You know, the one thing I really miss about my 5yr old self is my appetite.
Apart from winning a banana eating race (yes, that’s actually a thing), I had another superpower; the ability to have multiple dinners. This should explain why I refuse to accept intermittent fasting as a concept.
My dinner started with, or rather my first dinner started with my sister, because we always ate together from the same plate and had endless conversations about the most random topics. Five minutes after a stomach full on dinner and banter, I would be found having a second dinner with my father, which mainly included bites of papad, because papad is an absolute must on my father’s plate, with extra lemon in his dal.
10 minutes later, I’d move to my grandfather’s plate, who is also the reason why I love pani puri so much. As a kid when I’d be playing downstairs, he would quietly slip me away for a quick bite of pani puri, right opposite my colony. This taught me that you should never plan to eat pani puri, it is best enjoyed impromptu.
Back to our dinner with my favourite dinner partner, yes it hasn’t ended yet, my mother, because I loved how she mixed everything on the plate together and created that perfect lip-smacking masaledar bite. And finally to top it all, around 10pm, when I couldn’t be seen anywhere in the house, I would be found having my last few nibbles for the day with our house help in the kitchen, sitting under a full speed fan.
20 years later , my appetite has reduced unfortunately, and I’m a more mindful eater now, but I still think of the sentence that I heard often as a kid:
Paet bhar Gaya, Lekin mann nahi bhara",
meaning the stomach is full, but the soul still wants some more. So, I realised that good homemade food enjoyed with our loved ones always leaves us wanting for more, because its not just the food that fills us, but also the talks, silences, laughs, gestures and habits that accompany the people we eat with. And we always have more room for that, don’t we? So, if you’re anything like me, eat not just your breakfast, but every meal like a king!
Comments