Salim and Kayal #Watty's 2016 # YourStoryIndia #ProjectWomanUp

Macaroon moments

Kayal's POV

I think my cousins embarrassed Salim. In the morning he was looking good in Veshti. I heard my cousins saying something like, "Anna, we are waiting." I don't know what they meant. But, I know whatever it is Salim is matured enough to take care of himself and all my cousins were just boys. Yes, Mathi and Thileepan were little more matured for their age. But everybody else are still in their early teens.

Since it was the last day of my internship, I had lots of fun. All the senior journalists wished me good luck. In the night Appa, Amma and I shared stories from the wedding. Amma made me a lot of snacks to take back to Delhi. In the night when I was doing my last minute packing I found something wrapped in a gift paper. I remember opening each and every gift which I had received on my birthday. I was wondering, who gave me this gift, when I saw the message card on top of it. It was written, 'To a Very Special Person'. I then realized Salim's grandmother gifted me this. While returning from Trichy I had slept on my way. So, I forgot to open this gift. When I opened the gift, it looked like an old but well maintained diary. I couldn't believe that Salim's grandparents gifted me a diary, that too an old one. But, after opening the diary I was shocked. It was a hand written recipe book.

I think his grandmother gifted it to me, thinking I should follow her recipes while cooking for her grandson. Great. It had recipes for some exotic dishes as well. I searched for Boli. Because, I remember promising Salim that I will try it. After each and every recipe there were foot notes saying who likes it the most and who doesn't like it at all. Below Boli, it was written that it was Ali's favorite. This is not a simple recipe book. It is like heirloom jewel. It speaks of history, traditions. It belongs to the family. I wanted to return it to Salim's family. I will give it to Zeenath on her wedding to Salim. Of course, I will make a copy of it before giving it to her. But, for now I can try as many new dishes as possible. I packed it safely in my bag.

After that Amma and I were watching a movie when Appa came and switched off the TV saying that all of us need to sleep early because I have to catch an early morning train.

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Sara had flown in from Trivandrum in an early morning flight to Chennai. For our return journey, we had booked our tickets in Rajdhani express, a really fast train from Chennai to Delhi. The train was a luxurious train. Jaanu joined us in Vijayawada. Her parents had come along with her to send her off. All of us shared our internship experiences. I didn't want to share the experience of meeting Salim in Chennai and Trichy. They will tease me to no end, when there is actually nothing going on between Salim and me.

Every now and then Salim and John asked us about our safety through WhatsApp. At last it was mid morning of Sunday when we reached our hostel in Delhi. It seems Salim took a flight to Delhi. He reached by afternoon.

After our lunch and short nap we settled to make our snacks. I made Boli, Sara made Walnut cakes and Jaanu made Chandrakanthalu(a sweet made with Green gram and jaggery). I also made Idli batter to make Idli for tomorrow. I followed Salim's grandmother's recipe to make Boli. It came out very well. I also made a little extra remembering John's complaint that Salim doesn't share his snacks.

When everything got ready, I texted in our group.

Kayal: "We are on our way to roundtanna with snacks. Can any of you please come down?"

Salim: "On our way."

Salim also had a box with him. We took it with a thank you. But, it was of extremely light weight. As soon as we reached our room and opened it we found Macaroons(a sweet made with egg whites, sugar and cashew nuts famous in Thoothukudi District). Sara and Jaanu didn't know what it was but once they tasted it, they couldn't have enough of it. All of us were craving for more when we received a text in our group.