Okay, so let me first begin to explain the beginning right from the beginning. What is Maamoul and what is so magical about it.
Ma'amoul is an ancient Arab filled pastry or cookie made with dates, nuts such as pistachios or walnuts and occasionally almonds, or figs. They may be in the shape of balls, domed or flattened cookies. They can either be decorated by hand or be made in special wooden moulds. Well, at least that's how Wikipedia defines it altogether.
I got a tryst with these cookies in the early 2000’s. It’s been since more than a decade now. Those were the
college days and tough times when it came to preparing for the exams. I stayed in the outskirts of the city with family and traveled by bus every day to college for classes. But then, travelling back home when exams were nigh caused serious tiredness and stress. To combat this situation, I often stayed back and spent my night studying together with my Arab friends. We had great time together, and were symbiotic in nature. They wanted to learn and improve their English and I wanted to learn beginner’s Arabic. We studied together and often we ran into late night or even until the dawn next day. However, undoubtedly if one thing had to make our time worthwhile, bring about smile on our faces, it was Maamoul. These wonderful friends of mine had huge packages of Maamoul brought from their native during vacations. These cookies were mostly home-made by their mothers wrapped with love. It truly tasted heaven especially during nights with a blend of coffee or tea.
All these years we’ve been in touch on WhatsApp, emails and calls. A decade later, last month one of my friends Ammar called me from Saudi. Now this call was turning out to be exceptional. In a usual chat he mentioned about his allergic conditions and health. I promptly suggested him to take treatment from
Jindal Naturecure Institute in Bangalore. He loved the idea and flew to Bangalore within a week with lots of Maamoul as gifts. Now that was quick. It was like a huge mist of memories surrounding us. We were meeting after almost 15 years after our graduation in 2005; had a never-ending conversation around the college days, recollecting and re-painting the lost and glorious memories. For a moment our lives were inundated with memories and it really took time to actually catch up with today, with reality. We indeed had some swashbuckling discussions too.
However, seldom I knew that he had another good reason to travel. He was seeking consulting services for one of his business that deals with motorsports industry in the GCC and EU. We even flew together to Delhi, Chandigarh and Mumbai to meet and talk to consulting firms and service providers.
Finally he flew back to Saudi, a contented man having lost around 6kgs after the treatment. While the love for riding motorcycles brings us together, it’s somehow so delightful to discern that the magical cookie Maamoul played its part very subtly; a cookie that ignites the reminiscences of all these years of studying and riding our motorcycles together. I just hope and look forward to ride once again with Ammar to some of the most exotic locations of the world.
