Yesterday, on a relaxed Sunday evening I was craving to eat something that could delight my taste buds and at the same time was healthy and nutritious option (as now-a-days I am reading a book related to health science). I was running my fingers through the Box 8 app on my mobile phone, when suddenly I stumbled upon a well-known snack eaten in India. No brownie points for the guesses as it was nothing other than a pack of 3 little samosas with green amchoor chutney (FYI, green chutney is rated among the top 50 condiments internationally in a recent survey). Soon, my health instinct was overpowered by the taste instinct, and the very next second I ordered 3 lil samosas right away.
I was wondering if the lil samosas would be toned down version of the big ones, or they will just be preserved ones with non-aaloo stuffing customized to last even months. To my delight, when I took the first bite, the samosas had aalooo!!! And while savouring them with the mouth-watering green chutney, of which I licked every remaining portion, I was reminded of the lil samosas of my school canteen.
It was long back in 2002, when I was studying in a school in 7th standard in a small and non-descript town called Shahjahanpur in UP, infamous for its gun culture and hooliganism. And in the corner of the school playground, there was a famous canteen run by none other than our school hero, Gupta ji. Gupta ji and his team had some magic in their hands, something like magic wands. They used to make by the far the best samosas that I have ever eaten in my life. The aaloo wasn’t even peeled off, it was just boiled and mixed with masalas (maybe the unpeeled aaloo was the trick, but who cared!). Gupta ji had synchronized his watch well with the bell of the lunch period and again at the final chhutti bell.
As soon as the chutti bell rang, Gupta ji fired up his kadhai with the boiling oil (maybe used over and over again with transfats :P), and started putting samosas in the kadhai. And the students rushed towards the canteen as if it was the last opportunity of their lives to eat such a heavenly tasty samosa. Amidst hundreds of the students, I was also the seeker, nay admirer of Gupta ji’s samosas. I specially bought 2 one-one rupee chillar for buying the samosas. And if I was lucky, then after all the bullying seniors were done who took away the share of juniors like me, I could finally get my hand on 2 samosas. And I would be elated as hell as if I won a hard-fought battle from my seniors and managed to snatch my share. Then, I would carefully pack the samosas in my empty lunchbox, and with my head held high and smile on my face I headed towards my school bus waiting across the road. Travel time to our colony was 1 hour long through the forests and sugarcane fields and I would love to relish those hard-earned samosas on my way while looking out of the window and lost in my own thoughts. That was the time which is deeply entrenched in my memory as if I was there yesterday only. What an incredible bliss it was! To learn new things in school, a nostalgic bus ride, and the first thing that I did on reaching home- turn on the TV video game and play for hours at a stretch! I wish I had the time machine to go back and reclaim my earlier time and relive those days again. But, wish is all that I can do now…………..
Anupam- The Dreamer 
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