Part of the fun of the free market: you can't (fully) predict what's coming
Image by Wikimedia Commons
In a free-flowing Substack essay, Samridhi Ranjan pays homage to all the things that don't have a formula. That don't turn out the same way every time. The joys of life that (like the Valley's market itself) get tousled by the wind, molded by human touch, and transformed into something unique before returning to us.
There is no recipe. There never was. I have never made Maggi the same way twice, and yet somehow, every time, it tastes like the quiet reassurance I desperately need, that soft, warm balm on restless nights or fractured days. Sometimes it’s a wild, chaotic mess of fiery schezwan and creamy mayo, like an unfiltered scream against the bitterness that’s gnawed at me all day. Other times, it’s soft tomatoes and melting cheese, mild and gentle, a hug from the inside, whispered promises that you’re safe here. ...
The kitchen smells like a blend of burnt butter, sharp spices, and the faint metallic bite of the old gas stove’s flame. My fingers tingle from the heat, the steam rising in soft tendrils that catch the dim light, blurring the edges of my blurred thoughts. The sharp clang of the pan lid, the whisper of water boiling, the hiss as the noodles hit the pot, all soundtracks to this quiet symphony I perform when I feel most scattered.
I stand there, tired, buzzing, lonely, or quietly at peace. The act is never planned; it is instinctual. Without thinking, I snap the noodles in half, watching the pale strands scatter like fragile threads, and I let the water boil away the day’s weight. I don’t measure. I don’t follow rules. I don’t try to control the outcome. Somehow, this imperfect process always yields a kind of comfort, a ritual of presence, a small act of self-love in the chaos.
Then I sit down, often cross-legged on the cold floor, the bowl warm against my palms, its steam fogging my glasses, a small moment of solace between my restless heart and my ragged breath. I eat slowly, gratefully, savoring every bite like it is the first warm thing I have let myself feel all day.
This simple bowl of noodles, this ‘just Maggi’, is never really just about food. It is a sanctuary, a pause, a witness to all the versions of myself I have been. ...
I think about the people who are like Maggi in my life — constants, ever-changing, never exactly the same twice, but always there when I need them. They are the ones who don’t need perfect timing or conditions to show up. They meet me exactly where I am, even when I’m a mess, even when I have no recipe for how to be loved. They offer comfort that shifts and adapts, never stale, never rigid just like my midnight bowls. Some days, they are fiery and intense, pushing me to feel deeper and fight harder. Other days, soft and soothing, a quiet presence that says I’m here without needing to fix or explain. Like Maggi, they don’t ask for perfection; they ask only for presence.
I have learned that comfort isn’t sameness. It’s recognition. It’s the way something or someone familiar can surprise you, meet you exactly where you are, not where it was last time. The people I hold close are like that. They change with me. They grow with me. They sometimes taste different, feel different, but in every encounter, I am held. I am seen. I am loved. ...
I used to believe comfort came only from repetition, from recreating the same moments perfectly, from chasing versions of myself I thought were better or stronger. But this simple ritual of making Maggi showed me the truth: comfort lives in imperfection. It lives in the messy, the unpredictable, the warm chaos of being human.
No two bowls of Maggi have ever been the same, and no two moments with those who are constants in my life ever are. Yet both nourish me deeply ...
And so, I don’t chase perfection anymore, not in my noodles, not in myself, not in those I love. I embrace the wild, beautiful variety of what we bring to the table.
Read the whole thing here.
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