Dangerous Adventure

When Rami was a little child, he used to love adventures so much. He always enjoyed wandering around, exploring new places and trying new things. One day, however, when he was about 7 years old, his interest in adventures put him in a very scary and dangerous situation.

That evening, he and his family were at the beach with some friends. The place was so beautiful, and the sound of waves was very soothing. He wanted to go swimming but his parents told him not to go too far in the water, for the waves were strong and too high. While he was playing around, he found some large wooden boards which were left there by the ARAMCO company. He couldn’t resist the urge to try something new, so he decided to go surfing. He grabbed a wooden board and slowly dragged it towards the shore. Once he was in the water, he quickly sat on top of the wooden board as it slowly drifted away. What made things worse is that he and his twin brother used to look so much alike back then, so it was hard for his parents to figure out that the boy who walked by every once in a while was only his twin, and that Rami himself was nowhere to be found. It was about 9 o’clock in the evening, and the wooden board was still on its way to nowhere with Rami setting on top of it. A few more minutes later, he started feeling really scared so he began reciting small verses from the Quran. Suddenly, he heard an unexpected sound. It was the sound of a jet ski approaching. A moment later, he saw the rider of the jet ski. Miraculously, it turned out that a life guard happened to be cruising around the area at that time. At first the life guard did not know for sure what he was looking at. But as he closed in, he could clearly see a child sitting on top of a wooden board, slowly drifting into the unknown.

In the end, the life guard delivered Rami back to his family safely. That night, the child learned two important lessons. The first lesson was to never disobey his parents again. The second lesson was to never trust the waves of the sea.

[This post is based on a true story.]

Masala Dosa

I hear a lot of people talking about Indian food every once in a while. The two main  things they mention are the extremely hot flavor, and the delicious spices. One day, I got the chance to actually try a dish from the Indian cuisine called “Masala Dosa”.

I was spending my summer vacation at my sister’s house in Umul-Hasm, Bahrain. A couple minutes away from her house, there was an Indian food restaurant called “Sahar”. When I entered the place, I was overwhelmed by the heavy smell of  Indian spices filling the air, so I quickly ordered three takeaway Masala Dosa meals, one for me,  and the other two for my sister and her husband, and hurried back home. The meal consisted of a loaf of special bread, baked from rice and black lentils and filled with hot, boiled potatoes spiced with the famous Garam Masala spices, a special kind of sauce known as “Salona”. The sauce consists of tomato sauce, potatoes, hot spices, chicken and other vegetables.

The dish smelled spicy and really delicious, but the taste was even better. Once I began eating my Masala Dosa meal,  the heat of the spices immediately overwhelmed me. It felt like a raging fire flooding my mouth. The food was so unbelievably hot that it felt like fireworks started coming out of my ears, but I kept eating nevertheless because I was actually enjoying the intensity of the taste. One thing that was making things much easier for me, however, was what I like to call “the fire extinguisher of the Indian cuisine”, which is the coconut chutney. It is a white-colored sweet and mild dip made from coconut. It is usually served along most Indian dishes for its delicious taste and its ability to significantly reduce the heat of the spices.

Masala Dosa was in fact one of the best dishes I have ever t
ried in my life. If I ever get the chance to try it again, I would certainly do that. But this time, I am looking forward to try it in its mother country, India.