Page 36 - Masala Lite Issue 155 November 2023

36 MUSINGS OF AN AUNTY LOOKING FOR A COMMEMORATIVE CHALLENGE

Venturing Beyond Comfort Zones

Dolly Koghar is still questioning who she really is, despite her many decades.

Not everyone born hangs wannabe,’ finally came true. Then, at 70, I survived a
around for six dozen of mini-stroke, which I’m convinced was brought on by
years, something I’d have the COVID-19 vaccines pushed on to us!
done by this month’s end.
Nevertheless, it feels like Consequently, with less years ahead of me, I surprised
it was just yesterday when myself at 71 by stepping out of my identity as
on the spur of the moment, greysheep@anti.social.com, which happened to be
I walked into a tattoo shop in my second-earliest e-mail address. While innocently
MBK, and got the nose pin I’d accompanying Bollywood actor-wanna-be hubby dear
always wanted. I was 50. Then to a shoot as an extra in a full-length, Thai-Indian
at 60, I decided I’d go grey and risk production, I was asked to join the bandwagon.
looking like a skunk, since anyway, I’m not I blinked and said, “OK!” The movie is ready and
social. Not caring how I was viewed gained me the being streamed on Amazon Prime from the 16th of
spunk to face my dread of heights and amusement November. Please see if you can find us amongst the
park rides, because of which I’d always stood by 100s of extras in Congrats My Ex! After the movie, we
foolishly looking up at hubby dear and the kids got gutsier and went on to do some ads, in which if
screaming with glee on the likes of the Viking Ship or you blinked, you’d miss us. those lost days, or let them stay in the long ago past,
the gravity-defying Drop Tower. where they belong? On this walk, did I find out who I
My journey has been inimitable; as is true for every was, or who I’ve become, or who I would have liked to
Consequently, at the family trip to Pattaya to living being, whether a person, the ant, or the become? I have not found an answer, and may never
celebrate my 60th, I announced I wanted to mighty dinosaurs that are no more. We each thread find one, even if I live another decade. Meanwhile,
parasail; the expressions around me were worth a a narrow single lane, and along the way, weave our thus far, I’ve spent my life planning for that ‘someday’
million words! I was ecstatic, as I was lifted off into own stories, unique and dissimilar. I walked my and before I knew it, that someday became today, and
the bright, sunny sky once the speedboat gained own winding road, and wonder what transpired then without me noticing it, the ‘someday’ crept into
momentum! I’d beaten my fear, and for once, it was between the ‘then’ and ‘now’. Was it just a case of, I the yesterday of my past. One day, that ‘someday’
hubby dear and the kids, and their kids, who were came; I ate; I cried a lot, laughed a little, sang in the for which I’ve waited so long will be in the long past,
standing on the barge below me, wringing their bathroom, loved with expectations, and gave with without ever being lived. Because I lived fearful and
hands, sure that with my penchant for swooning, I’d expectations; and didn’t stop to smell the roses. If worried of the possibility of the sky falling on me any
fainted – but I didn’t, although I have no intentions of I let the days of my childhood go without watching moment – when the reality is, it’s held up, till now,
repeating that escapade! the fluffy white clouds in the then-clear blue skies 72 years on! However, for the immediate now, I’m
float above the buffalos ploughing the rice paddies; looking for a dare to commemorate the six dozenth
At 67, I ‘came-out’ as a writer and started this or without enjoying rides in the Datsun cabs with year of my life with which to shock the family!
column, for the then-infant Masala Lite, and my leaky and rusted flooring in the rainy seasons of what
earliest e-mail address, which had the words ‘writer- we thought were bad traffic jams. Should I pine for

We want to offer those who enter Starita
a unique gastronomic experience: soft
wheat flour, natural leavening, hand-
rolling, Made in Italy ingredients. And
cooking in a wood oven, which for us
is a philosophy, something to defend.
On the occasion of the Jubilee of 2000
we paid homage to Pope John Paul II
with our pizza, delivered in a typical
stove formerly used for transport.

OUR METHOD NOW INTRODUCING:
Over the years we have received recognition from newspapers and food guides such as The
Guardian, Gambero Rosso, Michelin Guide, and today more than ever we want to convey HOMEMADE PASTA: SEAFOOD DISHES:

the dedication and passion we put into every dough • Tagliatelle • Seafood soup
This is Starita, which invites you to rediscover festive and full flavours, a method made of • Tagliolini • Pasta seafood
simplicity and wisdom, a place where you can feel at home. • Ravioli • Tuna steak
Join us at Starita to discover new vegetarian dishes such as Tomato pesto & Pesto genovese • Tuna tartare
• Salmon steak

Ground Floor, Oakwood Residences Thonglor, 113 Sukhumvit Rd,
Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110 Bangkok, Thailand 10110

MASAL A LITE ISSUE 155 - NOVEMBER 202 3