Deepavali preparations

The yearly gathering at my grandparents' house this year saw a smaller group present. Since the majority of the usual "gatherers" have left Penang, the group this year was narrowed down to my sis, two aunts, grandma and me. One week ago, we all gathered to make the all-time favourite "kulcha" - a delicious yet work-consuming delicacy. It takes a long time and a lot of work just to make this "kulcha" but the end result is always satisfying. As I said, it's an all time favourite among the grandkids and also the grown-ups (oldies). And to add, the "kulcha" is a family recipe - no one else knows how to make it!! :-)

Yesterday was 'muruku' making day. One of aunts went to KL and so the group was even smaller. To make matters worse, my sister and mum got sick. Both were vomiting and had diarrhea (food poisoning) and so, that left the group with just three pairs of hands!! My grandma was stationed at the stove, my aunt was in charge of the flour and I had the all important job of pressing and designing the murukus!! [My arms hurt today]

The first batch went well with no incidents. However, at the start of the second batch, something bad happened. The gas pipe that was connected to the stove came out of its place and that started a fire in the kitchen!! Amidst trying to put the fire out and pulling the gas tanks out of the way, my aunt got burned!! Thank God her dress did not catch fire and although she was not in the fire for a long time, her legs got burned. We rushed her to the bathroom and doused cold water all over her legs to stop the pain. There was no peeling skin or anything but she had a blister (the kind you get when you come in contact with an exhaust pipe) on the back of her thigh.

I told my grandma and aunt that we should stop making muruku and that I could do it at home but they refused. We cleaned up the kitchen, threw away the pipe and small gas stove that was used, and promptly got back to work. My aunt was in constant pain as her legs were smarting from the burn but she insistently said she was fine.

We finally finished everything at 1am and my sis and I went home. Today, when I called my aunt to ask how she was, she said that the pain was gone although now, blisters had appeared around her ankles as she had been wearing silver anklets. We took her to the doc for a check-up, where she was given cream and painkillers.

The fire yday really gave all of us a shock. I'm really thankful that nothing seriously bad happened and that everyone is okay!! To think that the whole house could have caught fire!!! I'm really really glad and thankful to God that nothing bad happened!!