So this is how the tale of the undhiyon goes.....for the past year or so, I have been craving undhiyon...a mixed vegetable dish that is the specialty of the state of Gujarat in India. This was a strange craving considering that the first time I had this dish was in my last year of college while I was at my first job with an insurance company in India. But I loved this dish which was an elaborate one to prepare and although I could possibly have tried making it myself it would not have been half as good as one that was prepared by a Gujarati. So I shamelessly asked any Gujarati who crossed my path....coworkers, friends, anyone at all....if they could please make undhiyon for me? Like I said, the dish is an elaborate one to prepare and so my desire to consume this exquisite dish remained unfulfilled for many months.
Undhiyon....made with many different vegetables and cooked in many spices....there are folks who do not like this dish and then there are folks like me who love it with a passion. The first time I heard about this dish was when an office potluck was being planned at my very first job some 20 years ago. There was a Mrs. Desai who worked with me and she announced that her contribution to the office potluck would be undhiyon and puris. And I turned around and asked her...what is undhiyon? She looked at me and asked....you have never eaten undhiyon? Then she proceeded to explain in great detail how undhiyon is prepared. This was a lady who loved to cook and this was a lovely lady who loved to cook for other people and so by the time she reached the end of the recipe I had fallen in love with a dish I had not yet eaten. And when she brought the dish to the office potluck I was not disappointed at all. Over the years life took us to different paths and I lost touch with her but I remember it as if it was yesterday...... Mrs. Desai standing next to me explaining how undhiyon is prepared with that smile on her face and the gleam in her eyes. Isn't it interesting how food can trigger memories and how food can create some very strong memories?
So here I was some 20 years later looking around for someone to make me some good undhiyon. Then a few days ago my friend messaged me....your undhiyon is ready. She had a Gujarati nanny who took care of her very adorable twins and my friend had put in my undhiyon request to her and she had made it for me. That evening almost one year since I first felt like having it I had my undhiyon and understood what satisfaction of the soul meant. The undhiyon had triggered many memories of a past that now seemed like a lifetime ago and had at the same time created some brand new ones...of the nanny Prafulla Aunty whom I had no connection with but who had unknowingly created a zen undhiyon moment for me, of my friend who has a gazillion things to do and remember but who made sure her nanny made the undhiyon for me and of the fact that this happened around Navratri one of the biggest festivals of Gujarat and around the same time her babies are almost turning one. The day I got the undhiyon had been a long exhausting day and the undhiyon left me feeling loved and taken care of....this undhiyon has thus left me with its own set of memories. And perhaps that was the reason for my unexplained craving of a dish that I did not grow up eating...a craving that was so random and out of the ordinary.
And that is also the reason why I dusted off my long neglected blog and wrote this blog post. It deserved more than just a verbal thanks.
Signing off knowing that sometimes the smallest of actions can cause the most long lasting memories for a life time and this quote by Cesar Chavez
"If you really want to make a friend, go to someone's house and eat with him… the people who give you their food give you their heart".
