Today is one such day when I am feeling desperate to pen down something. I have been secretly reading Judy Balan’s blog all day from office :D and I am addicted! So I got really very inspired by her blog and her dedication to writing unlike me. I pen down something and then wait for my Amma to review it and see if there are any elements which people would disapprove of. Any elements criticising relatives or any part which Amma feels would hurt someone, she asks me, “Why do you have to write such things? Are you trying to establish you are a rebel?” So after my censor board cuts up all the unwanted elements, I post my blog. In a way its good, she looks at it from the point of a critic and I believe that whatever little I can write is because of the genes I inherited from her. But some day, I would write without fear( and get beaten up or disowned by my family )
So the topic for the day: Spoon!!
I remember a time when in school, I used to be so jealous of all the girls who ate lunch with a spoon. It had class! And my Mummy always gave me whatever was made for breakfast as lunch. How do you eat dosa and idli with spoon? Now I know but then I felt soo poor and wished for a day when I could eat food with a spoon. Even at home, my family never used spoon to have food. Normal middle class people! And those girls who brought noodles and bread jam to class were the most stylish people in my eyes. And some girls even ate with a fork. FORK! We didn’t even own a fork then!
Over the years, I totally forgot about these silly things. Maybe because we shamelessly started eating from all the lunchboxes and so spoons were out of question.
I still remember the day when we all went to the new restaurant in our neighbourhood, then called The Fortune. I realised the importance of ‘cutlery’ and that you really should know about all such nonsense(makes no sense to me! Why eat with a spoon when you have hands? You have to anyway wash your hands after eating. So spare the spoons!) Nonsense meaning, the uses of these cutlery and napkins and the courses and how you place the spoon! So it so happened that I ate the food ordered without bothering to look twice at the napkins and spoons and I looked up only when my plate was licked clean. (not literally ;) ) Then I looked at my grandfather. Daddy served in the Indian Navy and they even got a chance to dine with the Queen of England. (If you smell boasting, maybe you’re nose is good enough ;) I was waiting for a platform to blurt this out :D ) So Daddy knows all the ‘nonsense’ I could see all his forks and spoon and knife used and placed in a particular fashion on the plate. His napkin was nowhere on the table. I felt a bit uncomfortable and inferior but the rest of my family also were trying to sneak out the nice looking napkins (Naah! Jus joking ;) ) Then came the waiter with a bowl. And it had a half cut lemon. I had once heard that in the Taj, they charge Rs. 50 for a cup of tea, but you have to make it yourself. And i rolled my eyes! These people! They give you lime juice but wouldn’t squeeze the lemons! I put my hand into the bowl and just as I started squeezing the lemon, Dad called out, “Chinnu, STOP!” I looked at him. “It’s a finger bowl!!” I continued staring at him. Seeing the blank expression on my face, Dad said, “You can wash your hands in that bowl.” I felt so foolish! What if I had made lemon juice and started drinking from my finger bowl? Wouldn’t my entire family be embarrassed to death? Haha! Now I feel so funny! But then, had the shock of my life! But lemon? :(
Life was good for all the years before I joined TCS. At times, when my cousins come down from US, I try not to eat lunch with them as they use forks and I cannot enjoy my meal without making khichdi with the food on my plate and trust me, my plate looks unattractive!
I love Appu when it comes to eating with the spoon. He didn’t know then, but he tries daily and finally ended up being good at it. I still remember, initially, he used to break a piece of cutlet with his hands and then place in on the spoon and then eat! With so much attitude on his face that we would not even dream that the same guy just broke a piece with his HANDS and placed it on the spoon! And when our cousins come down from US even Appu eats with a spoon with so much confidence and style that you would feel that he does the same throughout the year.
Then I joined TCS. During our training we were enlightened about the basic etiquette required for a lunch or dinner and we never got a chance to practice it.
And when I started having food with my friends I realised a lot of things, that you can eat dosa with a fork! What an insult! I once had an idli with my hands and then my supervisor told me, “Gayathri, they have kept forks there.” And I looked at him with a huge question mark which read So? Then I realised, you are supposed to eat with a fork/ spoon. Even idli! How rude! Being very frank I get irritated when people just dip the idli in sambar and have it! People, you get sooo much sambar so that you can bathe the idli in the sambar and eat it. Not to dip it for a half second and eat the idli! So I started eating my food with a fork and spoon half heartedly.
Sorry! Got carried away!
Life challenges you when you have to go to some fancy restaurant and you love non-veg food! I know how to eat the starters with a fork, but what about the “boneful” chicken? How do you eat that with a fork? At such moments, you smile outside and cry inside and refuse to eat it! ;) No! I don’t like this (coz it has a bone in it!)
If you look closely at my photos taken during these outings, you can see pain in my eyes! All those types of chicken smiling at me and I just turn my face at them! :P
I returned to college ie Kerala and things were really cool. I now know to eat noodles with a fork and spoon, I manage boneless chicken and similar items quite well. I know what to do with the napkins. I know how to place the forks and spoons after using it. If you plan to use it again, it should be kept in one position and if you are done it should be placed in another style! Phew!!
But in Kerala, if you have normal friends, you can survive without fork and spoon.
But fate had other plans. I returned to Bangalore for internship and my office provides lunch! And it is free.. Good thing na? But not really.
Enter spoon! :( This time, my friends eat MANGOES with a spoon! :( :(
I hate life! Mangoes? How can you do this to mangoes? They must be cut into pieces and eaten, maybe with your fork. But if it still has the skin on and it has been cut into pieces, then you use your hands and teeth to eat it! But here people scrape it with a spoon and insult the mango. People you have teeth for the same scraping purpose and you get happiness too! Noone has watched Maaza Katrina ad kya?
Now at this old age, I realise that cutlery has a very important role to play in ones life! I would respect you if you knew all your forks and knives and used them properly and double the respect if you eat a ‘boneful’ chicken piece with fork.
I really have to learn all this. But how? At home, I wouldn’t dare to go near cutlery. The happiness you get when you eat your food with your hands cannot be replaced with any happiness in the world.
So i think Ill have to continue looking dumb or trying to copy the others around my table and see how things are done :P
I’m like this only! :D
So the topic for the day: Spoon!!
I remember a time when in school, I used to be so jealous of all the girls who ate lunch with a spoon. It had class! And my Mummy always gave me whatever was made for breakfast as lunch. How do you eat dosa and idli with spoon? Now I know but then I felt soo poor and wished for a day when I could eat food with a spoon. Even at home, my family never used spoon to have food. Normal middle class people! And those girls who brought noodles and bread jam to class were the most stylish people in my eyes. And some girls even ate with a fork. FORK! We didn’t even own a fork then!
Over the years, I totally forgot about these silly things. Maybe because we shamelessly started eating from all the lunchboxes and so spoons were out of question.
I still remember the day when we all went to the new restaurant in our neighbourhood, then called The Fortune. I realised the importance of ‘cutlery’ and that you really should know about all such nonsense(makes no sense to me! Why eat with a spoon when you have hands? You have to anyway wash your hands after eating. So spare the spoons!) Nonsense meaning, the uses of these cutlery and napkins and the courses and how you place the spoon! So it so happened that I ate the food ordered without bothering to look twice at the napkins and spoons and I looked up only when my plate was licked clean. (not literally ;) ) Then I looked at my grandfather. Daddy served in the Indian Navy and they even got a chance to dine with the Queen of England. (If you smell boasting, maybe you’re nose is good enough ;) I was waiting for a platform to blurt this out :D ) So Daddy knows all the ‘nonsense’ I could see all his forks and spoon and knife used and placed in a particular fashion on the plate. His napkin was nowhere on the table. I felt a bit uncomfortable and inferior but the rest of my family also were trying to sneak out the nice looking napkins (Naah! Jus joking ;) ) Then came the waiter with a bowl. And it had a half cut lemon. I had once heard that in the Taj, they charge Rs. 50 for a cup of tea, but you have to make it yourself. And i rolled my eyes! These people! They give you lime juice but wouldn’t squeeze the lemons! I put my hand into the bowl and just as I started squeezing the lemon, Dad called out, “Chinnu, STOP!” I looked at him. “It’s a finger bowl!!” I continued staring at him. Seeing the blank expression on my face, Dad said, “You can wash your hands in that bowl.” I felt so foolish! What if I had made lemon juice and started drinking from my finger bowl? Wouldn’t my entire family be embarrassed to death? Haha! Now I feel so funny! But then, had the shock of my life! But lemon? :(
Life was good for all the years before I joined TCS. At times, when my cousins come down from US, I try not to eat lunch with them as they use forks and I cannot enjoy my meal without making khichdi with the food on my plate and trust me, my plate looks unattractive!
I love Appu when it comes to eating with the spoon. He didn’t know then, but he tries daily and finally ended up being good at it. I still remember, initially, he used to break a piece of cutlet with his hands and then place in on the spoon and then eat! With so much attitude on his face that we would not even dream that the same guy just broke a piece with his HANDS and placed it on the spoon! And when our cousins come down from US even Appu eats with a spoon with so much confidence and style that you would feel that he does the same throughout the year.
Then I joined TCS. During our training we were enlightened about the basic etiquette required for a lunch or dinner and we never got a chance to practice it.
And when I started having food with my friends I realised a lot of things, that you can eat dosa with a fork! What an insult! I once had an idli with my hands and then my supervisor told me, “Gayathri, they have kept forks there.” And I looked at him with a huge question mark which read So? Then I realised, you are supposed to eat with a fork/ spoon. Even idli! How rude! Being very frank I get irritated when people just dip the idli in sambar and have it! People, you get sooo much sambar so that you can bathe the idli in the sambar and eat it. Not to dip it for a half second and eat the idli! So I started eating my food with a fork and spoon half heartedly.
Sorry! Got carried away!
Life challenges you when you have to go to some fancy restaurant and you love non-veg food! I know how to eat the starters with a fork, but what about the “boneful” chicken? How do you eat that with a fork? At such moments, you smile outside and cry inside and refuse to eat it! ;) No! I don’t like this (coz it has a bone in it!)
If you look closely at my photos taken during these outings, you can see pain in my eyes! All those types of chicken smiling at me and I just turn my face at them! :P
I returned to college ie Kerala and things were really cool. I now know to eat noodles with a fork and spoon, I manage boneless chicken and similar items quite well. I know what to do with the napkins. I know how to place the forks and spoons after using it. If you plan to use it again, it should be kept in one position and if you are done it should be placed in another style! Phew!!
But in Kerala, if you have normal friends, you can survive without fork and spoon.
But fate had other plans. I returned to Bangalore for internship and my office provides lunch! And it is free.. Good thing na? But not really.
Enter spoon! :( This time, my friends eat MANGOES with a spoon! :( :(
I hate life! Mangoes? How can you do this to mangoes? They must be cut into pieces and eaten, maybe with your fork. But if it still has the skin on and it has been cut into pieces, then you use your hands and teeth to eat it! But here people scrape it with a spoon and insult the mango. People you have teeth for the same scraping purpose and you get happiness too! Noone has watched Maaza Katrina ad kya?
Now at this old age, I realise that cutlery has a very important role to play in ones life! I would respect you if you knew all your forks and knives and used them properly and double the respect if you eat a ‘boneful’ chicken piece with fork.
I really have to learn all this. But how? At home, I wouldn’t dare to go near cutlery. The happiness you get when you eat your food with your hands cannot be replaced with any happiness in the world.
So i think Ill have to continue looking dumb or trying to copy the others around my table and see how things are done :P
I’m like this only! :D
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