Time setting: Year 2002 - A cold November evening
Scene setting: Edinburgh Business School Hostel, Scotland
So I did my my Masters in Business in Edinburgh Business School - On Campus. (No I am not putting stuff from my CV here)
The hostel set up that we had was basically as follows.
Every PG student gets a room with bath attached. A room just enough for your basic needs. Had a student's table, had a basic wardrobe and a bed that had spring mattress. And yes a thick duvet/blanket that would keep you warm.
It also had a heater that would not go higher than a pre-determined value. I always felt that the people who had designed the system had worked on complex regression analysis and formulas to figure out the best fit of the warmth that the combination of the heating system + the blanket would be able to achieve. So in short, if you were in the room with a basic T-Shirt, then you were cold. If it was just the blanket, you were still cold. If the heating is at its best and you are all covered in the blanket - it felt PERFECT.
The first day I landed in the room, I tried to turn the knob as much as I could until I heard something crack. I didn't have the courage to venture anywhere close to that part of the room again. If it breaks I pay. And since you have just landed in UK, anything you look at as an Indian, would be multiplied by ACF (Automatic Conversion Factor) called 76. Yes that was the conversion rate of Indian Rupee to UK Pound. As an engineer would normally do, I even went on to add a safety factor on that and used the ACF of 80. (just in case there is an unknown currency fluctuation). In no time I had mastered the table for 80.
Birds of the same feather flock together..... and that is so true when you are on unknown land. In no time I managed to make sure I had a few Indians I could use like the life line in "Who wants to be a millionaire". So I had a few "phone a friend" type contacts who basically played the role of "Know it all".
In the hostel we had a good mix of nationalities. The three rooms around me had German guys and the one next to me was a lady from Netherlands and had two Indians and a Malaysian too close by.
The hostel was planned in such a way that you had 5 students sharing one kitchen.
I think that was a decent number of students to be in a kitchen and share it. Though I do believe that was decent by our standard as we were 5 guys sharing a kitchen. I am not sure 5 women sharing a kitchen would be the same. (Please note that I do not mention it would be for the better or the worse)
The Malaysian friend, Carl, was what I would call a Cameo. He would be in and out of the kitchen with a plate full of noodles daily (Yes daily) even before I read the recipe of an India dish. That is how fast he would cook...a pack of noodles 3-4 different types of ready made sauce a few vegetables here and there and that's it.
The German guys Martin and Jörg (yes the two dots on the O are deliberate and I know how to put them using the keyboard.... I am a genius) basically believed in cereals and fruit in the morning, sandwich in the afternoon and sandwich and fruit in the evening. So basically it was the three of us Satish, Sandeep and me who had the cooking range for us.
Evenings were fun and all 6 of us would sit down and tell our stories. While Carl would finish the cooking , we would have decided what we would make (Still wondering if he was fast or we were just hopeless decision makers).
Since any Indian curry requires the Onion Tomato base, Sandeep or Satish would have already started chopping them. Sometimes even if the plan of cooking and we choose to have just corn flakes, Sandeep would have chopped a small box of onions.
So let us come to the topic, The Dinner Date.
It was one of those cold November Friday evenings. Martin and Jörg come into the room. Martin was a fun guy who could get stressed easily, (He also came out of that pretty fast)
So as our decision making process of Storming-Forming-Norming-Performing sessions were going on about what to make for the evening, Martin announced in his typical German slang "Guys, today I am having dinner with you. So plan for me too".
Please note after having shared the kitchen with us for over two months and realizing that we actually buy a 250gm pack of chilli powder every month, that is a really brave decision from a German guy to announce that without any notice period or prior preparations.
Jörg too was in the mood to join in. But he was quick to check if he had good store of yoghurt in the fridge to mellow the food down.
As the main chef, I asked Martin, "Any specifications?".
"No just make what you were planning to make", he said.
Wow that calls for a bravery award.
I smiled and Sandeep smiled even more wide.
So we went on to make some spicy Indian potato curry and Dal with Rice and chapattis (we always had enough stock of chapattis for such eventualities)
Indian food smells super good. Even if it would kill you soon with the spicy touch, it does arouse the sensory nerves.
The temp outside would have been close to 6 degrees. but since it is an air tight building, we lived in the heater environment. So it was always pleasant in the kitchen (I am still wondering how did they manage to keep the temperature in the rooms so different)
I served dinner to our guests first. That's how Indians are coded in the mind. The guests always eat first.
Martin and Jörg started munching at the chapattis and curry. "Maan .... this is tasty" said Martin with his heavy German accent.
I was happy to hear the review. They went on to eat a few more chapattis with curry and then some rice with Dal. Then Martin said "Give me that stuff from the bottle".
I asked him "Are you kidding me, that is typical Indian pickle (achar)".
"No Maan...today I am trying it all" he said.
Satish passed him the Mango achar.
Martin is basically a completely bald guy and we could literally see the droplets of sweat forming on his forehead. But he was a real sport and he went on eating while wiping his forehead. A few minutes later, the sweater came out. He was warm. I wasn't stupid to believe he was warm because of the happy Indian food.
Then he slowly looked up and said .... "Maan, Can we open the window slightly". I was beginning to enjoy this. So we opened the window and let the 6 degrees cold air come into the kitchen to cool off Martin's forehead.
The event - The Dinner Date - ended by 10pm.
We all sat in the kitchen until midnight chatting about life. (and the complexities)
The next day was weekend, so we didn't have to wake up early for classes. Satish was even getting ready to hit some pub with some of his other friends.
I hit the bed instead.
I was awake by 8am and went straight to the kitchen after the basic freshening up.
Jörg joined me after a few minutes and Sandeep too did in no time.
Sandeep stayed next to Martin's room. "I don't think Martin slept well. I could hear him all night" he said.
Around 9 am, in walks Martin with a tired look on his face.
"Maan, that dinner was amazing", he said with his broad smile. "Thanks a lot for that"
"Are you ok? I mean your stomach, is that fine?", I asked.
"Yeah Maan, yes it was giving me trouble. But I think the worst is over". he said.
I was smiling (controlled laughter if you want to call it)
"But let me tell you one thing I learnt, my friend, after that lovely dinner" he said with a real serious philosophical tone as if he had almost attained Nirvana ......
....... "I now know and understand why Indians use water in the toilet and not just tissues"
I still can't stop laughing at that statement😆
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..the good old time @ EBS Mr Sajit
ReplyDeleteYes Sir...... 😜😂
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