The universal question!
It was a chilling mid-night of some US city, the darkness has captured breath of the city and people were packed into their apartments. It was not a weekend, so Bars, Chocolate-shops and liquor places were not flooded, this was a weekday, like usual monday or wednesday, and soon it would become either tuesday or thursday.
Shekhar could feel each twisting nerve of his body. He was trying to concentrate on the book he was reading, but he could no longer avoid the question. He had been haunted by the same question for many days. He checked his watch, 00:30 AM, “it means it should be around 10:00 PM in India.” He looked at his family photograph, placed in a small frame and a snap with his friends, the snap was taken while he was hanging out with them in B'lore. “All dreams have cost associated!”, he couldn't help but think about the life he was living just a couple of months ago. Another look at the photograph, made him smile and the next moment he was sad thinking about his family. He could spend hours and hours thinking about India, his friends, his work-place, under-graduate college, B'lore etc, but “not now!”, he couldn't think about anything else, he has to find an answer to the question.
First method to solve a difficult problem is to avoid facing it. So he turned off his table-lamp and tried to sleep. The warm bed was no longer warm! His restless tussle with the bed-sheet lasted for few minutes and he suddenly woke-up. “Now! no more!”, he switched on the light and moved to other part of his apartment.
****
Sudesh, who is Shekhar's flat-mate, is of same age of as Shekhar, was studying in the other room. He was fully aware of the trauma Shekhar was facing, he was actually sharing the same pain. He knew what could be Shekhar's next move, so he followed Shekhar.
****
The apartment was too small to play a hide-n-seek game, especially at this wee hour. Next moment, Sudesh found Shekhar weeping in one corner of the room. It was not full-fledged out burst of tears. It was gentle pain of a male-heart, shaped in two fine-small tears, those who fought their way against a thick glass and beard-rough face of a man.
Sudesh felt pity for him. “Abbe to bina pyaaz ka kuch bana le naa” (prepare something without onion!), Sudesh commented.
“What the f**k! Maggi is over long back, there is no Parantha (India version of baked wheat-Pizza cooked with a vegetable and spicies) and no Soda at all.”
“Saale yahaan bhookh ke karaan phaati padee hai aur tum angreji jhaaaad rahe ho!” “Why can't you find sometime from your RA work and get some stuff from food-mart”
Silence captured the room. Both Sudesh and Shekhar have been good friends before coming here, but these arguments were common these days.
“What would you like to eat?”, Shekhar finally asked. Male-arguments don't last for long. It's not some silly-girlish fight where two girls have arguments for some silly reason and carry the anger for long time. If it's male emotion, either it would be absent or too short to be noticed.
“Cook anything Machhha!”, Sudesh was looking for some left-over Pizza of yesterday's dinner.
“But what?, Every time I entered the kitchen I face the same question. In my whole-life I have never faced hunger, so badly and so regularly. As soon as the clock ticks noon, we need to think for lunch and every evening brings the same question. What to eat?”
“abbe bhaashaan band kar, aur rice chada de,(Stop preaching and cook some rice!) I will deal with these f**king onions!”, Sudesh knew, Shekhar doesn't believe in any philosophical aspect of hunger or life, it was just the onion that was making him uncomfortable.
“No more Onion-Masala-Rice!”, Shekhar couldn't imagine himself grabbing one more plate of rice, fried with indian spices and chopped onion. “I think I have eaten tons of Rice after coming here!” It was the final comment before he handed over the holy task of chopping an onion to Sudesh.
“Thoda jyada bana loo kya rice? kal lunch ke kaam aa jayega? (Should I prepare extra rice for tomorrow's lunch), Shekhar asked. The duo of desire and dream of having no more rice hit the grounds of reality.
****
There are undoubtedly enormous variety of food available here, indian, italian, chinese, mexican and what not, but it is really difficult to find a good Vegetarian meal! ok at-least a meal that doesn't affect weight of these health-conscious guys, or to be frank, a meal that shouldn't make them a bankrupt. Because of the amalgam of these three factors Sudhesh and Shekhar have no option other than facing the same question twice a day, “what to eat now?”
Every problem comes with a solution, or at least a brilliant mind puts every single effort to knock it down. So here goes the list of efforts tried by both of them, either separately or together:
-->Eat out and Try some cheap food at MacDonalds or SubWay: when they first arrived here these were the two signs that were similar to any B'lorian eat-out zone, but their menu showed them reality in no time. Chicken Burger, Ham-burger, Beef-Sandwitch! No hard feelings for either MacDonalds or SubWay, but our veggies can't have them.
-->What about an Indian Kitchen or restaurant? It was neither cheap nor worth going. “Iss se achha to mujhe college mess ka khaana lagta tha! (I used to like my college mess food more than this food!), Sudesh once commented after eating at the same place for third time in three days.
-->Let's try ready to eat stuff: This was the trump card. “just in two minutes”, “just add hot-water”, “no need to cook” were only life saving captions for them. But suddenly they were knocked down by the monotonous taste.
-->Cook at flat: It was not an option, it was the dire need, a forced one. They both were pathetic cook. Either time refined their culinary skills or adjusted their taste-glands to the uniqueness of the food they cook. Shekhar could never learn the exact requirement of salt in any dish and Sudhesh has bare affection to red chilly. Doctors say excessive salt is bad for heart and excessive chilly negatively affects human digestion system. So they came up with a solution, Monday series was reserved for the safety of heart and tuesday series is more concerned about digestion system.
The story doesn't end here, it just starts. So they started cooking food. Initially the load of homework, assignments, project, RA-TA work was low. It gave them ample opportunities for trying several dishes. Matar-paneer, chilly mashroon, daal-tadka, bhindi-masala, gobhi-pyaaj, Aloo-matar, tamatar-chatani, palak-paneer, poha, halwa and what not. As if a novice painter gets a big lot of colors, paints, brushes, paper and infinite time to paint all his imagination. One can easily imagine tons of paper, spoiled with color, it was not art, it was trying out. Sudesh and Shekhar did the same. They tried every single dish they could think of and named them according to the best taste they had in India. Name was the only best part of the complete menu. They cut and burnt their fingers couple of times, utensils were spared no mercy. The tawa (plain black thick metal plate to cook indian pizza, called roti) has lost its virginity long ago, the burner was a mess of milk, tea and coffee, the kadai (metal bowl like structure to prepare indian curry) had gained black spots of onion and other spices, these were few medals after a deadly fight between a meal and the maker, plates have lost their shine so as small cups and spoons. The huge stock of pickles was getting over at exponential rate, as pickle was only replacement for deliciously-named-but-a-tasteless-dish. It fetched them no good, but it doesn't matter, what actually matters that they are fighting, they are still standing against all the odds. But till when?
****
One fine day Sudesh came-up with a solution, no it was Shekhar, may be Sudesh, who cares, the solution was an outcome of the profound thinking over the problem.
“Dude! Shaadi karo! (Get married soon dude!)
“what?” other commented, Sudesh was just studying for his upcoming mid-term exam and Shekhar was doing his homework. How come this thought came into his mind?
“What?” Sudesh asked again.
“Yes! dude get a fine girl... or at least a girl and get married soon?”
“but why this thought now?”
“See the logic is simple, you are old enough to get married, and Bhabhi aayegee to khana bhee cook kar degii yaar!” Now Shekhar realized that it was not a tough problem from the book that frustrated Sudesh, but it was a tougher problem from life.
“Just Imagine! you work hard day long towards your thesis and in the evening you get a good meal and wife....aur kya chahiye life mai?” (what all you want?). Sudesh smiled. It amused Shekhar too, they spent next couple of hour discussing the same.
“I want a Doctor wife! you know doctors earn well here. She will work in the medical center and I will do my PhD.”, Sudesh has actually thought a lot about it before sharing this idea with Shekhar.
“True!”, Shekhar added. “but at least cook karna aana chahiye (she should at least know, how to cook?)
“abbe Non-vegetarian aa gayee to?”, Shekhar always come-up with doubts.
“Vegetarian bana denge saali ko?”, Sudesh commented and then both of them laughed. They just forgot about their exam and home-work, and discussed the same topic, until the universal question arose, “what to eat now?”
PS:
This piece should be read with good sense of humor!
This blog is not meant for mocking any person, company, institution, community or tradition.
Any suggestion as an answer to the universal question is highly appreciated!
It was a chilling mid-night of some US city, the darkness has captured breath of the city and people were packed into their apartments. It was not a weekend, so Bars, Chocolate-shops and liquor places were not flooded, this was a weekday, like usual monday or wednesday, and soon it would become either tuesday or thursday.
Shekhar could feel each twisting nerve of his body. He was trying to concentrate on the book he was reading, but he could no longer avoid the question. He had been haunted by the same question for many days. He checked his watch, 00:30 AM, “it means it should be around 10:00 PM in India.” He looked at his family photograph, placed in a small frame and a snap with his friends, the snap was taken while he was hanging out with them in B'lore. “All dreams have cost associated!”, he couldn't help but think about the life he was living just a couple of months ago. Another look at the photograph, made him smile and the next moment he was sad thinking about his family. He could spend hours and hours thinking about India, his friends, his work-place, under-graduate college, B'lore etc, but “not now!”, he couldn't think about anything else, he has to find an answer to the question.
First method to solve a difficult problem is to avoid facing it. So he turned off his table-lamp and tried to sleep. The warm bed was no longer warm! His restless tussle with the bed-sheet lasted for few minutes and he suddenly woke-up. “Now! no more!”, he switched on the light and moved to other part of his apartment.
****
Sudesh, who is Shekhar's flat-mate, is of same age of as Shekhar, was studying in the other room. He was fully aware of the trauma Shekhar was facing, he was actually sharing the same pain. He knew what could be Shekhar's next move, so he followed Shekhar.
****
The apartment was too small to play a hide-n-seek game, especially at this wee hour. Next moment, Sudesh found Shekhar weeping in one corner of the room. It was not full-fledged out burst of tears. It was gentle pain of a male-heart, shaped in two fine-small tears, those who fought their way against a thick glass and beard-rough face of a man.
Sudesh felt pity for him. “Abbe to bina pyaaz ka kuch bana le naa” (prepare something without onion!), Sudesh commented.
“What the f**k! Maggi is over long back, there is no Parantha (India version of baked wheat-Pizza cooked with a vegetable and spicies) and no Soda at all.”
“Saale yahaan bhookh ke karaan phaati padee hai aur tum angreji jhaaaad rahe ho!” “Why can't you find sometime from your RA work and get some stuff from food-mart”
Silence captured the room. Both Sudesh and Shekhar have been good friends before coming here, but these arguments were common these days.
“What would you like to eat?”, Shekhar finally asked. Male-arguments don't last for long. It's not some silly-girlish fight where two girls have arguments for some silly reason and carry the anger for long time. If it's male emotion, either it would be absent or too short to be noticed.
“Cook anything Machhha!”, Sudesh was looking for some left-over Pizza of yesterday's dinner.
“But what?, Every time I entered the kitchen I face the same question. In my whole-life I have never faced hunger, so badly and so regularly. As soon as the clock ticks noon, we need to think for lunch and every evening brings the same question. What to eat?”
“abbe bhaashaan band kar, aur rice chada de,(Stop preaching and cook some rice!) I will deal with these f**king onions!”, Sudesh knew, Shekhar doesn't believe in any philosophical aspect of hunger or life, it was just the onion that was making him uncomfortable.
“No more Onion-Masala-Rice!”, Shekhar couldn't imagine himself grabbing one more plate of rice, fried with indian spices and chopped onion. “I think I have eaten tons of Rice after coming here!” It was the final comment before he handed over the holy task of chopping an onion to Sudesh.
“Thoda jyada bana loo kya rice? kal lunch ke kaam aa jayega? (Should I prepare extra rice for tomorrow's lunch), Shekhar asked. The duo of desire and dream of having no more rice hit the grounds of reality.
****
There are undoubtedly enormous variety of food available here, indian, italian, chinese, mexican and what not, but it is really difficult to find a good Vegetarian meal! ok at-least a meal that doesn't affect weight of these health-conscious guys, or to be frank, a meal that shouldn't make them a bankrupt. Because of the amalgam of these three factors Sudhesh and Shekhar have no option other than facing the same question twice a day, “what to eat now?”
Every problem comes with a solution, or at least a brilliant mind puts every single effort to knock it down. So here goes the list of efforts tried by both of them, either separately or together:
-->Eat out and Try some cheap food at MacDonalds or SubWay: when they first arrived here these were the two signs that were similar to any B'lorian eat-out zone, but their menu showed them reality in no time. Chicken Burger, Ham-burger, Beef-Sandwitch! No hard feelings for either MacDonalds or SubWay, but our veggies can't have them.
-->What about an Indian Kitchen or restaurant? It was neither cheap nor worth going. “Iss se achha to mujhe college mess ka khaana lagta tha! (I used to like my college mess food more than this food!), Sudesh once commented after eating at the same place for third time in three days.
-->Let's try ready to eat stuff: This was the trump card. “just in two minutes”, “just add hot-water”, “no need to cook” were only life saving captions for them. But suddenly they were knocked down by the monotonous taste.
-->Cook at flat: It was not an option, it was the dire need, a forced one. They both were pathetic cook. Either time refined their culinary skills or adjusted their taste-glands to the uniqueness of the food they cook. Shekhar could never learn the exact requirement of salt in any dish and Sudhesh has bare affection to red chilly. Doctors say excessive salt is bad for heart and excessive chilly negatively affects human digestion system. So they came up with a solution, Monday series was reserved for the safety of heart and tuesday series is more concerned about digestion system.
The story doesn't end here, it just starts. So they started cooking food. Initially the load of homework, assignments, project, RA-TA work was low. It gave them ample opportunities for trying several dishes. Matar-paneer, chilly mashroon, daal-tadka, bhindi-masala, gobhi-pyaaj, Aloo-matar, tamatar-chatani, palak-paneer, poha, halwa and what not. As if a novice painter gets a big lot of colors, paints, brushes, paper and infinite time to paint all his imagination. One can easily imagine tons of paper, spoiled with color, it was not art, it was trying out. Sudesh and Shekhar did the same. They tried every single dish they could think of and named them according to the best taste they had in India. Name was the only best part of the complete menu. They cut and burnt their fingers couple of times, utensils were spared no mercy. The tawa (plain black thick metal plate to cook indian pizza, called roti) has lost its virginity long ago, the burner was a mess of milk, tea and coffee, the kadai (metal bowl like structure to prepare indian curry) had gained black spots of onion and other spices, these were few medals after a deadly fight between a meal and the maker, plates have lost their shine so as small cups and spoons. The huge stock of pickles was getting over at exponential rate, as pickle was only replacement for deliciously-named-but-a-tasteless-dish. It fetched them no good, but it doesn't matter, what actually matters that they are fighting, they are still standing against all the odds. But till when?
****
One fine day Sudesh came-up with a solution, no it was Shekhar, may be Sudesh, who cares, the solution was an outcome of the profound thinking over the problem.
“Dude! Shaadi karo! (Get married soon dude!)
“what?” other commented, Sudesh was just studying for his upcoming mid-term exam and Shekhar was doing his homework. How come this thought came into his mind?
“What?” Sudesh asked again.
“Yes! dude get a fine girl... or at least a girl and get married soon?”
“but why this thought now?”
“See the logic is simple, you are old enough to get married, and Bhabhi aayegee to khana bhee cook kar degii yaar!” Now Shekhar realized that it was not a tough problem from the book that frustrated Sudesh, but it was a tougher problem from life.
“Just Imagine! you work hard day long towards your thesis and in the evening you get a good meal and wife....aur kya chahiye life mai?” (what all you want?). Sudesh smiled. It amused Shekhar too, they spent next couple of hour discussing the same.
“I want a Doctor wife! you know doctors earn well here. She will work in the medical center and I will do my PhD.”, Sudesh has actually thought a lot about it before sharing this idea with Shekhar.
“True!”, Shekhar added. “but at least cook karna aana chahiye (she should at least know, how to cook?)
“abbe Non-vegetarian aa gayee to?”, Shekhar always come-up with doubts.
“Vegetarian bana denge saali ko?”, Sudesh commented and then both of them laughed. They just forgot about their exam and home-work, and discussed the same topic, until the universal question arose, “what to eat now?”
PS:
This piece should be read with good sense of humor!
This blog is not meant for mocking any person, company, institution, community or tradition.
Any suggestion as an answer to the universal question is highly appreciated!
Labels: Gradute student life, universal question
posted by Ritesh | 12:26 AM
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