SOUP IN WINTER

                       I love winter days at my village Raikia in Kandhamal. Though people, visitors and tourists of other districts are afraid of the spine-chilling cold of winter season, we ,the inhabitants of Kandhamal are acclimatized to the extreme climatic conditions of this hilly district of Odisha. Anyway, Raikia turns into a little paradise in winter because of its scenic natural beauty. Everywhere we see only beautiful flowers and bewitching greenery of hills and valleys.  In the evening time after the sun sets, people  and animals alike shiver in cold; our limbs feel numb; we see people basking in roadside bonfires to get warmth. A thick fog spreads all over as if to ask people to confine to their homes.

                        In the  early 1970s winter was more harsh and severe. We shut the doors of our home as soon as evening set in. My mother  would start a fire in an earthen cauldron ( called Umbei in Odia) and would set fire to the firewood with a wisp of coconut husk .My siblings and I would sit round the smouldering charcoal to  bask in comfort while my mother concocted a  delicious spicy soup for us. We enjoyed it with gusto, Sometimes she would prepare  mulligatawny soup for us from country chicken meat and spice  which was unmatched in its taste. A whiff of the tangy aroma which wafted into our nostrils during the preparation  of the soup whetted our appetite. Its recipe  was my mother's  secrecy that she would not reveal to anyone. Slurping the soup with a spoon was a really a delight. With my mother's death,  the recipe for soup was lost in oblivion for ever. I too forgot the taste of the soup that once gave warmth to all of us during winter.

( Writer -Dr.Pradeep Kumar Nayak )