PrøvGOLD- Free

Advice to the Young

Reader's Digest India|August 2022
One of the world's most celebrated writers has much to share-though she sometimes wonders whether she should keep her thoughts to herself
- Margaret Atwood
Advice to the Young

What advice would I give the young? I have trouble answering this question. Here's why.

Just before Christmas I was in a cheese store, purchasing some cheese, when a very young man of oh, say, between 40 and 50-entered, manifesting bewilderment. His wife had sent him out to get something called 'meringue sugar, with strict instructions to buy no other kind, and he didn't know what the stuff was and couldn't find it, and nobody in any of the shops he'd so far wandered into had any idea either.

He didn't say this to me. He said it to the cheese shop person. She too appeared to be without a clue as to the meringue sugar mystery. None of this was any concern of mine. I could have should have-simply pursued my own personal goal of cheese acquisition. Instead I found myself saying: "Don't buy icing sugar; that isn't what your wife wants. What she probably wants is something like fruit sugar or berry sugar, which is sometimes called powdered sugar but it isn't really powdered. It's a finer grind than ordinary white sugar, though you'll have a hard time finding it at this time of year. But really, ordinary white sugar works just fine for meringues as long as you beat it in very slowly. I use it all the time myself, and it helps if you add just a tiny bit of cream of tartar and maybe a half teaspoon of white vinegar, and ..." At this point my daughter-who'd succeeded in identifying the required cheese-got me in a hammerlock and dragged me over to the cash register, where a line was building.

"The white vinegar, not the brown!" I called in closing. But I was already appalled at myself. Why had I spewed out all this unasked-for advice to a complete stranger, albeit a helpless and confused one?

Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra August 2022-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9500+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA READER'S DIGEST INDIASe alt
Of Strays and Solace
Reader's Digest India

Of Strays and Solace

Amid monsoon skies and empty shores, the free-roaming dogs on Goa's beaches became my unexpected companions through grief and silence

time-read
3 mins  |
May 2025
POINT TO PONDER
Reader's Digest India

POINT TO PONDER

WE LIVE IN UNCERTAIN TIMES. The craving for certainty is so dominant and so overwhelming that we lose so much of the nuance and mystery and uncertainty that are the wellspring of wonder in life.

time-read
1 min  |
May 2025
A SINKING FEELING
Reader's Digest India

A SINKING FEELING

A mother and daughter are trapped below the deck of a capsized boat. A shrinking air pocket is the only thing keeping them alive

time-read
10+ mins  |
May 2025
STUDIO
Reader's Digest India

STUDIO

Swan Song by Priyesh Trivedi 40 x 30 inches, Oil on canvas

time-read
1 min  |
May 2025
The Scoop on Sunscreen
Reader's Digest India

The Scoop on Sunscreen

FORTUNATELY, THE DAYS of slathering on baby oil and baking in the sun to get an angry burn—are long over.

time-read
1 min  |
May 2025
AN ORCHESTRA FOR EVERYONE
Reader's Digest India

AN ORCHESTRA FOR EVERYONE

COMMUNITY In Gothenburg, Sweden, a free amateur orchestra unites hundreds of people spanning all ages and dozens of nationalities.

time-read
2 mins  |
May 2025
Let the Mystery Be
Reader's Digest India

Let the Mystery Be

I desperately wanted to know who built these wondrous mosaics. But maybe some things are better left unexplained

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2025
Dad's Lists
Reader's Digest India

Dad's Lists

A son turns a page after unearthing his father's notebooks

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2025
13 THINGS Tea Time
Reader's Digest India

13 THINGS Tea Time

POP THE kettle on: 21 May is International Tea Day.

time-read
4 mins  |
May 2025
The Vanishing Masters of Miniature Art
Reader's Digest India

The Vanishing Masters of Miniature Art

Amid Udaipur's quiet alleys, a centuries-old artistic tradition confronts a troubling future as its practitioners compete with slowing demand and digital reproductions

time-read
5 mins  |
May 2025

Vi bruker informasjonskapsler for å tilby og forbedre tjenestene våre. Ved å bruke nettstedet vårt samtykker du til informasjonskapsler. Finn ut mer