THE FINAL FIRST EXPERIENCE…

As the clock struck eleven I found myself getting ready for something I was least interested. The date was 4th December. It was all due to the continuous forcing of my mom and the persistent request from my aunt that made me get ready for whatever nonsense it was. According to them it would be a new experience for me. I just said,” BAH! Whatever “and went off. I was still chuckling to myself thinking that this particular event might be useful considering that it had my favorite stuff in it….FOOD!!! Oh yeah guess I forgot the point to mention what I am talking about…. Well the event was a cookery contest in which my aunt was participating and she needed me to accompany her. The tragically comic part is that I being a girl knew nothing about cooking except of course eating food… and I knew absolutely nothing as to how a kitchen looks. With all this confusion I got down to the car and gave a hand to my aunt and away we went to a land unknown to me…

After an hour or so we reached the particular venue and I carried the items prepared by aunt into the hall. I was in for a shock that there were like more than hundred entries. I saw so many ladies young, old, college going students why even kids running here and there. I was just stunned. My aunt just smiled and got into a casual conversation with an old lady in the front. I was still sulking for coming. Slowly positions were given and we went and sat next to the allotted seat. Time was moving very slowly and what frustrated me more was that none of my friends were replying to my messages in my mobile. Suddenly a loud voice rang in the hall. An overly excited woman was screaming in the mike. She said that the formal opening has not yet started and said some health doctor had come to give us tips to live healthy. I just groaned inwards. This was just terrible. People started pouring in. It was more than one competition so the amount of participants was just too much. I just continued staring at my watch looking for any signs of starting the event. Everywhere people were talking about nothing but what they had cooked for the competition and top of this the doctor could not hide his excitement in giving the lecture and started giving us laughter therapy. Finally the announcement came asking the participants to assemble their items and my aunt rushed. After what seemed a long ten minutes they were all asked to stop and take their seats. Believe it or not I have never before seen a tenser and excited atmosphere… everyone was behaving like a bunch of school kids. The judges finally arrived to decide and only then did I come to know that from the initial number ten… mind you just ten were to be selected for the next on he spot cooking contest and from that the final five were to be selected for the last round of quiz. The winner will be given the title SAMAYAL RANI (COOKING QUEEN) 2007. All eyes were hovering around the three judges. One was a TV celebrity cook and the other two were chefs from two famous hotels. Each started at different positions and began tasting every single dish. I looked at them enviously as my mouth began to water at the sight of the variety displayed. My aunt was constantly asking me to go and see all the displays for which I surprisingly said no. Well actually I was a bit lazy to move around but then the organizers were asking us to be seated since the judges were on the round. While the judging was on one side questions were given to the audience… but still my aunt was expectantly looking at the judge. What was bothering her and as a matter of fact even me was that the judge stood at my aunts table for a long time looking at it earnestly. This gave my aunt shivers down the spine… after sometime another judge was also called to that place. This was more than enough for my aunt who with a worried or rather an excited look asked me what they might be doing. I asked her not to get tensed and I could here murmurs next to me that the judges might have liked the items. It was rather a long time before the decision was given….. My aunt was in the top ten!!!! When they called out her name she couldn’t believe her ears and was unable to move. I just smiled and literally pushed her onto the stage. Here they gave the rules for the next round and asked the corresponding helpers of the participants to clear the tables for the next competition. It then dawned onto me that the helper for my aunt was none other then me so I reluctantly got up. Suddenly a group or rather a mob….no… it was more like a stampede of ladies came in front of my aunt’s tables blocking my entrance. What shocked me was that the items were fast disappearing from the table into each of their mouths, hands and pockets. I decided it was time to intervene and so I pushed all and got behind and started clearing the table (I just hated this job). But it still did not stop….people still came and started congratulating me!!!! I politely said it was my aunt and not me and all they said,” Oh its ok… no problem could we have a taste??” This entire visit was just for eating….irritating in fact when I opened a box for a single person a million of hands just went into it in the blink of an eye. That’s it I thought its time I had my share so I took a bite also. From the corner of my eye I could see some ladies glum looking because of the empty tables in front of their eyes coming towards my side. Without wasting any moment I dumped everything into the bags not worrying about any breakage and rushed to find a seat. So the ten were ushered out of the hall… and the rest of us became the audience for the next event in which people had to sing songs that contained food stuff. See I never mind bad voice but then this show was the most irritating as people of as usual different age groups came and did something worse than bathroom singing. By bathroom singing I mean that the voice might be bad enough to shatter ear drums but there will be the original tune of the song somewhere in that braying. But this was like no tune bad voice and worse… songs that did not get into the rules of the contest. And the participants never ever wanted to leave the stage… think they thought we loved the show…. But then I do not mean I sing that great because there were quite a few enthusiastic grannies who sang beautifully. Ah old is gold any time….

It was then the usual quizzing session for the audience but this time there were questions for the participants of the group event where interestingly a male compulsorily had to be in the team. Oh by the way the show was getting aired on a TV channel so I was glad that there was some use in coming. The events continued in its own pace hosted by the shrill lady… as I turned to see my watch I realized that it was already more than four hours since I landed here. I was frustrated since my mobile did not have any charge and the second round of my aunt’s competition was still not completed. Just as I was thinking this I saw the ten selected coming in with their dishes. Hmmm everything was of my favorite item-POTATO!!! As I looked at my aunt’s face I could see a tinge of dissatisfaction and disappointment. The judges resumed their work but this time they stood at each dish for a long time and commenting on it. My aunt after all this did not come and sit next to me but was looking out for the announcement of the five finalists. Well that came after an hour and well unfortunately my aunt did not make it. She said yeah it is possible because the judges said that the shape was not uniform and laughed at her own tension. So finally it was all over and phew… six hours in that place was more than enough for me. I took the things brought by my aunt and put it in the car. It was then she said that she was feeling a bit dejected that it was just a small mistake that did not allow her to enter the final round. Yes it was tension that cost the shape and the marks. As the car continued its long journey back home I made a decision… yes a final one!!!! After this particular day I realized that I would never again accompany any such cookery contest…. Well yeah but then this was a new stuff and it was just like another contest. But then six hours of sitting in a hall right in the middle of a variety of food…. Looking at the delicious dishes not able to even look at them and food being one of my favorite stuff I cannot leave it. I love to experiment with food… a weakness maybe. But then this was too much to take so it was with a heavy sigh and a happy heart that I decided that this would be my final first experience with not being able to eat when food is right in front of my eyes……

BURP!!! Excuse me :P