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Smorgasboard



It was during my initial year of graduation when I took notice of this word in the small preety wall bulletin near Mohapatra Sir's cabin. I almost had knocked Sir's cabin, I wanted to know the meaning of the word and I didn't have a smart phone nor an internet connection back then to bring home a world of dot coms. But, I being the hesitant girl I was, I retraced back to class carrying that word in my head. I quietly jotted down the word in the last page of my notebook, it has stayed there till today.

I won't tell you the literal meaning for it would miss my context. I would often run to that preety board to see what it held for the day, there would be interesting bits of write ups, fun facts and comic sketches from the students. One mundane day, sir caught me looking intensely at the board and told me the story behind it. I being the story monger, lit up at the idea.

Sir, is a world traveller, he has been to remote and distant places. He being the person he is, takes notice of minute things. It was during one of his visits when while eating "moongfali", he took notice of this particular word in the newspaper wrap he held and an idea hit him. Sir, has this habit of reading everything that meets his eye, be it an ingredients list of an eatable or a piece of paper that foils moongfali. Just like this word which literally means dishes in a buffet style, he thought of coming up with a wall bulletin which would allow students to pin whatever they wanted: academic or non academic.

Fast forward, this January as I was juggling through the streets of Pondicherry, a particular street vendor caught my attention. She was a lady who had a huge range of books for display: a smorgasboard of books, if I am allowed to say so. Upon closer look, I found most of the books were foreign editions. Perhaps, those were native to the huge number of foreign travellers who brought in books from their respective lands. I went crazy at the sight and settled for this particular book Summer Island by Kristin Hannah which I got for fifty bucks!

Nah, I am not going to talk about the book today. Perhaps i would do that once I finish reading it off. Today, let smorgasboard get all the attention it deserves as a word.

For no particular reason, I miss being in that street corner with the swarm of books. Let me miss it a little more until I visit next time.



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