I wonder when, why and who fed milk to cats the first time? Because cats and milk just don’t gel – in fact milk tastes like sewer water especially after a whisker-smacking fish meal. But then, we are fed milk all the time and we lap it up because often, that is the only thing we stray […]
I wonder when, why and who fed milk to cats the first time? Because cats and milk just don’t gel – in fact milk tastes like sewer water especially after a whisker-smacking fish meal. But then, we are fed milk all the time and we lap it up because often, that is the only thing we stray cats get.
But there is one good thing that happened because of my drinking (milk) habit – which is Pintoo got to keep his job at the ice-cream factory.
Pintoo (20) came to Mumbai last year to make a life. A handsome guy, he went through the grind of looking for jobs and when none came by, he joined his Uncle’s ice-cream factory which is on the ground floor of the Champaklal building, where I stay.
One one of my strolls at night, I saw Pintoo for the first time, sitting alone in a dark corner. His looked depressed and in front of him were empty pails with milk spilt all over. I reiterate that I don’t like milk but since that was a no-food day (PaGaLGuY office is closed on Sundays), I ventured close.
Pintoo looked up but didn’t move. I went closer. He kept staring at me but did not lift his hand to shoo me away. I decided to go for it and just went lapping up all the milk. He kept staring. Finally he said: “Good, at least someone likes my ice-cream.”
“I am having it because I am hungry or would not have touched it by a barge-pole,” I replied.
“Why, is it so bad,” he asked and I nodded some 3 times to get the point across. Pintoo went on to tell me that his Uncle had sacked him because he just could not make tasty ice-cream.
I felt sad for him and decided to lend a helping hand. Have learnt a bit about ice-cream since I often watch the guys making it. They’ve been giving me the leftovers as well, so I know the taste too.
I went through his ice-cream cooking process and found out his errors. One, he was using the same quantity of sugar replacer as sugar, which is wrong since sugar replacers like honey, etc are sweeter. Also he was adding a tablespoon of gelatin to a liter of the mixture when he should be adding only a teaspoon.
We made the next pail of ice-cream together and just for larks added a good measure of cream. Boy, the ice-cream was delicious. We both had a cup each.
Pintoo could not thank me enough – he lifted me, cuddled me and kissed me – all of which I hate.
The day ended well. Pintoo’s Uncle loved the ice-cream. I was not so hungry and Pintoo had his job back.
