Chronicles of The Bachelor's Pad

So I've been living a bachelor's life for a little over 5-years now.. Different hostels, apartments, varied types and breeds of roommates and myriad of experiences. So what's so new? The neo-Indian generation has a majority of youth who will have a similar story. Hence, this is just a small attempt to catch what can only be seen in bachelor's-pads.

To begin with, let's just imagine a small, not-so-cramped room where the only purpose for chairs is to hold apparels and the only purpose of the shoe stand is to be empty and surrounded by shoes strewn here and there. Well, not a very untidy place mind you, and not out of neglect at all. It's just the way we like to keep it. Now there is a good theory in science called mutual co-existence and we strongly believe in it. We co-exist happily with cockroaches(to my dislike though), a couple of breeds of ants(namely red-&-black), the occasional lizards(those which scare the shit out of some people) and the regular pigeons and sparrows in the balcony.

Now mind it it's not our carelessness or we-don't-really care attitude. It's simply the love of nature and a belief in the theory of mutual co-existence that drives us to keep up and carry on this hard way.

On another note, there is a place in every bachelor's den we'd normally like to call a kitchen(though I admit at times it resembles more some nuclear-test-site). One of those places where we would spend a hell lot of time when home and make some of the most exquisite(at times so exotic that those can be called alien) recipes. And the kind of results we elicit out of our sheer sense of (mis)adventure. Some of the delicacies like Maggi-bolognese, omelets made in cooker pans, and many other seem to be innovations of such bachelor kitchens.

Well so just the other day, one of these experiments went in a not-so-intended-really fashion(still wont admit wrong). Well, we(as in me and my co-cook and the head chef-ala-carte) decided upon making Sago(also more popularly known as Sabudana). Not a complicated recipe at all if given sufficient time. After the purchase of necessary ingredients, the general procedure of soaking the stuff began. Of course, what we skipped to take into account was that it takes more than 3-4 hours to get soaked. We didn't have that kind of time. So, a smart suggestion was followed and we entered the water+sago mix in our very own cooker so that it gets soaked faster.

Now a little background and chemistry. I am a biology student and know that sago is full of starch. Also I know that starch, when boiled with water becomes gelatinous. Also I knew that heating water results in boiling of it. Well, too much data to be processed at a time when you are hungry. Hence, I didn't think of it.

The result. Well we opened the cooker to find a starchy, soggy, gelatinous mass of sago which could hardly ever be converted to any human-edible-dish. But indomitable are we, that we still decided to go ahead with our venture and started on with the tadka. The limited availability of utensils compel us usually to put the oil for tadka in our regular thin walled utensils and make the necessary additions to it. Turning the gas full flame, we for a little longer than usual went on to other cursory activities(cutting potatoes and peeling groundnuts) when it happened. And without warning.
The vessel, it turns out, was too thin to handle oil at a high flame. The oil erupted into flames. It was a disastrous sight to see. The flame was at least 6-8 feet high and the vessel was immediately, immaculately and heroically grounded and taken away from the gas (not by me). The sight was both, amazing and (won't have accepted if I was sure none of my friends would read this) a bit scary. It took 10 minutes (a really long time when you consider the situation) for the fire in d vessel to get extinguish. In the meanwhile, all doors were opened, exhaust fans were utilized and everything, combustible or not, was taken away from the kitchen.
At the end of the inferno, the vessel doesn't look in a reusable condition(though my roommate is optimistic enough we can, with some diligence make it good) and some part of the ceiling will keep reminding me of this small adventure of ours.

We had dinner in a nearby restaurant that night.

An amazing story, at least for me, of a bachelor's den. Many such incidences do happen and teach you things. I learnt, not in a very subtle way, that edible oil is super-combustible.
Anyways, as it would be etched on my memory for a long time, an advise for you to sim the gas always before going away. I hope you have experiences, but not as adventurous ones as this..

P.S. One of the regular visitors, the pigeon has laid a couple of eggs in a nest it clandestinely created in our gallery under a small shade. I guess this goes for an increase in the number of mouths to feed in the house in the near future. Hope they would find our hospitality solicitous enough.