The school’s annual sports day was something that we all waited for. The annual sports meet would have the Houses coming to the fore with the school’s top sportsmen all ready to battle it out. We took our sports seriously.
Athletics and track and field events were the main draw and the races and relays would have us all enthralled, but the one thing that everyone waited for was the cycling race at the end — the grand finale! The track took a lot of preparation through the months leading up to the sports day but after the events were over and the runners’ spikes had ravaged the track, it did not have much to offer to the cycles that came on later. Our cycles were prepped like formula one cars — each and every little bolt was cleaned and polished.
Waxpolled chrome glistened in the fading rays of the setting sun. The bikes would come onto the tracks to thunderous applause from all the students. It was a moment of reckoning. The Reds were the champions last year and my teammates were counting on me to retain the championship.
But there was a hitch — there were only six tracks for twelve bikers! A couple of false starts and the excitement was becoming palpable. The roar around the racetrack was deafening. With sweaty palms, furiously thumping hearts and nerves strung like taut guitar strings, we waited for the gun to go off. I heard the bang as I was trying to calm my mind and in the mad scramble to get on to my bike, I slipped and fell. With eleven riders ahead of me I was the last to complete the first lap.
Eight more laps to go, I put my head down and pedaled furiously. With four laps to go I was coming in third. I pedaled as though my life was at stake. On the final lap, around the bend, I shot past the only rider ahead of me. I finished like a champion, with raised fists.
At the victory stand, I remember the Chief Guest saying, “Well done, that was an outstanding finish!” Many years later, I had the pleasure of serving him dinner, and after dessert he called for the chef and said the same words that I had heard as a schoolboy, “That was an outstanding finish!”
In kitchens, it’s the phenomenally talented bakers, confectioners and halwais that create those wows at the end of the meal and for their talent I have the highest regard. What’s a meal worth if you can’t end it well?
Desserts in hotels and high-end restaurants pan the spectrum of classical to ultra modern and chic with as many as five or more elements on a plate. Modern chefs like to lead, mislead and deceive. It’s not uncommon to find a mousse, an ice cream, a crispy croquant, a jelly and a fruit something all rolled into one spectacular composition. At home we may find these a tad cumbersome if not tough. Here are some of the ‘outstanding finishes’ you can make but the best part is that each of these has endless possibilities for you to innovate with and create your own masterpieces!
Mandaar Sukhtankar is Executive Chef, The Park, Hyderabad
