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Mom is the best

The warmth blended in mama’s dishes dissipates all other appetizing factors

PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

Culinary queen None can match mom’s cooking skills

Back from college, Sri Lakshmi flings her bag on to the sofa and tosses the habitual query: “Amma, is the lunch ready? Have you made sambar just like the way I wanted you to?” Lakshmi loves to eat through her doting mother’s hands a nything cooked by her. “Mom’s the best cook in the world because along with the ingredients of her recipe she blends her love and affection lending a divine touch to the dish,” she says giving her mother a bear hug.

From a toddler to a man in his mid-thirties or even older age, everyone harps on the lip-smacking delicacies dished out by mother in the kitchen even while others in the family keep themselves busy in recreational activities.

Donning the multiple-cloak of a friend, philosopher and guide, a good cook and a trouble-shooter, mothers are able to discharge their duties with an amazing élan. Says Seshu Kumari, an MCA student: “After eating the first morsel from the mother’s hands, the emotional bond continues for lifelong and does not allow any other person to influence your taste buds.”

Married men drawing a parallel between culinary skills of their mothers and spouses often have the latter seething in silent anger.

The wives complain that they would never measure up to the cooking skills of their mother-in-law even if one were rolled out of the stable of one of the Le Cordon Bleu cooking schools.

People like Jithesh Nair, a business analyst, seem to have a comprehensive grasp on the subject: “In the nascent stage of life, it is the mother who introduces us to different tastes and caters to our whims. So it is only quite natural for her to understand our food demands,”

This era belongs to the career-oriented multi-tasking moms. Though a vast population of the new age moms choose to whip up yummy fast foods rather than planning elaborate meals, they are still rated as a cook par excellence by their offspring.

Anoushka, all of three years, lisps: “Mama makes the best sandwiches in the world.” Regardless of the age and time, mothers continue to be the best cooks of the world. “All it takes to satiate your child’s palette is a balanced schedule for the day and listing your priorities right,” says Malati, a doting mom and a doctor by profession. Pooja is a law student and has a mother who is a professor. “Nothing can match the lip smacking palak paneer that my mom makes for me and I am sure even Popeye would love it,” she chuckles. Vaishali stays in a hostel, away from home and so misses home food. “It is only when you are away from home that you realise the worth of the warmth and love with which mom serves you the food,” she murmurs solemnly.

Pavan, a B.Tech student, is a mama’s boy and makes no calms about being tied to her apron strings. In the midst of a cooking session by her mother, he observes: “It is amazing how mom manages to get such delectable flavours that are simply irresistible.”

It is no wonder that not many disagree with the adage, which says that God could not be present everywhere so he made moms.

HARJEET KAUR ALLAGH

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