The Sausage Tomato Sandwich Story at the Tavares Home…..

 Glen Tavares was a friend of mine in B Block GK1 , those who know will know, it was a posh address then it is  a posh address now…

We lived in the backlane which had nallah coming in from Panchseel, which is now covered and a posh.. park had come up on it.Glen played excellent football as our full back.

He had studied at St Columbus school- so did his brothers Mark and Trevor. His mother taught at the same school. mark and Trevor were younger Mark was in School and Trevor had gone to a Seminary very young to become a priest, he was later Brother Trevor until he became perhaps Father Trevor..

I got closer to Glen after 12 th when  he joined Bhagat Singh College and I joined KiroriMal College, we met every evening for a smoke … he always had a 20s pack and I ate eucalyptus leaves after every smoke to erase and obliterate the cigarette smell as my mom was the KGB agent, as we called her.

He was A Goan Catholic maybe Anglo  Indian some trace of Saraswat Brahmin from his mother’s side.. His father had passed away long ago, his Uncle Richard lived with them a man about town well dressed, would dress up for Golf.

We had other interesting people in the neighborhood including Jessica Lal, who later became famous for the wrong reasons.

This story is not about any of them, but the sausage sandwich I had at their place as hurried dinner his mother prepared before we went off to a night show movie at Archana Cinema. Which happened quite often.

Now the sandwich, white toasted bread slathered with butter… then horizontally sliced very large fried pork sausages with sliced tomatoes… salt and pepper….. just tooooo good. The memory the visual the tastes.. the juiciest  sandwich, the memory stuck with me forever…

It’s nearly 42 years ago I never forgot it… tried to replicate a couple of times over the years perhaps never could until last week when the earth moved for me the same sausage taste which took me to my boyish days… the juicy tomato and the butter slathered on the white toasted bread… there could have been more butter… well it was a dream fulfilled.

LIIT : Long Island Ice Tea

It was the mid 90’s … India was looking hopeful…we had first multinational paying well.. 

The  empty well was filling up fast … buy a car plan a trip abroad… new clothes … eat out at restaurants without having to look at the menu prices… a child wasn’t yet planned.

Amidst all this euphoria of launch of McDonalds, KFC, there was the launch of TGIF…Thank God it’s Friday.. American style dining and bar with hoola hoop of waiters and service… I loved the atmosphere…. It was near our Discovery Channel Office, we went often.

Welcomes, farewells and even Birthdays and Anniversaries. Akash a colleague even took up their dining membership card.. a loyalty program. 

I went often with family as a pre movie drink or dinner and even Sunday Brunch… 

In all this milieu we were ordered Long Island Iced Tea it was a potent one all whites and cola (white rum, vodka, gin, tequila etc) it was a large goblet or chalice.. amazing…the same year visiting USA presented more such opportunities…of cocktails but LIIT …was all pervasive..

Then Vib Sharma Praveen’s boss described his experience of the LIIT the huge drink in Singapore perhaps had with spouting straws… I always imagined what that would look like…

From the 90’s I forgot about LIIT and then suddenly i ordered one at Cedar House, the other day was satisfied with 75 ml of alcohol, with so many whites they could have done more…

Within the same week I had another at the Past Times Bar at IHC it was a one plus one night, but found it to be weakened version of the original memory….

Though an accepted cocktail by the IBA International Bartenders Association.. it’s orins are debatable Long Island Tennessee or Long Island New York… it’s an interesting and potent drink which is easy to drink and brings back many youthful memories…of then and now.

Madhumalti And Firangipani Finally Bloom

I have been for over a month having serious performance anxiety that my plants are not flowering…..not blooming… everywhere I saw tiny Firangipani trees in full bloom… and Madhumaltis spreading their fragrance in the neighborhood almost bent over and flower laden.

I thought to myself and discussed with nearly everyone I could …

It was lack of soil , daughter said to my many plants and trees in a patch of soil, all fighting for existence. Some said no fertilizer…

I opined a tree find its nutrition in from the roots way below the concrete as the trees and creepers are so tall..(a tree is as tall under the earth as above the earth).

I thought spring had passed me by …. I thought of another creeper with orange bell shaped flowers in the backyard that had stopped flowering for years.

It kept gnawing at me as these are my favorite loved ones ( Firangipani) was planted by my brother Sanjiv and the other Madhumalti very lovingly planted by my mother and nurtured by my father… the pride of the neighborhood..both my father and the madhumalti. I have been the caretaker, the watchman and the gardener watering them lovingly for over half a decade… actually everyone in my family likes to water the plants.. my mom , me, my daughter , the driver and maid we are all excited to water the plants…

So spring was long gone.. and this year so far has had a mild summer… the Gulmohar trees have had a similar fate before they bloomed the constant storms and rains… blew their buds away.. hence weak flowering this season…

I am very observant of the changes in the flora and measure the year and seasons with Tesu … around Holi… followed by Gulmohar… followed by Amaltas in the strong summer …and so on…

So coming back to this evening in an effort to complete my steps.. I lo and  behold saw them both trees in the front porch flowering … I was overjoyed… I had to something… I had to celebrate… I had to write… 

The metaphor life finds a way is so true and I was beginning to be a doubting Thomas… but here I am back to being a believer… 

Like a all good times don’t last so similarly all bad times don’t last … 

Life finds a way … Love finds a way..