My experiences with ……..truth!!

Tuning in to “Khana Khazana” one fine evening, I realized one of my biggest weaknesses, there were just three things in this world that I could cook – like any typical bachelor – Anda Bhurji(scrambled eggs), Maggi noodles and curd rice. As you can see, the list is not very exhaustive. Drawing inspiration from the program I made up my mind …on what could be one of the biggest decisions in my life (the other significant decision was probably whether I like Strawberry flavored ice creams or butter scotch!!); I will learn to cook… After much investigation and introspection I decided that the first item I will learn will be “Dal Makhni” … and the saga begins…

Being in the software field for quite a while now, I decided that I will go with the Software development lifecycle methodology for this too. First phase was the requirements gathering… did an extensive Google search to find out the ingredients for an authentic Indian “Dal Makhni”. The next phase was to set up my development centre.. “the kitchen”… since I was staying in a house belonging to an Indian all the utensils were already present… from a local Bangla shop in the vicinity got all the ingredients… including lot of dishwashing liquid…Concerning the gravity of the situation I also contacted the local astrologer and found a suitable “Muhurtham” for the task and there I was.. all set for the D-Day!

On the auspicious day, took all the precautions like helmet and all information needed like the local fire force number and also the location of Fire exits, just in case!! As expected the first trial was a disaster, too much salt, chili and oil!! Also there was a smoke cloud above my place… after extensive trials for the next few days the impact was visible, not on the taste of my Dal Makhni ofcourse. The sales of oxygen masks at the local supermarket quadrupled, rumours were floating around that the President of the US finally found the location of the WMDs-Weapons of Mass Destruction and also the prices of crude oil increased on account of excessive demand!!

All said and done, after extensive trials I finally decided it was time for some “User Acceptance Tasting”. I invited a friend over for dinner, I informed him that he was “the chosen one”; his immediate reaction was to call the insurance company!! He ate the food reluctantly along with couple of litres of water . The next day I heard that the friend of mine left for India citing “classified” reasons. There were jokes all around the place that back in India mothers would threaten their children to have food by saying “If you do not eat your food I will give you arun’s dal makhni” with encouraging results.

I made up my mind yet again… cooking is not my forte…and in the better interest of mankind… I quit…. Next day again the program “khana khazana” was aired… I thought why don’t I try Pulao next time…I had quit Dal makhni…
Next day I heard that the whole onsite team had absconded…