Gone are the days when we were asked to sit on the floor, with our legs folded- Dad insrtucts us to sit straight ,banana leaf carefully selected by our granny.There is always a hand available to sprinkle the water lovingly on it and clean it.Pappad ,rice, veggies laid one by one on a beautiful background of greenish hue feasts the eyes first.With the left hand on our lap we were instructed to taste the food,munch it properly and eat the last speck of food -mom tries to deceive us saying the last rice had all the strength to do whatever we liked to do,otherwise God blinds us.Slowly the scene vanishes,Am i really getting blurred vision?Now I am here in a buffet dinner in a famous hotel in madurai.Halflit room,delicacies displayed on the well decorated table with cards bearing the names of the newly christened recipes and the countries from which they hail from-mexican,thai,chinese etc...unknown people loitering around the table, a mild music with someone tapping on tablas.The children in almost every family seemed to be over excited.Fat stuffed junk food--pastas ,ice creams ,noodles,puddings,souffles- so conveniently arranged in a separate table make them gasp in wonder.These are the banned food from their daily menus at home.They fill their stomach with these stuff as if they had been starved for months making amusing gestures.With the fear of bumping into the strangers I prefer to bring atleast three varities of food to my table.By the time i reach my place the three varities mix up to form a cocktail.
Eating noodles at the dinner table is a Herculean task.Even a juggler could not put all the content taken in a fork into his mouth.Every time I attempt to put it a thread is sure to hang down from my mouth.Things get more difficult when I eat a burger- A cutlet between two over sized buns besides overpacking us with some xtra calories it transforms us into dinosaurs.With our mouths widely open ,the whole lot has to go between your two jaws.While the consumer relishes the taste my sympathy goes with the person sitting opposite to him.
Tasting almost every item you now forget almost what you ate.With mouth wiped in tissues,I could hear someone brooding over the heavy workouts done in the morning to burn her calories.With our tummy packed with almost all the things in the grocery we leave the place with our tate buds satisfied.But the ceramic plates with half eaten food discarded in the cleaning area brings before my eyes, the starved face of a kid stuck to the side of a beggar woman who came begging for food.
