“Did you like the Pizza Sir?” : A voice came from behind my head from waiter boy at pizza hut. “Ya absolutely, we enjoyed our pizza, especially the cheese toppings were delicious!” I replied in american ascent, something which I had gained just for kicks by watching loads of pirated hollywood movies !
But I had this deep thought...switching over to my original UK style.No No it’s not United Kingdom English, but my original Uttara Karnataka accent from the American ascent... en pizza no eno? namma hubballi-dharwad avarege jwaladda rotti, badnikaye palye, menacinahindi, kotra eshto khushi aage bidteve....esht divasa aat nodu tinlarada. Baddemaga....ondu tundu bread piece kottu myala eno palle haaki, bissie made noora aivathu rupaye bill hachtaan....ishta rokkadaga mane mande ella oota maadbahudittu...meaning for people from north Karnataka would like to have Jowar roti & brinjal curry, red chilli chutney which makes us delighted as its our food style. What's there in a circular piece of bread to overprice it to Rs 150, whole family could dine with with Rs 150.
As I am not a foodie, I generally tend to enjoy eating anything in veg served with love. People tend to enjoy the food from the area they originate from probably because of the emotional factor involved with it. They connect to the people there, lifestyles, food styles etc, thus making eating a pleasurable experience. You may not admire to the extent when you daily eat your ethnic food items, but when you have it after many days...you certainly will love it lot after missing it for sometime.
You know, when i was a kid, my mom used to tell interesting stories while she tried to make me eat. i can still remember the story of probably because i listened to it like over a million times ...may be was my favorite then ! Dad was coming to home from office after hard work & getting Mishra Pedha laddu or sweets for home. He met an ant on way which was a kind of our family friend. the ant asked about family members about me etc, this basically included the day to day activities which made the story new everytime, clever trick haan ! mom used to include what i did at school what she did recently etc. Dad after briefing the friendly ant asked about its family children etc & gave a piece of laddu for it to take it back home. It wrapped & headed for its home which was the corner near our house entrance. When the food on plate was almost getting over, she told the hard work & the pain that goes behind the scene : the scene of her making me eat. the story behind every rice seed. A farmer ploughs the field with hard efforts day long in hot sun, puts the seeds in the soil waits desperately for the rain, prays to god that rains should be sufficient & at the right time, cuts the crop cleans it & sells to shopkeeper, dad earns for it with hard work in office, mom brings it from shop & cleans & cooks it...so this is the story behind every rice grain. After hearing this who would even think of wasting even one grain in plate after finishing the lunch. not even a child right ? I would get a bit scared & simply finish the last pieces of food on the plate. What I gained was respect towards food in general & the wisdom or realization that there could be hundreds of hungry stomachs which can get the food if I don’t waste it. Things were simple to implement this funda when i was kid as mom used to eat in same plate, so technically i did not waste any food. Generally Moms have weird ways to make their kids eat anyway, so food for me has always been an emotional factor rather than an enjoyment or passionate sort of thing. Hundreds of farmers in India even today commit suicide owing to their situation of debts no rains etc & we so called while collar people assuming that we do lot of hard work sitting in front of computers for the whole day, reading some statistics on internet about these stuffs, dine at costly restaurants ordering the things we aspire & passing comments over every item we eat, scolding the waiter for not making it exactly as you had told him. Well, I feel all this very uncomfortable to be a part of this scene. In really appreciate the process followed in our office the left over food is taken in Omni to to NGO. So we need a process to prevent the wastage of food, which is so precious. If somewhere the food is extra, it should reach the hungry stomach somewhere else. Please just spare a thought when you eat the next time. This is so true isn't it ?
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