Tomato Chutney, Life Advice, etc.

I really like the caramel flavour from SAVAS’ protein shake series. Interestingly enough, my Japanese grandma was the one who introduced it to me, adding it as a surprise to my regular bento of onigiri and simmered pumpkin, inspired by my incessant rants about increasing my protein intake. She also congratulated me profusely on having successfully made hard-boiled eggs the other day. I find a tender humility in treating small, day-to-day achievements as monumental occasions. I like celebrating being able to make eggs right, or doing my five-kilometer run, or getting excited about my protein intake. Inspiration, soft as a feather, rests gently atop our eyelids (a metaphor I partially borrow from one of my favourite Japanese songs called 愛燦燦) but to be truly able to notice it, I keep reminding myself of how I need to first be open to receiving help. So many times, I have been humbled by having the opportunity to help someone, but to be able to receive help requires a honed humility too, one that we often end up sidelining.

I was finally able to hit the gym with two of my best friends here in Sendai this weekend. I loved being able to share banter between sets, get help to correct my posture and take selfies purely for the purpose of showing off. I apologize for my vain, validation-seeking behaviour (I don’t). I’ve barely slept last week, and to me, every single time I was able to push myself to go for a run or go to the gym and do simple tasks like make eggs is already worthy of congratulations. I’m not going to let preconceived notions of success take that away from me. I did, finally, manage to get some sleep yesterday so I feel prepared to take on the new week. I swear I could run a marathon right now. So! Much! Energy!

I had the chance to reconnect with several friends recently, and it felt really wonderful to be able to receive perspective on things that have been happening in my life. While I’m all for independent decision-making, I love getting advice from people I trust because I realize that I’m limited in my world view and more often than not, quick to think only I know what’s right for me (that being said, I definitely need to be able to decide what food I want to order or what ice-cream flavour I want faster). Anyways, here’s a small list of advice I received this week that I’ll share ahead:

• Mistakes can be fixed but you have to at least realize they’re mistakes.-Emotion and intellect can go hand-in-hand.

• We have more time for the big things in life than we think we do.

• When we dislike a particular trait about somebody, we have the tendency to compare them with other people who might have what we deem as being a desirable trait but we need to actively stop ourselves from doing this. While acknowledging that we will always have our own set of ideas about what we want from a person/what we think a person should be doing with their lives, to compare people we cherish in our lives with others is probably the worst we can do to them. Sorry if I’m triggering South Asian kids (psst, the ever-present Sharma ji ka beta).

• A good teacher is invisible — they connect the students with the content, not emphasizing their own presence.

Amongst other highlights, a friend invited some of us over for a specially-curated Bengali dinner at his place, and it was an evening that will stay with me mostly because it impressed me to see how much careful thought he put into deciding each item on the menu, combining ingredients from different cultures to create something that would maintain its authenticity while also offering an entirely novel outlook. There is something so profound about food as an expression of care. The tomato chutney was my favourite item on the menu. This week, incidentally, I had the chance to try two different kinds of tomato chutneys, one my friend made for the dinner and another variety that my roommate made yesterday. Tomatoes were the hero for both, but one was almost dessert-like in its sweetness and the other, fiercely spicy. I think I’ve come to admire sweet food more because of my friend who cooked the dinner, and spicy food more because of my roommate. My personal favourite? Well, my favourite people’s favourite is my favourite.