Yet again from the streets….
I was walking on the streets when I got attracted to the aroma of the hamburger patty on the grill, and decided to have a bite. It was an unusual road side stall with a long bench with all the ingredients of the hamburger on top of it and half a dozen people on the other side which is not common in Europe, where one single person will be busy multitasking. A man was behind the BBQ was turning the patty at regular intervals that left the whole street filled with scent of lard.
I ordered a hamburger and the assembly line started. Each one in the stall pointed at different colored sauces and made sure I wanted it on the burger; I said yes to all, it really doesn’t make any difference to me, customizing a burger. One of them wrapped the burger in a colorful napkin and other gave me a plastic cup filled with a pink liquid, which I had not asked for. I stood there for a moment and took a bite of the burger, waiting for someone to tell out a number. It looked like no one is ready to take money from me. Meanwhile I saw, an old lady simply said ‘Tack’ and walked away.
I glanced around, a girl looked like boss of the whole group, and asked her, ‘Don’t I have to pay for this?’ she replied ‘No it’s free!’ She continued that they are from Vaasa, celebrating the start of ‘congregation of Uppsala ***** (I forgot what it is)’, and said few more things about the congregation, which I couldn’t understand.
This was very similar to ‘Maari aatha ku koolu uthurathu’ (Language –Tamil, Maari aatha – Hindu God, Koolu – is a thick liquid made from rice/millet), where the Koolu in huge container, carried on bullock carts and distributed to the public around the streets, in my home town during festivals.
I thought to myself in Sweden they distribute Hamburger, I enjoyed the free, delicious Hamburger, However I couldnt figure out what the pink liquid was, it did not have any taste, may be a Swedish version of ‘Koolu’ J.
