Of Life and Lemons 🍋

Once upon a time I left my Nihari cooking in a slow cooker all night long. By the time it was ready - it was the tenderest, richest, silkiest, smoothest concoction I had ever seen. It oozed the kind of flavorful fragrance, which would make the biggest Sabri lose their sabr.

To complete this gastronomic delight, I had the perfect condiments to go along - Some fried onions, sliced ginger, chopped coriander and green chilies.

All I now needed, were some juicy tangy lemons.

The good thing about Melbourne is its abundance of lemon trees. The good thing about lemons trees is, they grow fruit all year long. Put the two together and lemons are never in shortage around here.
So, you could say, Finding lemons everywhere in Melbourne is similar to finding garbage everywhere in Karachi.

You can’t miss the sight, you can’t escape the smell. 💁🏻‍♀️

Anyway, so this morning finds me, kids in tow, heading towards the neighborhood park- the one sharing its boundary with a house and its lemon tree. While one may argue, the propriety of its lemons belongs to the home-owners, those hanging on park-side were free to the needy - the birds, the possums and of-course Yours Truly.

As luck would have it, that day the tree stood stark and bare. There was not a single lemon to be found. Believe you me, I checked! Finally spotting a perfect looking one on the ground, I picked it up only to find it moldy and rotten on the other side.

That night, the lemons accompanying Nihari were store bought- sharp and acidic- burning a hole in my heart just like the hole in my pocket from having to purchase them.

It's nothing short of ironic to conclude, life that day, kind of gave me lemons.

Except it didn’t.

And that made me sit pondering over this world and its single sided narrative of life’s lemons! How no one ever talks about what to do when life “doesn’t” give you lemons.

I knew there were lessons to be learnt here. Something along the lines of not being fooled by apparent perfection and looking at life’s lemons much like life’s hardships, as better- in fact necessary - to add depth and flavor, sour as it be, to our lives. But, the brain was completely numb and in a Nihari induced comma, so this is ALL I got;

“When life gives you lemons - make lemonade, marinate tandoori chicken or squeeze and freeze for later - Do whatever you want, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT YOUR 'FREE' LEMONS AND BE FRICKIN’ GRATEFUL!!!!!! “
😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤