I have never spoken about food in this blog, and it surprises me. There are only few things that hold the kind of importance as eating for me. I would not want to start thinking what the rest are, because its not about them that i want to talk, its about food. Such a pleasure, the act of eating .
One of the most fulfilling experiences in training for Marathon has been getting to eat as much as i want (not that i did not do that earlier) and the entire excitement of getting the diet right. With a Mumbai-Workaholic lifestyle its almost a reason for celebration if you get your meals right. Any mumbaikar would agree. I have finally managed to make time for breakfast - elementary for most, fantastic for folks from the most crowded populous this side of Arabian sea. And that i managed with the meal that poses the biggest threat to America's gift to the world - Cornflakes. I almost missed the Corn craze amidst limitations of Time, Affordability and Utility. And when i finally made a come-back to the race, i was pleasantly surprised by this new challenger, well riding into being the most fancied and preferred option for the new age healthy, please welcome Muesli. The utility of it almost makes me ignore the dry taste that it starts with in your mouth, yes, i have acquired a taste for it. Not just that, it also suits my need to think into any food i eat, by making me carefully plan a single raisin into every scoop, and timely rewards of crisp almond bits.
Lunch is a very important mind meal (every meal for me has direct correlation to mind)for it also decides how I will be for the second half at work-place. Mumbai-Workaholic syndrome pushes me into the Office Canteen with the POV of saving precious minutes into an already long work day. And the thing about any canteen that most would reciprocate is that it reduces your appetite considerably the moment you enter the food area. What that in turn does is make the second half at work-place a hard-push. Off late, a week to be exact, a certain rebel in me has worked, and i figured a popular lunch joint nearby that served the best food - Fried Bangda Fish Thali at a popular restaurant called Jai Hind (Bangda would be Mackerel and the world famous Ailaa for every Malayaee). Bangda is considered to be a poor man's fish. My eating is mostly obsessed around such foods, poor but yummy - Dal Rice, Rice Rassam + Dry fish , Mutton Biriyani etc. Basic, hygienic and Large portions would be the three governing principles of anything i love to eat. So i have been feasting on Bangda and relishing the new found post lunch happiness.
That brings me to essence of writing a blog on this . I was not up to taking the walk to Jai Hind today. Don't know why but i guess i had strengthened my body already with as much Bangda I needed for another week or just too lazy (honest and true) to compete with the canteen-appetite-killer-effect. All i hoped walking into the canteen was that there would be an option for Complex Carbohydrates (Read Roti/ Wheat Bread). Our canteen in charge likes to excite all by serving coloured rice and chicken under the pretext Biriyani on Fridays. And with that dreaded expectation i moved towards the food trays to bewelcomed by a smiling canteen manager standing behind plates of Bangda Fry & Fish Curry. Its a moment that that lasts a second and feels more than that. To get the perspective right, this is the first time in five years of my working here that i have seen any form of fish being served in the canteen.
Imagine a set of Bangda fishes that once swam the ocean and destined to be fried and served to this one individual, for it was always meant that way, to be relished over a week. And in this there was a smart twist of fate, for reasons beyond a common man's intellect, where one fish would pursue its consumer to a place where even the consumer did not know he would head to, till an hour before lunch-time.
As much as lunch time food would not seem the most appropriate messenger to flash a deeper sense of world , but It is moments like these that make the Atheist in me wonder if there is a power around me (or in me) that is beyond me.
Hindi Proverb - Daaney Daaney pe likha hai khaaney waaley ka naam ( every grain has written on it the name of its consumer)
Food for destiny indeed.
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