As I write this, I'm simmering a pot of Chana Masala on the stove. If anyone were to walk into our house right now, they'd be greeted by the scent of curry, garam masala and coriander. In my personal opinion, the fragrance is ten times more satisfying than a Glade plug-in!
However, everytime our house smells of Indian food it makes me think of my brother's friend, Devon. Not long after Devon transferred to K-State, I asked him how he liked his new apartment. His immediate response was, "It reeks of curry! We've tried everything and the smell won't go away!"
I couldn't help but laugh. Not because he hated the smell of his home, but because of the person responsible for the smell.
When I was at K-State, I worked at the Women's Center on campus. Right away, I was introduced to my only male co-worker, Mei. His name was pronounced May and he was from India. He was pretty quiet the first few days but after being stuck with my chatter-box self, we quickly made friends.
Mei was fascinating. He had a great personality and his life was so different from mine. His family was still in India--he had came to the States to study. He also left his fiance from an arranged marriage back home as well. Upon hearing this, my first thought was, "People still have arranged marriages?! They must be crazy!" I guess this concept was as perplexing to me as my beef consumption was to a Hindu Mei. Whenever I would tease him about his bride-awaiting, he would always chuckle and make it known that it wasn't such a bad deal as she was one of the best looking gals back home! I guess :-)
One day as we were walking to the Union, I had a craving for Indian food and I asked Mei if he would share some of his recipes with me. In his cute little accent he said, "Bria...I don't know any recipes. I just make food because I have to eat. The best way to learn to make Indian food is just to buy the ingredients and figure it out." Okay, for a white Kansas-farm-raised girl, that suggestion didn't help any!
Long story short, Mei moved out of his apartment with three other Indian roommates just to have my friend Devon move in behind them. And Devon wondered why his apartment smelled like Indian food!
Over the years, I have lost touch with Mei. Last I knew, he had graduated with his Master's from K-State, moved to "the city" and was preparing to get married. We were able to stay in touch via Facebook and texting for awhile. Then one day I got a new phone and lost all my numbers...then finally I noticed Mei was no longer on Facebook :-( Unfortunately, I never could remember how to correctly spell his full first name (Mei was the abbreviated version) OR his last name so I doubt I will ever be able to track him down on Facebook.
Even though I may never hear from Mei again, I'll always have fun memories of him. There was the time I beat him in a game of Gone Fishin' on the Salty Rim patio...his surprise appearance at my Graduation party...and right before he left Manhattan the two of us went to a sushi making party hosted by a bunch of Japanese students. We were definately out of place that night!
I think it's fair to say that we definately learned a lot from each other and enjoyed our friendship. Everytime I smell a hint of curry, I think of Mei...and who knows, maybe he thinks of me whenever he smells ground beef?!
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| The day I beat Mei in Gone Fishin'...who knew that too many margaritas would make me so excited about winning?! Whooops. |
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| This picture from my graduation party cracks me up. They always say foreign men are attracted to blondes! But on a serious note, Mei was nice enough that he would have a conversation with anybody. |
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