RASAM AND PRELUDE IN C MINOR

I finally did it. I have had some really close shaves but yesterday was the day it was meant to happen and it did. I would have rather that it hadn’t, but then you can’t avoid the long hands of fate forever right?

It all began with my roommates’ plea for an Indian dinner. And the horrible cook that I am, I settled for rasam and rice. Simple fare, but perfect for a cold, rainy evening with the added advantage that no matter how hard I tried, nothing could possibly go wrong.

So there I was, standing by the stove, languidly stirring the rasam and loving the hot peppery scent of it. This scent unfailingly brings to mind other rainy evenings, and mom’s panacea for a thorough drenching in the rain.

C was playing the piano and the warm cozy ambience, with the rain falling outside was the perfect backdrop for one of my day dreams. That’s when it happened. Three short bursts of a siren going off. I had set off the smoke detector.!!!! I looked down at the stove in horror. How could that have happened? I hadn’t let the pot boil over so where was the smoke coming from? Surely the steam could not have set the alarm off??

Poor C jumped up from her piano stool, rushed to open all the doors and windows and got the fan going to disperse the smoke. We did investigate and discovered that the smoke was coming from the leftover food that had fallen into the stove after somebody else’s culinary adventures.

I fervently thanked all the gods I could think of, when I realized that the fire engine was not going to come clanging up to our doorstep. The fire station is right down the street where I live and I was particularly glad it did not have any overzealous fire fighters.

Needless to say, it was a rather quiet dinner last night.