Roasted Cashews
My wife added a new book to our bookshelf called House of Mr. Biswas and it reminded me of an incident from my childhood.
I was probably around 10 years old when I had lived two doors down from the house of a Mr. Biswas. He was working with my father and was much older than him. I can recall some fuzzy details of Mr. Biswas, he was tall, had wavy hair which he parted on the side, he wore glasses with a thick black frame and a wristwatch with a black leather strap. He had a slight hunch while we walked. And I remember him having a satisfied face, with a resting smile on it.
Once we had visited his house and Mrs Biswas was kind enough to give us some snacks -- a bowl full of roasted masala cashew nuts. It wasn’t a big bowl, probably because cashew isn’t cheap. I was never a fan of cashew, it is not as crunchy or flavorful as peanuts or almonds. But I took one just out of politeness and was immediately hooked! It was perfect -- the texture, the salt, the spices, everything one needs from an evening snack. As I was about to fetch my third handful, my dad slapped my wrist asking me to stop. And that was it. I never got a chance to eat any more of Mr. Biswas' roasted cashews.
To this day, whenever I am at a new supermarket, I quickly scan for some roasted cashews. But nothing tastes the same. At this point I believe Mr. Biswas' roasted cashews probably weren't all that great. But I can never confirm it until I manage to find it...