Celebrity Column | Ducky Tales, writes Maria Goretti

This being Holy Week for Christians all around the world, it means that this Sunday is Easter. And you know that means Easter eggs, bunnies and a table full of yummy food since most Christians fast or abstain from what they love during the 40 days of Lent.

Many years ago, I tried fasting. What ensued was not very nice. My sister Juliet had to  bring me back from church because I had not eaten breakfast and that did not work for me at all. I had a blackout but thought that I was going blind and my sugar levels dropped. Since I had never ever stayed away from food before, all this was alien to my well-fed  body, that was having a small civil war. As soon as I reached home, I ate a hearty breakfast and all was well in my world again. Since then, my mom figured that just like her, I could not fast at all, or stay hungry and this legacy of being perennially hungry  has been passed down to my son, Zeke.

As a child, I remember, we would start cooking for Easter, during Holy Week. Now, my family  turns vegetarian during Lent, with the exception of fish — because like Bengalis, we believe that fish is the fruit of the water — but we don’t eat any other meat. My grandma, who normally had her own kitchen, would then join my mum and preparations for  Easter lunch would start in full force.

Then, of course, was the making of marzipan for the Easter eggs. My mom was not someone who made marzipan or milk cream. And here’s why: she had made milk-cream once and it ended up looking like hard, brown laddoos that we would crack with a hammer. I still haven’t figured out what she actually did or did not do. Milk-cream was a sore subject  and was never tried again.

But my mom used to find really ingenious ways to make us eat eggs. I remember... one year,  she boiled eggs and then painted each one really artistically, and laid them on the table for breakfast. We could not believe our luck, we were going to start our day with gobbling Easter eggs. But as soon as we laid our hands on them, we discovered that they  were the real deal… Dammit!

I have never really liked eggs or for that matter, milk, unless they were part of a cake  or an ice-cream. But the one dish I always remember every Easter, is Duck Moile.

So, as usual, my home was buzzing with food, and mum, dad and uncle Casho were busy in the kitchen with Grandma Agnes. All kinds of things were being stirred,  fried, boiled and getting rolled out. When bang in the middle of it all, we got a pet. A little duck, that we named “Ducky” so as not to be confused with Hen-ny and Roosty, the other residents in our garden.

Well, we played with Ducky in the garden and Ducky got chased by the other hens in the coop  (my grandmother insisted we only eat eggs from the hens we rear). It was constant chaos, the duck would walk into the coop and come running out, wings flaying and quacking nine to a dozen, being chased by the hens, while the elders in the house did not even flinch. But we were most fascinated with our new pet that was being given special food every day.

On Easter evening or Holy Saturday, my sister and I were given the special hair dryer,  a set of curlers and hairspray that came out annually, and we would get busy with trying to curl our straight hair. Several hours later, we looked really weird, with the amount of spray we put into our hair (and still no curls), but a small dent here or there  in our tresses.

We all then dressed up and went for Mass. When we got back, it was coffee and cake. The  next morning, we woke up late and went about distributing sweets and wishing all our neighbours. 

By the time it was lunch, we all sat and thanked God for the food on the table. We were so busy that we failed to realise that we could not hear the hens chasing our new pet, when somewhere in between bites of Easter lunch, my grandma Agnes very nonchalantly mentioned, “The Duck Moile has turned out the best this time.” I think my sister and I had a mini heart attack sitting at that table.

The elders of our family had eaten up our pet. I don’t think we got over that for a very  long time. But then, we were explained about the circle of life and how life went on.

So, Happy Easter in advance, everyone. And let’s not judge one another by what’s on the other’s plate, in fact, just don’t judge at all. Let’s accept one another for all the love each of us carries in our hearts (which is far more important). As for me, I learnt that one person’s pet could be another’s tasty morsel.