Happiness is Homemade

        

   When  childhood memories flashes to mind I vividly see a picture of a  slim thin girl.That is me.My parents were very much worried about my health. I was plagued with illness and lot of health issues.I didn't like to have food. My Amma used to prepare a lot of special dishes.Among them chammanthi podi was my favourite.I would take a lot of rice whenever chammanthi podi is there. Amma occasionally made chammanthi podi.
         
              I'll be a happy kid when Amma inform me she is to prepare it. She used to prepare it in a big uruli.I would linger in kitchen observing the preparations.Soon the kitchen is filled  with tantalizing aroma of chammanthi podi. I can't stand the temptation and would soon demand food. Amma would stand nearby while I devoured it with rice.She would store it in  bottles and place them in refrigerator. She would keep them in a small steel box for daily use.The steel box would find it's place in our dining table.
      
       On  special occasions when guests called at our home..During lunch I would serve chammanthi podi to the guests. Poor me! I assumed that Chammanthi podi was everyone's favourite.Amma would explain to them how much I loved chammanthi podi than chicken, beef, eggs etc.They would smile at me. Some of them would advice  me that children should eat all sort of food especially girls.                   The magic about chammanthi podi is that it turned out to be my daughter's favourite. She too is a thin girl and very reluctant to eat food. When she demands it I would prepare it for her. I would sit near her as she relished it with rice. She would ask it for her tiffin box along with rice. I proudly set it for her. Now I do realise  the pain and efforts taken by Amma when she prepared it with correct proportions of love, care and affection. Thus chammanthi podi has turned out to be a family legacy.I now truly realise that happiness is homemade.
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