27. The Connoisseur of Food

Rajagopal, employed in Nilakantan's house as a home cook was upset on seeing Murthy visit Nilakantan that morning.

'Oh, my God! This carper, an expert in finding fault with cooked dishes, is here!' he thought, feeling tense in anticipation of Murthy's carps about his cooking.

"Hi Murthy! I am about to have my breakfast. Please join me" invited Nilakantan.

"Thank you, sir. But, it is too early for me to have my breakfast. You may have it. I will talk to you as you are having your breakfast" said Murthy.

"Okay. But you can at least have a cup of coffee."

"Sure. Given the culinary skills of your chef Rajagopal, I am sure that the coffee made by him will have an exquisite taste" said Murthy, looking at Rajagopal.

Wondering whether Murthy's appreciative remark about his culinary skills was genuine or sarcastic, Rajagopal made coffee, taking extraordinary care, and brought it to Murthy.

"You know Rajagopal?" asked Nilakantan, in a tone of surprise.

Before Murthy could answer, Rajagopal was quick to pitch in. "He met me in a marriage, in which I was the chief cook. He came to the kitchen and appreciated my cooking."

Murthy just smiled.

As soon as he took the coffee cup in his hand, Murthy told Rajagopal, "Mr. Rajagopal! The milk seems to have been overboiled. I can smell the overboiling."

'Here he goes. He can't help finding fault' thought Rajagopal, containing his irritation.

"But I couldn't sense it!" said Nilakantan.

After taking a sip of the coffee, Murthy said, "Great! What a flavour!" and looked at Rajagopal in appreciation.

He then turned to Nilakantan and asked him, "You usually buy A.R. brand of coffee powder. Now, you seem to have switched over to M.K. brand."

"What! You can detect the brand of coffee powder used by taking a sip of coffee!" exclaimed Nilakantan.

'Why, he can even detect in which place the coffee was grown! His nose and tongue have such an acute sense of perception. Have I not experienced it?' reflected Rajagopal.

About two months back, Rajagopal had taken the catering contract for a marriage.

Murthy, one of the guests at the marriage, after having his lunch, came to the kitchen and confronted Rajagopal.

"Are you the chief cook? The food was good but you had messed up on a couple of aspects" he said.

"Which aspects?"

"You have have used some rotten coconuts while preparing the coconut chutney."

"I have used thirty coconuts. Only, one was rotten" said Rajagopal.

"Isn't one drop of poison enough to spoil the quality of one pot of milk? Then, while preparing the buttermilk kuzhambu, you have used too much of turmeric powder. Because of this, the buttermilk kuzhambu tasted a trace bitter."

"A lot of people relished the buttermilk kuzhambu and conveyed their appreciation to me" said Rajagopal defensively.

"After conveying their appreciation, they would have been wondering why a bitter taste was still lingering in their mouths! Then, the cashew nuts used in the milk kheer seems to have been of stale quality. They smelled like naphthalene balls!"

"Anything else?" asked Rajagopal, trying to control his anger.

"There are a few others but they are not significant. I don't want to sound like a carper by bringing them in. There is no doubt that your culinary skills are excellent. If only you take care to avoid these kinds of lapses, you would excel even more. Oh, I almost forgot. You have put coriander leaves in rasam and boiled it. Ideally, you should add coriander leaves when the rasam begins to boil and then put off the flame. Otherwise, the bitterness of coriander will sink in and affect the taste of rasam, the bitterness increasing with time. For those who take lunch in the last batch, the rasam will taste  like a bitter syrup!"

When Murthy left after making these remarks, Rajagopal felt like having the experience of having been hit by a tempest that struck unexpectedly, caused extensive damage and then receded.

'Thank God, today he didn't have his breakfast here. If he had had, he would have said things like 'the idli was not cooked enough, the pongal had a little excess salt, the dosa was burnt' etc.

Nilakantan, having completed his breakfast, went to the washroom in the adjoining room.

When the two were alone in the dining room, Murthy told Rajagopal, "Don't feel bad about my not eating the dishes you have made for breakfast. I told Nilakantan that it was a bit too early for my breakfast only as an excuse. This is my breakfast time, alright. In your cooking, you use oil, ghee and spices a bit too much. That's why I avoided taking my breakfast here. Though I have a fine taste for food, I am not a gourmand. I am careful about what I eat. I have no health issues. But I want to be restrained in my food habits both because I want to preserve my health and because I want to live a disciplined life. Next time when I come here, I will definitely taste some of the dishes cooked by you."

Murthy then looked at the bowl of sambar kept on the table and said, "It seems that the sambar has not been boiled adequately. I sense the flavour of chilly powder. This flavour would have been contained, if the sambar had been boiled adequately. Poor Nilakantan won't perceive these things!" and smiled at Rajagopal.

Thirukkural
Section 1: The Path of Virtue

Chapter 3
The Greatness of the Ascetics

Verse 27 (In Tamil)
suvai oLi URu Osai nARRmena ainthin
vagai therivAn kattE ulagu.

Meaning:

One who has mastered the perception of sensory objects through the five senses taste, sight, touch, sound and smell but is restrained in pursuit of pleasures through them will control this world.

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'sAppAttu rAman' by the same author)

Verse 28

Verse 26