Pot- at- Toe

When in school, the earliest memory of hanging out with friends began roughly when we were in 6th or 7th grade. The only feasible place was Mcdonalds and the potato they serve. We would take cabs after school to Sobo Central to devour french fries. With time, our obsession for Mcdonalds knew no boundaries. All my favourite people have eaten fries with me, at least once. (Not even exaggerating).  

My association with potatoes goes way back. Definitely after we started going to McDonald's during school days but even before high school you know. It was when a friend had hit puberty and started to have prominent acne. How easy was it to nickname her a potato mainly because she had a round face with some serious teenage issues. Bullying just passes as any other thing during years of schooling but the mark remains etched in your heart. Growing up, I was extremely cautious about my skin colour. Though nobody actually bullied me, my best friends called me "Black beauty". I wonder how I got through all of it. I keep thinking of the girl whom we called a potato.

What does she recall when she thinks about her school days?

How can I ever ask her a sorry? 

Is it okay to call people with whatever name that pleases you ?

How can the word Mumbai justify the feeling of Bombay ?

Also spring potatoes are way too costly in Bombay. I purchased one spring potato for Rs 120 and you get them for less than Rs 50 in Chennai. Duh. The difference is way too much. I remember, buying it for the first time because it was a new Instagram story obsession ! 

So, in 2018 on the 4th of June I made a decision. Come what may, I am eating it. My money or that boys’ money. So we bought a spring Potato, for Rs. 110 and ate it. Ate it and totally regretted eating it.

I do not want to hype, but Spring potato in simpler words is just one goddamn potato on a skewer, cut spirally and fried till crisp, served with a gentle squeeze of mayo. It is also called Potato Twisters, but if i do so you would call me a South Bombay aunty. 

In simpler terms, Spring potato is the NRI cousin of the chip that every south Indian mother makes as a side for puliyogare or lemon/whatever rice.

Talking about South India, I recall when Coronavirus had taken over Chennai. The college i studied in asked us to vacate the hostel. C’mon, it definitely wasn't abrupt.  We were asked to vacate with all of our trash (two days buffer time). It was the last day in Chennai, we were all devastated. Two of my favourite girls came to the rescue. After finishing paperwork at college, booking tickets, and a rigorous session of packing,  we sneaked out and went to the beach. How we sipped our favourite drink and gorged on some crisp spring potatoes. 

Oh, drinks remind me of the time when our print group had once decided to go to this local bar. It was a chill, non- competitive place (If you know, you know). After spending thousands of rupees on kamikaze shots at that fancy place, we still preferred to unwind with some spring potato at the beach, because why not! 

- Confessions of a (naive) potato lover