I Love Bitter Gourd

Have I ever told you that I was a very good cricketer? During the summer holidays, we would play cricket with the boys. The boys were very very scared when they saw me. They never wanted me in their team. As a bowler, 6 wide balls an over. As a fielder, one could bet that I would never catch the ball even if it came and fell right into my hands. As a batsman (or batswoman), first ball, clean bowled!!! The worst thing, however, was that even till the end of the match I never knew which team I belonged to. How Deepthi?? How could you be so so so dumb?? Worse than the worst, I would clap when the opponent team scored a boundary or sixer. How foolish, Deepthi!!! How foolish!!! This annoyed our team so much that they would tear their hair apart. Anyway, that did not help them win the match.

Foolish!!! Yes, this reminds me of bitter gourd. I just love bitter gourd. However, I hated it when I was little. Mommy would force us to eat it. She once tried telling us that we would become just like Sushmita Sen if we ate bitter gourd. In, in, in, it went, down the food pipe and right into the tummy. We believed what mommy said was true. But, I don't see the result even after eating tons and tons of bitter gourd. Why mommy? Why?

Sushmita Sen reminds me of something else. My sister has been saying this since stone age, or, at least since she was in class 5. She has been saying, "Wait for three months. My figure's gonna be just like Sushmita Sen's". Almost a hundred 'three months' are over. I see no result sisterji. What happened?

Bitter gourd also reminds me of my neighbour, a three-year old smart girl. Out of the 24 hours, this chic girl would spend 9 hours at her home sleeping and the remaining 16 hours, she would be at my home. She called my mother "mommy" and her mommy, by her name. Once, my mommy was chopping bitter gourd when the girl came in. "What's this mommy?", she asked. "That's bitter gourd", replied mommy. "I want it", said the girl. "It's bitter. You will not like it", said mommy. "I want it", insisted the little one. Mommy gave her a piece. Munni was only three then. Mommy asked her, "How's it Munni?". "Very nice mommy. It's as sweet as ice cream. I want another one, mommy. Do you want a piece to taste?". Mommy smiled and said, "no". The little one took yet another piece of raw bitter gourd and ate. The expressions; no soul would ever get a clue that she was eating something bitter. She did not like it, but, her face wouldn't show it. Such was the self control!!!