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Question
Write a composition in approximately 350 – 400 words on the following subject:
(You are reminded that you will be rewarded for orderly and coherent presentation of material, use of appropriate style and general accuracy of spelling, punctuation, and grammar.)
Narrate an incident from your own experience when you helped someone to prepare a meal.
Explain what you did and what you gained from this experience.
Solution
My mother used to put an invisible 'stop' sign in the kitchen when I was a kid. She often told me, No, you can't come in here!' I don't blame her; it's not a safe environment for children.
I was merely left standing outdoors in amazement of the kitchen's magnificence. After a few years, I developed a strong interest in food, both eating and cooking it. Nonetheless, I couldn't experiment with cooking because the kitchen was still off-limits. But they couldn't hold me back indefinitely, could they?
It was early in the morning, and no one else was at home because my mother had gone grocery shopping and my sister was fast sleeping. Now is the time to strike! I snuck into the dining room and found myself in front of the kitchen! I walked in and marvelled at the sight in front of me: cupboards towering like skyscrapers, the oven towering beside one wall, and the dishes gleaming like diamonds. I had seen it from the outside before, but this time it was up near and personal. I chose to start my first experience as a cook by creating an omelette because I hadn't had breakfast yet. Sure, I'd seen Mom do it before, so how difficult could it be?
To avoid waking up my sister, I began working softly. I had an egg, tomatoes, and onions on hand. I started working because I knew the essentials. On the work area, I chopped the onions the way I'd seen chefs do it. Then there were the tomatoes. I started by washing them and then slicing them. I cut my finger this time, and it was a disaster. Ouch! Although there was no bleeding, the pain was just as intense.
This minor nudge did not deter me, and after a few minutes of moaning, I was able to get back on my feet. The egg awaited its fate, which was to be split in half. It took a couple of tries to get it open and into the basin. After it came to the spices. As most of you are aware, mothers always keep spices on the cabinet's top shelf. Whatever the logic, jumping to get to them is quite inconvenient. I went to the hall and took a stool after a futile attempt. I grabbed the chilli powder and salt after going to the stool. I mixed the contents together in the bowl with the egg. I lit the stove and poured a cup of coffee.
Everything was going perfectly until I poured the batter into the pan - then I questioned what was used to turn the egg upside down in the pan. I was soon frantically searching all of the kitchen cupboards for the cooking spoon, all the while the omelette sizzled in the pan. Finally, I located the spoon and rushed to flip the omelette. I did it without breaking or pouring it out of the pan, only to find it perfectly browned, or rather scorched, on the other side!
Someone approached me from behind as I was putting it on a plate. It turned out to be a mother. I was taken aback. She was enraged to discover the kitchen in shambles, with drawers strewn open and salt and chilli powder strewed about the burners and counter.
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Lying in bed, Swami realized with a shudder that it was Monday morning. It looked as though only a moment ago, it had been the last period on Friday; already, Monday was here. He hoped that an earthquake would reduce the school building to dust but that my good building, Albert Mission School, had withstood similar prayers for over a hundred years now.
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“So that I may be completely dead at the other end? Have you any idea what it means to be jolted in a cart?”
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“Important! Bah! That geography teacher has been teaching the same lesson for over a year now. And we have arithmetic, which means for a whole period we are going to be beaten by the teacher............ Important lessons!”
And Mother generously suggested that Swami might stay at home.
At 9:30, when he ought to have been lining up in the school prayer hall, Swami was lying on the bench in Mother’s room.
Father asked him, “Have you no school today?”
“Headache,” Swami replied,
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“Headache.”
“Loaf about less on Sundays, and you will be without a headache on Monday.”
Swami knew how stubborn his father could be and changed his tactics.
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“I agree, but you’ll have to; it is your own fault. You should have asked me before deciding to stay away.”
“What will the teacher think if I go so late?”
“Tell him you had a headache, and so are late.”
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“Will he? Let us see. What is his name?”
“Mr. Samuel.”
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“He is very violent, especially with boys who come late. Some days ago, a boy was made to stay on his knees for a whole period in a corner of the class because he came late, and after getting six cuts from the cane and having his ears twisted, I wouldn’t like to go late to Mr Samuel’s class.”
“If he is so violent, why not tell your headmaster about it?”
“They say that even the headmaster is afraid of him. He is such a violent man.”
And then Swami gave a lurid account of Samuel’s violence; how when he started caning, he would not stop till he saw blood on the boy’s hand, which he made the boy press to his forehead like a Vermillion marking. Swami hoped his father would be made to see that he couldn’t go to his class late. But his father’s behaviour took an unexpected turn. He became excited.
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The result was that he proposed to send Swami late to his class as a kind of challenge. He was also going to send a letter with Swami to the headmaster. No amount of protest from Swami was of any avail: Swami had to go to school.
By the time he was ready, his father had composed a long letter to the headmaster, put it in an envelope, and sealed it.
“What have you written, father?” Swaminathan asked apprehensively.
“Nothing for you. Give it to your headmaster and go to your class.”
Swami’s father did not know the truth—that, actually, Mr. Samuel was a very kind gentleman.
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||
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