Introduction

I have never been to Chembur but I know its in Mumbai. It is well connected to Colaba and Navi Mumbai. Highways which can take you to Bangalore or to Delhi. You can go anywhere from Chembur. The word Chembur reminds me of Chamber, a room which is Chamber like. And for me a Chamber is a room filled with cushions, walls with cushions on them, red coloured. It’s like a small amphitheater room.

I’m not from Chembur. That is for sure. And i want to go to MAR DUNGAA where the owner of the shop will kill you but instead you come out eating South Indian Food. Chembur also has a place for pottery. it has a kiln and next to the kiln which heats up extraordinary temperatures ranging to 1260 degree centigrade, there is a diamond park. The park is shaped like a diamond but none of the trees have any diamonds.

As you walk in the city, you can hear the clay being pounded to get the air bubbles out. As you walk more, you can reach stores where deadly security guards will not let you go anywhere. They ask for your vaccine certificates. This is Chembur.

Yesterday

I had put the spoon in my mouth and tasted something. My taste buds, or my sensation of taste made me experience something i ate. If i begin by saying, it was tasty, it would be an incomplete statement. It had a taste which i liked. The message received from Chembur headquarters were – PLEASURE AND FEAR. The question that i had asked from Delhi branch office was :

Me: Sir, Gagan from Delhi branch

HQ: Ok. Over and Out

Me: Sir, I tasted something and it felt so good. If i die tomorrow, then What difference does it make if it tasted good or bad ?

HQ: PLEASURE AND FEAR (1:06 am).

Me: Thank you Sir ( full salute )

I would like to expand this thought and also give more meaning to what i said. Afterwards I will re submit to the head quarters to Sir who is heading the Clay department at the All India institute of Clay management. Sir is an expert in clay handling and can convert clay into magical forms.

Expansion

If i say, that i tasted something, what i mean to also say, is that it is me who tasted something. and my existence only matters if i share this information to someone. Other wise i do not exist. If no one knows me, then i will not exist. And so if i tasted something, it’s only me who experienced that taste which can not be passed over to anyone. I can not transfer this taste. I can only share it or say it to the other. And I can experience it and be dead the very next moment, then what was this experience of living and tasting. Tasting or to taste is a sensorial event. It is something i wanted to experience. Or I am habitual of doing. I want to do it. I will take a bite into that biscuit and eat it and taste the vanilla flavour, the biscuits outer crust, the sweetness, the bite and chewing and then swallowing of it. Once it enters my neck pipe, i can no longer taste it. I have never heard my guts saying, oh this is so tasty. They are busy doing something of which i have no sensation of. I am here only expanding the idea of the taste and death.

The tasting did not make any sense. And so i had to message Sir at head quarters. My mind at 12 midnight was needing a conversation and i could trust the wisdom of Sir who has years of experience of clay beating. he beats clay, then heats it and makes something out it. I knew he will send me something to chew on.

This article has two parts, Tasting and death. Death means what just happened ? I am dead and i can not tell anyone that i tasted something. I am dead, i am no more. I do not exist, but what was i doing by enjoying the pleasure of that taste? Is that all I do ? I keep tasting things without realising i am seeking pleasure, not knowing that the next moment is death. This also brings in the idea of hunger. I am hungry. I need something to eat and i will eat only when it is tasty. You will never see me eating the tyre of a car or a leaf of a tree or sand. I will eat what i like. What gives me taste, pleasure. And i suppose what Sir meant my Fear was, the fear of death. Now that is scary. Of not existing is scary and yes i fear that. Maybe i don’t know my fear or what is a state of fear. And i wrote that what if i die the next day, the next moment and i don’t say, what if these two moments came together. I can not be seeking pleasure when i know i am about to die. I think i might not feel hungry in those moments. Maybe Sir is right.

Conclusion

The taste buds and this body are being misguided. It is a misalignment and just like how you take your car for service and the tyres are aligned ( not eaten ). There is an urgent need to fix this taste bud issue. I will again send message to Chembur and seek guidance for the same. Maybe there is a way to align them so that there is a better tuning between hunger, tasting, death. Maybe we can taste death and say, so tasty.