think about my old group..where we were so close..that I didn’t know where I ended and they started…And food was also one of the ways we bonded..

Now we all are dispersed in diff places..but kesaribath never really tasted that good as it did when I ate it from Smitha’s share!