You know, preparing food for 40 people isn't an easy feat. But then at the same time, it isn't all that hard when you have good company helping you, and a sense of happiness at the thought of feeding others.
The day before, 6 of us decided to prepare pasta and hummus for 4o of our friends while doing the Art Of Living course. So we met up at an aunty's home (I really feel sorry for her, for the mess and all the trouble we put her through) at around 1 pm. Shilpa didi was there to help us only during the initial stages (sigh)... Anyhow we had to make pasta from the wheat variety as we aren't supposed to take maida during the course. Guess what brilliant thing I did? I put the pasta for boiling, without adding any oil and before allowing the water to boil. So the most obvious thing happened-the pasta coagulated and became like some goo!! We had to wash it under the tap and separate the stands and then keep it aside while we prepared the second batch. That thankfully came out well as Bala added olive oil before adding the pasta :)
So while the pasta was ready, we took butter, olive oil, fenugreek powder and some salt and mixed it in a huge pan on a low flame. We added mushrooms and tomatoes and loads of water to make the base slightly liquidy. We then added the pasta and prepared the first batch (which still ended up looking like some thick sticky substance!). Anyway we also made the second batch, which was a success, and mixed the two (to even out the sticky substance!!).
Now we started to make the hummus. Boy, this was fun!! Grinding chickpeas at an alarming rate as current was scheduled to go at 5 pm(load shedding), Mayur frantically kept adding the chickpeas to the grinder and scooping out the mashed paste! Isai kneaded it properly and was removing the unground peas. Bala and I were making the butter base with tulsi powder, lime and salt. Guess what happened... The current didn't go!! Jai Gurudev. We managed to make the hummus with 45 minutes to go till serving time. (By the way, I'm glad none of the people eating saw the snaps we took of the food in the "preparing" process. I'm sure none of them would have wanted to eat! - But the end result was good, mind you!)
We applied tonnes of hummus on the bread slices (almost as thick as the slice itself!) and garnished it with slices to tomatoes. After that we cleaned up Aunty's kitchen, washed what ever dishes she would let us wash, packed everything and rushed to the centre.
There we prepared Tang with ice cold water and served the food on the plates and waited for the break when we would serve the meal.
The looks on our friend's faces is something I'm never going to forget. Joy, happiness, wonder, amazement - you name it and it was there! And the happiness that was welling up inside of all of us is another memory that will be etched in my mind forever.
Happiness isn't in only getting materialistic things. It isn't in only listening to praises. It isn't in only being on the receiving end either. It comes when you do something selflessly, with all your heart and not for personal gain, but for others without expecting anything in return. :)
I guess I went all philosophical there, but then it's true. I had an awesome time preparing that meal and I'll be glad to do it all over again :) (i.e. if Aunty will let us vandalise her kitchen once again!!)
