Badami Halva

Badami Halva is a blood red coloured, solid rubber like sweet. If you hold it in your hands, it makes them greasy and you have to tear it apart with your teeth to break it down. Sometimes, I used to carry it to school in my lunch box. It was one of the many things I did not like to eat when I was in school. Though I eventually grew up liking chapati-bhaji, I still hate the Badami Halva. So it was but natural that I give it to someone. And that someone was Devesh Lokre. Devesh Lokre used to like the stuff so much that he once asked me its preparation. I did not tell him the truth that it was purchased from Panshikar Sweets but told him that my mother prepares it. The recipe I told him was simple. First my mother cuts my fingers and all the blood that flows finds its way into the ice tray where some sugar is added before it is stored for freezing. It might be difficult to believe, but Devesh who probably was in first standard did believe it. I felt so proud that I had fooled Devesh. A few days later however, Devesh came to my desk. He said that his mother had prepared Badami Halva at home with the recipe I told him.