A dear friend of mine and I usually make our shopping trips together to markets around south Delhi. She, who usually buys the yummy treats for us to eat, also buys them for her driver … who we also call our partner in crime!! He literally is a partner to all our gallivanting and eating sprees!!
This time was just another one of those. Both of us in our pursuit to losing weight had decided that we weren’t going to indulge ourselves in any unwanted eating in the marketplace this time. In the busy Lajpat Nagar market we were mindfully carrying out our purchases. Then we happened to be in a shop right in front of the highly famed matra kulcha guy, who sets shop in the quadrangle in front of Sindhi dry fruits. The aroma of his matra and the butter-toasted kulchas pulled us so hard towards themselves that we gave in to the temptation and ended up buying 2 plates. Of course, the 2 of us shared one (trying to justify sticking to our diet plans!) and our partner in crime got the other.
The area was packed with customers, not a single bench around was vacant, and the passages around had people standing with their own plates. ‘Ab jayein to jayein kahan’ was the question as we were not able to hold back our craving and have the patience to bring it home and eat. Also, our families would have mocked our tall claims of resistance to temptation.
We quickly brought our treat to the car, in the busy market parking lot. The weather was nice and the spirits were high. The ‘dastarkhaan’ was spread on the car’s rooftop. The car cleaning duster was used in the form of a tablecloth, a purse pack of tissues used as the napkins, bottles of water and Coke added to the set-up, the table was all laid out for the ladies. Hands washed with clean water. We, standing on the pavement, behind the car managed to devour the mind-blowing, matra kulcha. We had a finger-licking experience to our hearts’ content. Simple yet the great joys of life!
