OF GRANDPARENTS & FRESH CHICKPEAS

The train from Dahod would arrive close to dinner time. Just around that time, my sister and I would be jumping up and down in anticipation of our grandparents’ arrival. In the quiet summer breeze, as we waited on our porch swing anxiously, we’d hear the distant ‘phat-phat’ sound of auto-rickshaw. This was our que to run at the speed of light in our mum-stitched floral frocks towards the sound, jump and shriek loudly as our grandparents descended from the predominantly kerosene-run contraption. The grandparents would return our giddy excitement with welled up eyes, a wide grin and the warmest hugs while reciting a million pet names for each of us.

Barely our excitement would subside and round #2 of excitement would begin as grandpa opened the bag of goodies, which among other things contained roasted fresh green chickpeas (pictured above).

I cannot recall exactly what made them so desirable in our eyes. Perhaps the context of our grandparents visiting, the backdrop of summer vacations, and the emotions we felt at the time around it, that made them special.

This is why the world of food pulls me in so much - it invokes visuals, memories, and makes you feel warm and fuzzy thinking about something so simple. Without the story it’s just another vegetable you occasionally find in the produce section, a mere macronutrient or perhaps for some an unidentified object.

So obviously when I encountered Green Chickpeas in the grocery store here, I was overjoyed. In addition to the sweet recollection around them, it’s fun to experience the fresh form of an ingredient we use so often as dried - it’s like traveling back in chickpea timeline.

Pan-roast them in a skillet with a drop of oil and salt, and watch the pale green pods slowly turn black- brown. You can eat them straight out of shell. Shuck and snack on it while attending those mind-numbing zoom meetings.