Scrambled chicken with fresh garam masala

Scrambled chicken burrito or sandwich is a regular in my kitchen. I make this often. The recipe came from a dear cousin a long time ago.

When I was in college, I visited an Aunt of mine during a festival. My cousin also was there. Few years younger to me, in his late teens, he was a chatterbox. He loved to cook, and he loved to read palms. He was a budding astrologer and loved to predict lives of the people around him.

We were fascinated. Everyday, after breakfast, we would corner him and shove our palms under his nose. He would insist on seeing the left for the girls, and right for the boys. With a twinkle in his eye, he would roll off one predictions after another.  At that age, most of the girls were moony eyes about  their future life partners, and most of the questions revolved around that. “Your husband will be a technocrat and you won’t have a Ma-in-law,” he told me. “You will marry a man who will be so handsome that you will pale away in comparison,” he told another of our young cousin who happened to be really, really pretty. “You won’t finish college, and will be a stay at home Mom”, he told another, who was very ambitious and extremely inclined academically. “What about you?” we asked.

“Oh me, I won’t live beyond 30 years, my death is certain at 30 in a road accident. Even if I live, I will be lose my limbs.” Ugh! He never ceased to shock us. He was nothing if not dramatic, a show off, though an endearing one.

Over the years he became a butt of several jokes, we cousins always tallying off his ‘predictions’ and making fun of them.

Uncomfortably though, we learned that he did make many of the predictions right. Our ambitious cousin ended up falling sick, and not able to finish college, eventually marrying early and became a stay at home Mom, albeit a very happy one. My pretty cousin got a very handsome husband, though I don’t think she paled in comparison at all. I did marry a technocrat, hahaha! And yes, I also sadly never got to meet my mother in law, she passed away an year before we got married.

Years later, I was chatting to my pretty cousin, and in general asking about everyone’s whereabouts, including our famous astrologer cousin. “He just celebrated his 30th birthday”, she laughed. He also had gotten married two years earlier, and was doing quite good. We laughed at his silly prophecies all those years ago.

Two weeks later, he was dead, in a deadly bike accident.

I miss him.

He lived a colorful, fun filled life. Sometimes, I think because he knew so much, he simply lived it to the full, maybe hoping, like we all do, that all the bad events would never come to pass, only the good ones.

As the holidays approach, sometimes it makes me pause and reflect, and realize that life is a series of celebrations, though not of the same kind. Celebrations of little blessings that we may not even realize that we have been blessed with. The end comes anyway, sometimes way too early, sometimes way too late, but life keeps flowing. The fleeting sands of time keeps seeping through the hourglass, whether we want it or not. clichéd as it may sound, each day is meant to be lived to the fullest, to spread cheers, warmth, kindness and happiness. Call it fate or just way of the world, whatever is meant to happen, will happen. So while the moment is here, live it to the fullest.

K sera sera…..

My late cousin used to cook this scrambled chicken, which he would then roll into a tortilla, making a scrumptious roll.

You can put this in a roll, or a sandwich. My boys love the roll and I make this filling dinner sandwich as well. For this sandwich, make the mixed salad (recipe follows)

In a dinner roll, put some slices of cheese of you choice and toast it till the cheese melts.

Squeeze some ketchup, hot sauce or any other sauce that you like, fill the roll with the salad and the scrambled chicken and serve.

Yummm!