Curry leaves in a cover!!!!

We always take things for granted.. and life has its own way of teaching us the lesson of valuing every single thing that we have..

We were almost done with shopping for groceries that evening... In the hypermarket that seemingly spreads to acres ( at 9:45P.M when you are hungry and have lost all energy to take that next step forward, even a market seems so vast!!!) I rushed towards the vegetables section to look for curry leaves. I have been missing it a lot since I came to this city.

In the last two shopping trips I had not looked at the right counter I guess... I had never found curry leaves.. My kitchen and the 'would-have-been-excellent-with-a-garnish of curry leaves' dishes have been missing curry leaves.. Although most of us search for the leaves in the plate and take time to heap them all aside, our cooking is not complete without that touch of curry leaves...

When I searched all the racks in the green leafy section of the market, I found little packets neatly price tagged. I picked up one, just because I thought the packing was super perfect and the leaves inside looked familiar. On a close look, I found that it was a pack of curry leaves. I could not believe that there has come a day in my life when I am actually paying money for curry leaves and that they are sealed in a cover..

Nothing extraordinary about this really, but if you had visited one of the Tamilian houses with a backyard where they grow some plants, you will see a tree of curry leaves for sure and for such people this little sealed cover full of curry leaves with a price tag, is a small wonder...

Back home, in our backyard, we have a lot of trees from which we pluck curry leaves as much as we need for our cooking. I don't like to step out of the kitchen when I am cooking, so whoever is free in the house would pluck it for me. I have also had some boring chances (yes, back then it was a boring job for me!!) of plucking curry leaves... They are in abundance and we never bothered to buy curry leaves.. Even in shops no one really pays for curry leaves unless they go to the shop just for this purchase. Curry leaves and coriander leaves are usually given free of cost..

Life really has its own way of teaching lessons..I smiled and picked up one packet of curry leaves and looked at the price tag and smiled again.. My neighbour at the same counter didn't understand why I smiled and why I took such a long time to pick up one packet of curry leaves!!! She must have thought I am out of my mind... :) Not that it matters... What matters is that I learnt not to take even the smallest gift for granted!!!.

I am waiting for my next trip to India to pluck curry leaves with a smile for the first time in my life!!! :) Okay.. there are a lot of things I am looking forward to, this one is important in its own way :)

Comments

Kite said…
Bang on! I agree...we take a lot of things for granted in the comfort of our home.
Anonymous said…
Back in Bangalore, we had the curry-leaf plant among loads others. All I remember is watering it. Then, we moved to Chennai, and we had a Tulsi plant and a few others. And then, we shifted ot a first floor in another partment. No more plants after that.

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