An 'Always' within a 'Never' - cooking with dad

Yet another An 'Always' within a 'Never' memory that keep haunting me, which intensified after the Mumbai visit, on listening to the chat between the teen of today - sassy Shloka and her dad, it keeps reverberating. 

There were guests at home, and Shloka was about to make noodles, there was a discussion between father and daughter, with each saying that it is they who has always been making noodles. People would generally ask, what's there in making noodles? It's not the ready to eat that you get in shop. Maggie or Yippee we need to customise as per the taste - and there were 10 children. Some needed with vegetables, some without and some very plane. 

Going down the memory lane, my dad always used to taunt at me, and tell the guest around, including myself, I was fit to only eat, sleep, and have fun. True, he was a great cook, and kept everything spic and span. Kitchen would be cleaner, when he left, than it was when he entered. No way I could match his cooking. And our conversation was not Maggie but Mathanga Erissery. Amma was in US, gone to support my sis with her delivery. Weekend, I was to make mathaga erissery. It's not a simple dal. You have layers of coconut frying and adding to do, the consistency has to be right. You tube was not so popular then just an infant, more than a decade ago it was. He challenged and criticised me, there were people around,  and finally, I heard him praise not only then, even later he kept saying, when and if needed how well I can cook, and how tasty it is. 

As we finally found a flat to live in, he said, we would make fish curry, as it was not made in our home where food was mainly only vegetarian. Unfortunately, we could never do that, as he passed away too soon, unexpected, still unbelievable, leaving behind memories. An always within a never moments.  

These discussions help us grow. We do not realise then. It help us to converse with people, get into debates. It's important, children have a voice, they are challenged and appreciated. Moments like these become memories to be treasured later, we never know then.