thorugh my eyes

Don’t Eat my Omelets

In the blue sky when I saw the sparkling white, I couldn't resist to get to the snow covered peak. Roy was not very keen, but a sense of friendship pushed him to join me. With one bag full of food and two minds high on adventure, off we went the next morning to experience the saintly snow. Initial one hour of climb left us breathless. The rocky surroundings gave way to the greens just to allure me to carry on. The climb was becoming easier now, or may be our bodies were getting acclimatized. Rather, we were just pretending to enjoy the walk, when the legs would not agree to budge anymore.

Oh tired already Roy? I asked. I wanted a break as badly as Roy and I was equally tired, maybe more. It's just easier to put the blame on the other. Each time I was pretending to be the stronger one, I was just fighting against my body. However, it did give me a sense of pride. With a few breaks, actually quite a few breaks, we reached a small shop. I couldn't believe my eyes as to how a shop could be set up at such an inaccessible place. How would he climb up and down carrying all the stuff? Why would he set up a shop here? I had so many questions, but when I saw him making an omelet, the questions disappeared. This was shear bliss. Smell of the egg and onion fried in cheap oil was too good.

“Can I have an omelet please?”

He passed the omelet he had just cooked to the gentleman waiting on the chair. I tried not to stare, but my mouth salivated as soon as he bit into it.

“Put a little tomato in mine.”

He put two eggs in a glass and started beating them. They were smooth in a while. I could see the consistent light yellow liquid in the glass, but he would not stop beating the eggs. The chopped onions and green chilies went into the glass. He left and went behind the shop. I wanted to just hold him there. For a moment I thought I would myself put the eggs on the pan. I could not bear the hunger anymore. He returned immediately with a tomato in his hands. Oh my God! Such a waste of time for a tomato. It would have been equally delicious without that tomato. He cut the tomatoes in five seconds, but those five seconds were the longest five seconds.

Here goes the tomato in the glass, the salt, chili powder. And he is still beating the eggs. I think he was doing it purposely just to tease me. I tried my best to not to show the expression of hunger on my face, but I think he still read it. Finally, the eggs went on the pan which seemed like hot for the past ten centuries. The egg splashed on the hot pan and the liquid slowly turned solid. The white turned into light brown and he flipped the omelet with great elegance. It landed back safely in the pan in one piece. When done, he put it on a plate and put a piece of bread on the pan. Now, such a long wait was not acceptable to me. However, I kept mum thinking it would taste better with a slice of bread. Can you believe I waited for the bread! He threw the bread on the omelet and handed it over to me. My hands picked the omelet automatically without any command from the brain. It seemed like a reflexive action. The omelet went into my mouth. With the first bite, the juices came out in the mouth and flowed through the throat and refreshed the body. The bite into tangy tomatoes did make a difference. And all this happened in a blink of an eye and omelet was gone in no time. With the last bite gone inside, I sat on the stone, took off my bag, and had a smile on my face. And what a smile on my face!