The religion of CAKE!

Dear Children

This is too much. My young (cute looking) doctor examined me yesterday and told me i should lay off sweets because of high diabetes. But the old romantic that i am, his honey-flowing way of speaking made me crave for sweets even more.....yes... yes...I know what you are thinking....at this age that too...

They just dont make laddoos the way they used to...sigh...

And so I went to the sweet shop..."Darya sweet shop"...and got blinded for a second..My jumbo specs worked overtime to count the number of flies hovering over the faint looking jalebis, the stale barfis and the doubtful looking rassogulas...unkempt men with a mile of dirt stuffed under their fingernails greeted me with yellow teeth....

I couldnt stop smiling :-)

(thank you my grandson Raja for teaching me how to do this smile icon..wish you would do that more often in real life)..

I was smiling because the best sweets are always mixed with the maker's sweat. No hygenic factory-made food for me please...so clinically packed with a seal and all...what if a cockroach got mixed into those factory-made packets??? alteast i know what my sweet is made of at the end of the day...

Anyway, i had just tasted one green barfi, when my eyes fell on the small bakery items counter. Cake, Cake everywhere....my mind began to spin...my low bp (i swear thats the only other ailment i have) enticed me to ask the shopkeeper to present some of these delicious looking pasties..

"Madam, what is your last name, " said the man at the counter.

I thought i heard him wrong and said, "no no..i want to see those bakery products".

"Thats what madam..what is your last name???", he insisted.

"Ayyo...waat is this ? let me buy something then you can bill me young man, " i said.

"No madam, i want to know your last name so that i can give you your kind of cake, " he said.

"I hate double-meaning offers ok? Dont talk fast with me. Just hand me that nice creamy cake over there, " flared my Rudolf red nose.

"Sure madam, seeing your bindi, i did not think you wanted Salim cakes," he remarked.

"Waat???", i croaked.

"Salim cakes madam, for that community which likes its cakes with lots of eggs, plenty of cream and little crust, " he offered.

I flopped down on a stool nearby and said "Maybe i need a lesson in cakes"

"Ha ha ha ha, " he said. "Dont worry madam, let me explain. Ladiez like you, that is sari-wearing, bindi-putting usually prefer Ram cakes or Jain cakes. Ram cakes come with less of egg and more of brown crust baked to perfection. Jain cakes, ofcourse are eggless and made with maida...right?,".

"Hmmm...., " my head nodded horizontally with disbelief.

"Ofcourse, we are bessst shop so we also stock on Peter cakes. All with rum, plum, choccclate, cherry and all nice nice drink on pudding, " he winked.

Seeing my blank face, he continued, "Maybe you will need Ram or Jain cakes to be packed?," he asked with a raised eyebow in a sign that the cake class was over.

"er...someone is waiting for me...i will return soon, " i stumbled near the door..

"Aunty!!! If that someone needs a biggg special order for Diwali, Id or Christmas, dont hestitate to give our number and name-Darrya sweet shop!," he shouted.

I dont know what jolted me more....his calling me "Aunty" or me hearing the name of the shop as "Diarrhoea sweat shop...."

Sigh...

Lou

Iyer Mami