"Divya, can you order a spicy green mango salad for me please," she replied. The sweet and sour salad was just what she needed to satiate her hunger and more so, her craving for something really tasty!

Thai green mango salad

Ingredients:
Thai green mango - 2, shredded
Shallots - 1, sliced
Green/red chilli - 2
Roasted peanuts, pounded coarsely - 2 tbsp
Coriander, finely chopped - 1 tbsp

for the dressing

honey - 1 tbsp
lime juice - 1 tsp
soy sauce - 1/4 tsp
thai fish sauce - 1.5 tsp (else, use vegetarian fish sauce)

Method:

Whisk the ingredients for the dressing and set aside.
Mix the mangoes, onions, chillies and peanut powder and let chill in the fridge.

Toss these in the dressing just before serving. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve. Simple and delicious!!

I don't always get thai green mangoes, in which case I substitute those with sprouts and granny smith green apples - and it tastes just as good.

Red - part 2 (part 1 here)

"But I don't want to have the baby Raghav. Not now. And nothing you do or say is going to make me change my mind." Finally, very reluctantly, Raghav, anguished as he was at her decision, had given in. That night, for the first time since their marriage 4 years ago, Raghav and she had slept in separate bedrooms.

But sleep eluded her and as she tossed restlessly, the vision returned to haunt her again, after a long time. It was the same vision as always. Of a Chinese restaurant, food being served by waitresses dressed in red. An anxious young girl. And chopsticks clanging to the floor. Red floor. Blood stained floor. And someone screaming, calling out "mama."

Though she had had this vision for many years, in fact since her pre-teen years, she could feel a chill run down her spine. For long, she had thought that it had something to do with her future, but of late, she was increasingly convinced that it had everything to do with her past. She knew this was some old memory straining to come out. Like a caged bird restlessly trying to flutter out of its cage.

But what memory was it? Try as she did, she was never able to recall anything beyond what she saw - a Chinese restaurant, waitresses in red and the chopsticks falling on the red floor, followed by the crying child.

She tried to push the vision to the back of her mind - she had other things on her plate right now. Tomorrow, she thought, she would fix an appointment with the gynae and have everything sorted by the weekend.

However, she couldn't push back the vision or the feeling of dread that seemed to fill her entire being. Her heart hammered and she broke into a sweat. Why were the visions occurring with such an intensity now? And what was it about the Chinese restaurant and the chopsticks? And why couldn't she recollect anything? Or was she wrong - did it portend the future after all?

end of part 2