ASHU & GOKU

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When I look back at my trip, I marvel at the things I laxed on, like going home with strangers or even worst, going to their addresses in the middle of nowhere, like climbing a ladder to the top of a building. However, if I didn't do those thing, I wouldn't have found places that felt like home in a country far away from home. I met Ashu and Goku in the hostel in Mumbai, we had kept in touch, they had sent me some pictures of their travels to Gujarat and vice versa, we were comfortable with each other from day one, we sent pictures of us pulling faces, two more people added to my favourites. 

Goku got his name because it was what I had heard instead of Gopu, after my first stay, I was redeeming my tickets at Timezone in NZ and there was mini Gokus so I had to get one to seal the deal.

I blame me for making so comfortable that my faux pas occurred at the next place I stayed in Bangalore. Their apartment is a place of zen, a reflection on the types of people they are. Keralites are a people of their own, what I found so far, is they are big foodies, artist in their own right and down to Earth is just touching the surface of the Keralites I have met.

And for a romantic like me to be in the presence of such a love between two beings, it was a privilege. Just thinking of them as I write this, their laughter is playing in my head and the memory of their smiles warm my heart. Ashu's curls and also her love of food vivid in my memory. The first time I stayed with them, I cooked three different dishes, Tom Khem, a lao dish of braised pork in a caramelised sugar, soy, ginger and star anise, my mum's fried chicken and seafood chowder. Ashu is an amazing cook, I was merely showing her some dishes I loved to cook. Ashu made hollandaise like a pro, whether her and Goku liked it is another story. 

In my second stay, I had got her a sushi kit hence Japanese cuisine was the go to, sushi, as expected, onigiri and a fusion tempura which I had learn from one of my favourite Japanese fusion restaurants in Perth. We ended my trip with some Korean BBQ, again a pleasure to have shared something I have enjoyed eating for years with people who appreciate the experience.