The ‘Karanji’ Halloween

(written late night 31-Oct-2022)

I came back home to Hyderabad this morning, after the Diwali week at home in Karad…
… well, home is where the heart is, and as you can see my heart is all over the place… or should I say places, there’s a huge chunk of it in Goa already…

But yeah, I came back home to Hyderabad this morning, back to my comfy recliner, my trusted Artemis (Bullet, Enfield, RE, whatever you guys call yours), my TV, the T20 World Cup, my Netflix, my solitude… back to my reality in short.

And traditionally I get myself a packet each of ‘Chakali’ and ‘Karanji’ every time I go home to Karad… (Karanji is also known as Gujia in other parts of India, but I don’t know of any parallel words for Chakli… Chakli bass Chakli hoti hai)…
… I even have designated boxes in my travel bag for those two things.

So yeah, I came back to Hyderabad this morning, loaded with love and confectioneries… as every child staying away should always be…
… I love being pampered, but then again who doesn’t ???

So yeah, back to the topic… what was the topic by the way, eh?
Yeah right, Karanji and Halloween.

So this evening, there was a Halloween costume party, and ‘Trick or Treat’ in our society…
… and cometh the evening, cometh the monsters (read kids dressed in scary costumes)… and they have no idea how cute/ lovely/ adorable/ kissable/ lovable they really are in those supposedly scary monster dresses and makeup…
… … and to make it worse, the younger ones actually try to scare you, and when you act scared/ run away/ fall to the floor, they indeed believe your act and/or their own scariness…

Of course, they’ll grow up some day, and realise I was overacting…
… but till then, how beautiful is that moment, for them… imagine the sheer joy, ecstasy, sense of power they feel… and yes for me too, for being able to let them have that feeling… all other worldly pleasures are overrated.

But yeah… they came… they scared… and then they asked for candy.
Well, the only chocolates I usually have in house are the dark and bitter ones… beautiful as an acquired taste, but disgusting/ hopeless/ revolting for the kids…

So I was like I don’t have candy, but may I offer you some other sweets…
… literally on my knees, partly bcos I was coming out of my ‘OMG-I’m-so-scared-that-I-fainted’ act, but more practically bcos it was easier talking to them face-to-face that way…

Most of them were disappointed that I didn’t have chocolate… 3 of them accepted the Karanji, that was the only real sweet I had to offer, and then they were gone…
… well, gone for like 15 minutes top.

And then they were all back… this time asking for Karanji instead of chocolate…
… and I was like, please don’t shout, let’s not scream, and let’s not disturb the neighbors.
(How very ‘responsible citizen’ of me… sorry but try as I may, I just can’t stop laughing at that thought… 🤣🤣🤣)

And then I gave it all away… they loved it, I loved seeing them relish it, it was all good…
… and the bliss/ satisfaction/ happiness I felt sharing (forget sharing, I didn’t even get a single bite… so it was all just giving, whatever) it with them, no words can ever do justice to that feeling… honest…

This Karanji that I get myself every time I am in Karad is beautiful indeed…
… all through my days in Pune and Mumbai, I used to get equal portions… half for my office, and half at home.
I absolutely love it, and my team deserved nothing lesser.

That taste, that obsession grew in them as well, to the point where my colleague (more of a friend) Sujata on her maternity leave even had ‘डोहाळे’ (those pregnancy cravings) for that particular Karanji… and I had to go home and fetch an extra packet for her…
… and I did too, no choice, I understood, and I just had to go. (might seem out of context, but just wanted to emphasise how special/ close to my heart this Karanji really is)

But yeah, back to real time, I just gave all of it away… they all relished it, and I just loved being a part of their happiness…
… and maybe it’s just a divine way to let me know that I’ve already had my share of sweets/ pleasures… it’s time to give back…
😇😇😇

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