Roti

Date written: 20 sep 2019

A most significant piece of one's diet is Roti. Every day we may switch to a diverse dish as per our taste and preferences but we seldom change roti to puri or paratha.
Being the most important portion of the diet and that puts a lot of pressure on the cook. Making 20, 30 or 200 Rotis a day is not an easy responsibility. The size, shape and smoothness, all matters and above all to cook it uniformly.
Well, I am not going to discuss the significance of roti rather an episode of my life which appears every day as I recall the segments of the past.
I started cooking when I was in fifth grade and the first task was to make a roti. Because then I thought that cooking rice is more tedious than making roti. I recollect that I assembled plenty of flour in the small utensil and was struggling to knead it as per Mark. Ultimately, my mother came to resolve me from the thought that why all the flour is not uniting as a single molecule?? Hence she gave it a final appropriate size to the floured mould. That was my first experience! Later on, I skipped kneading and simply prepared Rotis.

Whenever I am in the kitchen making Rotis for everyone, I recall everyone who has taught me the basics of preparing it.Every stage matters. I learned from my mother how to knead flour by focusing on the movements of her hand and knew the difference between a smooth and tight dough. My Nani taught me the difference between an ideal dough and the other dough which is just given a shape, the utensil 's surface  should be free from any flour particle. (only the final flour mould) My inquisitive mind cleared its doubt -how does the roti rotate as soon as the women of the house use the rolling pin on the board and make a perfect circle? (Without a compass!)😉 
And everyone gave the same feedback that it will automatically happen with practice.
I learnt this from my dadi by noticing her movement of the rolling pin. I practised her instructions everytime to give Roti an ideal circle shape. 
My father has also contributed to teach me how to cook roti evenly. For me, it was not an easy job!! Recently I learnt from my sister that one must sprinkle a few drops of water after the mould is ready and leave it for sometime, it will make mould super smooth. And unostentatiously my parents succeeded in enjoying a thin, smooth, small and cute roti of circular shape made by me 😊. 
An important part of this roti making journey is when with confidence I accepted to make rotis on an ordinary day to give some relief to my mother. Though I succeeded in making an average quality roti but that day I realised that cooking in a kitchen for so long is not an easy task, Within minutes I was prespiring. Since that ordinary day became an important day of my life because the respect for my mother and all those women who cook unconditionally with love and never let us know their fatigue, increased a lot.
I decided to share a bit of unknown burden from my mother's shoulders, at least, sometimes. 
Now, I do not forget to remember everyone who has helped me shape my roti as perfect. And every time their lessons are on a merry-go-round in my mind while cooking. My deeds will never be enough to thank them, for teaching me life's small as well as small turned big lessons.