Thursday, September 3, 2015

Onam, Pune, August 2015

I'll admit that he and I have become all too complacent. Everyday we feast. We cook together and produce a meal that smells divine, tastes wickedly good and, mostly, does us more good than harm. We turn our noses up at what is served in restaurants, however fancy, however expensive. But, I'll admit, it's a bit of work.
And that is what constitutes its major plus point. Today, all you hear is people whining about how much weight they've put on. And you feel like walloping them over the head with an iron saucepan as they sit there, talking of diets, and "Oh, do you eat like this everyday? or "I make papads in the oven, without oil." Or "We use low fat milk only." And, of course, they all eat brown bread, brown rice, multigrain tofu and quaff quantities of zucchini and broccoli instead of the humble tori or gobi.
Well, we eat everything we desire, both of us and I haven't heard anyone tell us we need to lose weight. We do stay active: I do my own household chores as it's Bye Bye Bai for me and he is rarely one to let his bum be glued to a chair. He takes the stairs more often than a lift and we swim as we've access to a pool at present. When there's money to be had we join a gym. But, more importantly, we both are involved in whatever we eat.  
To cook you need to move. You're mostly on your feet, washing, chopping, stirring and all. And then there's the washing up too. Though it's not a huge calorie burning enterprise, it's the habit of all these small movements that counts towards keeping fit. And it's healthy to see what goes into you.
It scares me no end to imagine restaurant kitchens and, often, I smell that a dish is slightly off. Yet, my companions, some of whom, sometimes, make sweet remarks on my habit of using left-overs, merrily munch away-so long as you pay for it, it must be good!
Anyway, ranting apart, our son had mentioned that we should all go out for an Onam Sadhya. And so we found ourselves at the nearest one: hosted by Kerala Fast Food and served at a venue opposite the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Natyagrah at Aundh.
It was quite tasty but cost Rs. 350 per meal, I feel they were a tad stingy with servings. Of course, the people serving were moving up and down, serving. But one had to catch their eye to ask for more. It was ok for me, given I have bad digestion but it must have been frustrating for most.
All in all, it was quite a nice initiative and a lot of folks seem to have opted for it.
It was fun because it was so very makeshift! A real banana leaf meal, a feast shared with strangers, all of us wrapt in the phenomenon of a Menon Land festival: Onam! 
The food came from a little table at the other end.
 All in all, hats off to our brave little Kerala Fast Food for providing us with a sumptuous feast- a real Sadhya!
Else, for all my self-praise about our cooking our own meals, it would have been a real pain to trot out a feast like this.