We went to sleep yesterday after having received the encouraging news that a dear friend in Kolkata, a well wisher who is senior to us and has looked out for us ever since he came into our lives, had just been moved to the ‘recovery room’ in the hospital after battling Covid in the ICCU for a month. I got to know about his illness itself a few days back when I wished him on his birthday and when he told me that he was in the ICCU. I felt really bad that I had no idea of this, but he has been in our thoughts and prayers since.
This morning I woke up to the news that a set of dear friends, who live down the lane, had just been declared covid negative. Earlier all three were in home quarantine as they had tested positive. Of the three, the parents are much elder to us while their daughter is younger. She was asymptomatic thankfully but the parents had a tough time. They too have been very kind to us and always look out for us, and now the cats too, and we were relieved to hear about the recovery.
Yesterday we met two dear friends, who are our neighbours too. A mother and daughter duo who were in home quarantine as the father was found to be Covid positive. We got the good news a few days back that he had been declared negative and we met them for the first time yesterday and they got us dal gosht and the most incredible home baked cookies by the talented young girl. We had the cookies and realised how much we had missed having her desserts over the past few days and meeting them too. Our friend’s recovery was a big relief though I believe he is still quite weak. As are our friends whome I spoke about in the previous paragraph.
I woke up feeling very fresh today after a long time. Maybe it was all the positive news that we had received. I shared it on my social media before I did anything else. We need these morale boosts.
There are two sides to every story of course.
While we find hope in these turnaround stories, we cannot be lax. The time to be carefree is not now. We need to be cautious and circumspect, for there is a clear and present danger out there.
Down the lane, two young sons of dear friends of our had been been found to be Covid positive and the family is in home quarantine. Countless others across the world are suffering. Our friends and their families whom I mentioned earlier in this story, went through harrowing times. And I just read on Twitter about the mother in law of a young friend I had made in a YouTube workshop a few years back, fighting for her life in Himachal after being afflicted with Covid.
I guess this is truly the time to count our blessings and act responsibly and and to try to stay safe.
Talking of ‘counting our blessings’, the door bell rang just as I typed out these words and it was our neighbour who handed me a bowl of food and said, ‘paya for K.’ We had had the dal gosht she had given us last night for a lovely lunch today as Banu had bunked. Interestingly the dal gosht had lauki (bottle gourd). This would have made my mom smile as she adds lau (the Bengali name) to her daily moong dal.
A bit earlier in the evening, a smorgasbord of Parsi food had arrived for us from Farida and her daughter Karishma of Karrylicious Kitchen.
When I protested about the quantity of food (‘enough for the Navjotes of both Baby Loaf and Little Nimki’) Farida said, “nothing much…I should do more guys for both you lovely guys.”
We have not even met and knew each other initially through adman Freddy Birdy’s Instagram page and yet she was so kind to us and her words were so warm. Sometimes I wonder what I have done to have been so fortunate in life.
The reason behind the title of this post?
I was listening to the best of Phil Collins on Alexa in the kitchen when the song ‘both sides of the story’ came on. I was making breakfast then. Repurposing three of the rotis leftover from yesterday to make egg rolls. I was assembling the rolls, mine with tomato and chilli sauce, K’s without, when Colins crooned the words, ‘there are two sides to the story.’
In a lighter sense, one could compare it with how we like our rolls in different ways when it comes to sauces. On a more sombre note, how victory and defeat lurk side by side in life and in the case of Covid. Yes, there are always two side to a story.
Do my words appear too jumbled? I can’t think clearly as I am hungry and there is such wonderful food waiting for us and little Nimki is jumping all around me while Loaf looks perplexed.
I will come back and post this if I feel it makes some sense. Or any sense!
1.15 am: I am dog tired I confess, unlike in the morning. My back went for a toss when I sat on the floor, determined to get a selfie with Baby Loaf, which I managed at the end.
I am back here because I have so many things to tell you about and am lagging so behind in that. I thought I will at least try to publish this post, but not before I tell you how good Farida’s food was.
The chicken kheema pattice and the egg and cheese rolls were both oozing with flavour in diametrically opposite ways. One spicy and sweet, the other starchy and cheesy. Both very heady. We left the chicken dhansak for tomorrow, but I did taste a bit of the dal and it tasted so hearty and nourishing and traditional. We had some of the jardaloo salli chicken and were both gobsmacked by the velvety, slightly sweet, slightly tangy curry which enrobed the juicy chicken. K, who does not like sali chicken, could not stop praising this one. Just as she could not praising the pattice. She dubbed the Karrylicious food as ‘Bombay Parsi,’ less spicy and slightly sweet compared to the more ‘rustic’ and spicy Parsi food of Mahrukh Mogrelia who had come to the city Navsari in Gujarat, and which makes her food different from the average Parsi food here.
For dessert we had the walnut fudge that Karisma, Farida’s daughter had made. One of K’s favourite desserts. And shared the last of the cookies Gia made.
Then I thought, let me try and tell you this story at least. So here I am!
The #KittyKarmakars
