Today was a tiring day – I was woken up by yash at 230 am this morning and after I patted him to sleep, I was wide awake. The only positive was that I chatted to my cousin in US at that time. It was good to chat to her and catch up on our lives.
I was ravenous by the time Avi and Yash woke up and decided to make pakaoras. Now my friend Shipra is pakora queen – she makes the best pakoras. Last time she sent some for the pot luck that we had and I loved that she had added some ginger to them. The taste was ahmazing! I took the cue and did the same. The end result was delish.
We spent the afternoon catching up on buniyaad and chatting about our childhood. For some reason the day went by quickly.
Avi and I were remembering the train journeys in the 80s. They used to say that if you want to see the real india, you should travel in the Indian trains. And it was true in that era. I have so many memories of travelling to my Nani or bua house.
With flying horribly expensive and out of reach for most people, trains were the main mode of transport for us. It was great fun! We used to carry food and all sort of things for the journey which was more of an adventure. Food was shared, friendships formed, sometimes even alliances happened during the train travels.
My favourite memories are of getting food at every stations. Each had its own speciality – kulche- chhole from Ambala, mawa from Alwar, pede from Mathura, petha from Agra were some of the few that are etched in my memory. They were simple times but brought so much joy!
Yash and I forgot to take a picture today but here is one of his from the archives. This was when he was still in his nappies and loved to play with his dad’s cap.
