I am not a foodie to start with. I mean I do have my favorites like bread with aloo bhujia and ketchup, golgupppas, tea, more bread, more tea, Greek salads, oranges and some Italian here-some Mexican there and lets finish it with some more tea but that's about it. I don't literally crave for eating out in general.
You can call me a take-away girl. Yup, that's me. I don't have the liking for standing in crowded places and eating anything from chaat (which i actually like otherwise) to burgers. If I have an option then I would say lets pack it and go home and eat.
The thing is I have lived on my own for a very long time and at that time I developed a liking for eating in peace of my home(if you can call a PG or rented -shared apartment a home- for me it was HOME) and I think partly this is the reason of my behavior with having my food as take away. I know it creeps my sister and mom as they just loooove to eat the "famous chaats" then at there at its counter as it comes with its high of telling vendor to add some more green chutney and less of red chutney and then you get it in your hands with some sprinkling of pomegranate seeds on top which is great as when you take away chaat then you get it either all mixed up or packed with sleek ways in different containers hence they loose their charm of being a "chaat".
What I love? Well, it really does not matter to me what it is that I am eating today as on somedays I would just love to spend an afternoon with Mc'd burger or may be on other days I would buy something fancy like burritos and fajitas but I would take them home, change my clothes, wash face-hand and legs, make tea, switch on TV, scroll to a channel I like, feet up on sofa and here I go -love the bite of whatever it is at that time. Ok so mind it, the basic requirement at this time is that I should be alone and should not be disturbed from my mindful-meditative state of eating.
I know that human being a social animal and yes I too enjoy the company of my close friends and family and hence I do go out occasionally with them but the thing is I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER HAVE GONE OUT AND ATE ALONE. I just get intimidated by this and I have no fucking clue why but yes if I am alone on some particular day and hungry then I will curb my hunger for until I reach the safe-land which is my home. Crazy me right?
A friend once asked me why I hate eating by myself and to that I said I kind of feel alone by doing this. I mean I get a feeling that I have no one to sit by my side and share a meal and laughter so why indulge in eating which is meant for soul feeding more than stomach and feel miserable about it. Picture this- you are sitting in a cafe eating your pizza or burger or whatever and on each table beside you sits a family or group of friends who are talking to each other, seldom laughing at pity inside jokes or just wallowing time together and you are looking at your meal and people beside you. Of-course you can distract yourself by reading a book or talking on phone but that's cheating right. To this he asked is it that you are afraid to be alone or be lonely? And I had to give in and could not argue anymore with him on this and since then I have thought about eating alone with only myself a couple of times only to mutter the same words "I want to have this as a take away..... please" at the counter. How pathetic I am right?
But lately, I have been noticing a change in the way I see life and stuff around me. I kind of became sound with my being with just myself. May be you get that maturity with age. Hell, ya I am ageing.
So now I do go to cafes a lot and write or read but still I only have had coffee or may be some cookies to go with it and that too I was not completely alone as I was with my book or my computer so I did not have to worry about people sitting on the next table and in fact I actually looked kind-of cool to them as I was a hot and single (I hope they assumed this) and a writer and with coffee- its a perfect story right. Ya I know I just pictured myself as Carrie Bradshaw sitting a cafe and writing "I could not help but wonder---".
But yesterday, as I was walking home in evening from dry-cleaners then I had this urge of Golgappas and thought will ask them to pack it for me in a nice take away package and will share it with all but as soon as I reached the place, the aunty who is the humble owner of that shop shoved the golgappa place in my hand and said with a generous smile "Beta, meetha(sweet) ya khatta (salty-spicy)" and it was like time stood still, breeze became softer, noises became calmer around me for a moment which was nothing less than the moment of truth and I muttered "Khatta aunty". She humbly took that Golgappa in her hand , filled it with chole(chickpeas) and aloo (potato), dipped it inside khatta pani and just then I peeped sideways to see who is giving me a glance of " poor she- eating alone" and surprise surprise I just didn't care and here it came My FIRST MEAL ---errr GOLGAPPA with
myself.
So here I was, happy in heart, peace on face and yummy golgapppas in mouth. I severed the moment and I think now I am ready to try complete meal by my self.
Happiness redefined.
You can call me a take-away girl. Yup, that's me. I don't have the liking for standing in crowded places and eating anything from chaat (which i actually like otherwise) to burgers. If I have an option then I would say lets pack it and go home and eat.
The thing is I have lived on my own for a very long time and at that time I developed a liking for eating in peace of my home(if you can call a PG or rented -shared apartment a home- for me it was HOME) and I think partly this is the reason of my behavior with having my food as take away. I know it creeps my sister and mom as they just loooove to eat the "famous chaats" then at there at its counter as it comes with its high of telling vendor to add some more green chutney and less of red chutney and then you get it in your hands with some sprinkling of pomegranate seeds on top which is great as when you take away chaat then you get it either all mixed up or packed with sleek ways in different containers hence they loose their charm of being a "chaat".
What I love? Well, it really does not matter to me what it is that I am eating today as on somedays I would just love to spend an afternoon with Mc'd burger or may be on other days I would buy something fancy like burritos and fajitas but I would take them home, change my clothes, wash face-hand and legs, make tea, switch on TV, scroll to a channel I like, feet up on sofa and here I go -love the bite of whatever it is at that time. Ok so mind it, the basic requirement at this time is that I should be alone and should not be disturbed from my mindful-meditative state of eating.
I know that human being a social animal and yes I too enjoy the company of my close friends and family and hence I do go out occasionally with them but the thing is I HAVE NEVER EVER EVER HAVE GONE OUT AND ATE ALONE. I just get intimidated by this and I have no fucking clue why but yes if I am alone on some particular day and hungry then I will curb my hunger for until I reach the safe-land which is my home. Crazy me right?
A friend once asked me why I hate eating by myself and to that I said I kind of feel alone by doing this. I mean I get a feeling that I have no one to sit by my side and share a meal and laughter so why indulge in eating which is meant for soul feeding more than stomach and feel miserable about it. Picture this- you are sitting in a cafe eating your pizza or burger or whatever and on each table beside you sits a family or group of friends who are talking to each other, seldom laughing at pity inside jokes or just wallowing time together and you are looking at your meal and people beside you. Of-course you can distract yourself by reading a book or talking on phone but that's cheating right. To this he asked is it that you are afraid to be alone or be lonely? And I had to give in and could not argue anymore with him on this and since then I have thought about eating alone with only myself a couple of times only to mutter the same words "I want to have this as a take away..... please" at the counter. How pathetic I am right?
But lately, I have been noticing a change in the way I see life and stuff around me. I kind of became sound with my being with just myself. May be you get that maturity with age. Hell, ya I am ageing.
So now I do go to cafes a lot and write or read but still I only have had coffee or may be some cookies to go with it and that too I was not completely alone as I was with my book or my computer so I did not have to worry about people sitting on the next table and in fact I actually looked kind-of cool to them as I was a hot and single (I hope they assumed this) and a writer and with coffee- its a perfect story right. Ya I know I just pictured myself as Carrie Bradshaw sitting a cafe and writing "I could not help but wonder---".
But yesterday, as I was walking home in evening from dry-cleaners then I had this urge of Golgappas and thought will ask them to pack it for me in a nice take away package and will share it with all but as soon as I reached the place, the aunty who is the humble owner of that shop shoved the golgappa place in my hand and said with a generous smile "Beta, meetha(sweet) ya khatta (salty-spicy)" and it was like time stood still, breeze became softer, noises became calmer around me for a moment which was nothing less than the moment of truth and I muttered "Khatta aunty". She humbly took that Golgappa in her hand , filled it with chole(chickpeas) and aloo (potato), dipped it inside khatta pani and just then I peeped sideways to see who is giving me a glance of " poor she- eating alone" and surprise surprise I just didn't care and here it came My FIRST MEAL ---errr GOLGAPPA with
myself.
So here I was, happy in heart, peace on face and yummy golgapppas in mouth. I severed the moment and I think now I am ready to try complete meal by my self.
Happiness redefined.
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