Shadow | Peanut Coconut Salsa-stuffed Green Chillies

The story today is titled “Shadow” which is widely accepted as negative space and lies in the person’s subconscious mind. I am somewhere in between the right and wrong of shadow and would like to present my story.

My mother had this weird obsession of starting my fundamental education from an Anglo indian teacher. She was a retired teacher with a very pleasant demure but when she lost her cool, phew hell hath no fury. She lived across the field and our back doors were diagonally opposite to each other. She was not too keen on a taking a naughty,bratty three-year old into her sanctuary.I was borderline ADHD and she was borderline OCD for mannerism and conduct. Finally she succumbed to the numerous pleads of my mother. I lovingly called her Dean Aunty. In the first few days I had broken one vase, spilled water twice and bullied her german Shepard numerous times. Apart from the usual affair of A for apple and twinkle twinkle little stars she was meticulous about manners. Sit like a lady and always say a Please! and a Thank you! (mind it we are talking about a three-year rebellious kind here). In the living room she had this lovely red chilli potted plant which she never watered. I plucked a few red chillies and went home. Next I hear was a thunderous tap on the door and my mother half way through her afternoon siesta opened the backdoor only to find my furious Dean Aunty. She blasted my mother in and out and told her about my sin. I stood there like an innocent convict and to realise the victim was an artificial showcase plant adorning her bedroom. (hmm…who has a chilli plant as a decor) Which as of now is ruined. I had plucked those chillies for my father who loved to eat pickled chillies with his meal. Alas he couldn’t chew on plastic.

From that day on…I think I gulped down manners and etiquette like milk. But that shadow is so heavily cast on my mind that I am too cautious with my manners and sometimes overdo it. I somehow agree with the Freudian definition of a shadow “he believed that behaviour is driven by fears and desires locked in the subconscious”. It can be positive and negative…though visually a shadow is dark and dense. I don’t want to sound like a scholar but every man/woman has a shadow which it casts. Its a reflection of his/her inner self. Each time we encounter our inner shadow we delve into self introspection, egotism, murderous negativity and unreal fantasies.

My childhood experiences have stood like a silhouette in the passage of enlightenment. Each time I get a favour, my shadow guides me to gratitude which many forget so easily. Each time I hurt, my shadow drives me to apology. I am no saint I do lose my cool from time to time. Each reader here has a different kind of shadow and if its positive we should let it cast its shadow and eventually there will be assimilation of conscious and subconscious mind which celebrates the true spirit of life.

Well I spoilt Dean aunty’s chillies but they forever stayed with me in my cuisine and search. So did her manners and conduct. I am doing this simply awesome recipe today learnt from my Mother in law.Peanut Coconut Salsa-stuffed Green Chillies .