Yesterday I went to bakery shop. It was Sunday and I decided to visit Miss Lawrence. I think you will remember her. She is the lady whom I visit on weekends. She lives all alone at the end of road. It was her birthday yesterday and I decided to take some pastries for her.

The moment I entered the shop, I was completely confused. There were endless kinds of pastries on display. I was very fazed. They all looked so rich and tasty in flavour. I had never thought the task of choosing a pastry will turn out so difficult.

I remember the good old times as a child when me and my sister used to run down to the old bakery shop in our neighbourhood. It was the only one at that time. During our growing up years there were no malls or big shops around. The little bakery shop was our destination on the days we wanted to celebrate by eating something special.

The little bakery shop stocked only one kind of pastry. That was the simple vanilla pastry with a pineapple slice on top. My definition of pastry somehow has been limited to that simple pastry only. It is the tastiest pastry in this entire world. I remember me and my sister used to fight for the pineapple slice. Most of the times- my sister would let me have it.

Now when I look around, there are so many pastries. I talked to the guy on the counter and he smiled gently after knowing about my ignorance. He told me that some of the most famous pastries are- shortcut pastry, puff pastry, flaky pastry, choux pastry, phyllo pastry......

Frankly speaking, I was amazed at how much thought and effort has been put by people in a thing like pastry. It delights me to no end. It shows how every single thing can be made different and special- by working upon it and pastries are no exception. This is simply great.

Yes- the good old days of vanilla-pineapple pastry were good but today’s day has it’s own charm. I decided to get something special and different for Miss Lawrence. The guy on the counter recommended an Italian pastry called Bigne. He said it is very tasty.

So an Italian pastry I chose and marched happily to Miss Lawrence’s house smiling widely.

The ‘common man’ wished Miss Lawrence a very happy birthday. She was so happy to see the strange pastry. It was no less than a feast to her. Both Common man and Miss Lawrence ate the pastries together and felt very good.