I was googling to find a picture of the 'ideal' rolling pin for me...the ideal one for me is the rolling pin in my mom's house, I used till I got married...it's a black, one piece cylindrical wood which tapers symmetrically at both ends, about a foot in length and a diameter of one inch at the ends and maybe two inches in the centre.
When I googled this description of 'cylindrical wood, tapering at both ends' the computer threw up 'Fidget sticks' and I discovered how to play with these fidget sticks and also got a free history lesson about the lady who invented the fidget spinner 20 years ago, patented it...but did not renew the patent and now she's losing out millions of dollars as the toy became a hit after her patent ran out! I felt really bad for her.
I discovered that the rolling pin that I want is called the 'French-style' rolling pin. The ideal rolling pin in my childhood home however is shorter in length and thicker in the centre than the French-style ones I saw online.
I would love to get someone with a lathe-machine to make one for me...if they would charge a reasonable price and make one in Toronto.
I recall we were using the word 'Rathudi' for the rolling pin. Now I can't find the word Rathudi online! Apparently, the Kannada word for this is Lattanige. I wonder where my family found this word rathudi for rolling pin! Is Rathudi a Marathi word which slipped into north Karnataka-Kannada and my family picked it from there? I don't know.
I have also not seen the type of rolling pin in my mom's home in anyone else's house! None of my neighbours, relatives have this type. I wonder where my family got this one.
There are some things from childhood, one seems to want and miss in middle age. This type of rolling pin is one such desirable object, for me!
I see many types of rolling pins in the shops of Toronto. Wood ones and marble ones from India. Heavy ones and light ones. Thick ones and thin ones. But I just can't seem to find the French-style rolling pins anywhere here. And the French-style ones I see online are too long and not thick enough where my palms would rest, to roll it.
Why this craving and futile search for something I can't get? Especially since, I am right now, managing pretty well with another rolling pin? Is it because the chase for something difficult-to-get gives me some purpose? I am sure that, if and when I do get it, the thrill would be short-lived and the 'ideal rolling-pin' would recede to the back-burner in my brain.
Am I hunting for something elusive simply because I am enjoying spending time searching for it? Or because I really need it and it would make a BIG difference in my life?
Do I need to 'find something to chase', once in a while, just to keep my mind engaged doing something enjoyable? I think so. Finding what I want, after a long chase, is the the end of a journey, when the journey was more fun than the destination!
The other hunts I am currently engaged in are:
(1) the right pillow for my neck and head. (However with regard to this, the finding will be more fun than the search...my neck and head are just not happy with the pillow I have now!)
(2)weaver bird nest(but it should be an abandoned nest . I don't want to hurt any birds by taking away a current-lived in one
(3) Many books I have read but don't own...like the abe Liberman series and Modesty Blaise graphic novels. I know I can get them online but I want to find them 'cheap' in goodwill stores.
(4) My grandmother had got a pair of 'Gods', carved of a black wood, one male and one female from Tirupathi, about 90 years ago. The Goddess idol broke when the roof crashed during heavy rains in my village. I want to find the Goddess one, to go with the surviving male idol. However, the style of carving the deities changed and now one can find the crudely carved 'pattada bombe' in Tirupathi (and even in Bangalore and other places). The old style carving which was better is simply not available now. I know I will never ever find this one but this is one pleasant thing I fantasize of to pass time! I have not seen a similar pair in anyone else's home, though I am sure people bought similar pairs at the same time my grandmother did.
(5)Hunt for one book, missing in a series, i.e. Arabian nights by Richard Burton. I lost one of a set of 16. I found them in a second hand bookstore in california but I could not recall which volume was missing!
(6)Hunt for Andy Capp comics without words
(7)Hunt for Billy Bunter books, which I dont have. But I know for sure, I won't read if I get it. Why do I still want them? Damn! I am a hoarder!
(8)Hunt for The Lockhorns comic books I don't already have. These are the funniest comics I have ever read.
(9)Hunt for old copies of the Illustrated weekly of India: for many reasons like the amazing short stories with fantastic illustrations by really gifted artists, the comic sections, even the ads which make me feel so nostalgic! I hate the current day ads...I should have died in peace before 1980. Around 1980s, so much changed in India and I don't like this change... change in literature, art, illustrations, ads, etc in India
(10)Indian reader's digests: I loved the stories, jokes, articles, the paintings on the cover, the ads. Then it changed in 1980s and I did not like it anymore.
(11)pre-1980s copies of Debonair magazines(or pre-1990?) I know this is supposedly a 'dirty' magazine, but the short stories were 'not dirty' and were great. The articles were thought provoking and not shallow like in the rest of the popular magazines.
(12) to find rare sea shells on the beach, dead and empty...I don't want to kill something just to grab it's shell.
(13) to find treasures 'by accident' like in old attics, salvation army stores, garage sales like coins from ancient or British India, old stamps, old hard bound books, carved antiques. Better still to find buried in land or washed up on the beach!
(14)
