TRAVELOGUE 5

(the cryptology for the town name is to protect me from losing my job)

11 days in the town/district/village (take your pick) XX056 at ZXX cements here in Madhya Pradesh and I am already craving for the sights and the sounds of Mumbai, well actually the suburb of Chembur, well to be more specific the small spot adjacent to the suburb of Chembur where my home is. The golden truth has been whispered to my ears this week, and surprisingly it is through my tongue or rather stomach. And here it is: Food, ladies and gentlemen is not just a basic need that one must fulfill during the course of our lives on this planet but it is the essential fuel for our souls. Actually the golden truth is that my favourite TV series (every day 7pm to 10 pm on my lap top of course), ‘Supernatural’ just ran its course out. So no more hot chicks, angels, demons, the devil, demons inside hot chicks and other weird stuff to go back to my room for, it is just me and my mind, which is probably why you will see far more attempts at ill witted and self depreciating humour.

Coming back to food, just so you know I am as much a food connoisseur as I am a right wing extremist which would be as real as me getting laid tomorrow. The seemingly unnecessary use of adjectives which don’t serve the purpose was to drive home the point that in the past I was a simple human being who filled his stomach to well just fill it, may be a bit too much at times. But right about now I have finally understood the glory that lies with the food that I consume. And right about now I would do anything (well almost anything) to go back to the land of Mcdonalds, pizza Hut, Barbeque Nation and well Sambar and Rasam back home. When you eat the same thing over and over again no matter how supposedly lucky you are that you get to eat food properly it makes you sick!

I need to up the satiety level of the food. From time to time I would like to see more of the food than oil, more rice than rotis, I wan’t to taste water that isn’t brackish, how about some salt in the food for a change, and sometimes just sometimes I wan’t to have a sweet dish that is not Gulab Jamun or Halwa. So the next time I am coming back home (in a couple of weeks) for a couple of days I want to make the calorimeter count for a pretty big number. So what if the salt gives you high blood pressure, a burger adds to your cholesterol level and sweets aren’t that sweet for your teeth. What really matters is to know that somebody up there likes me and wants me to have unhealthy yet satiating good food. Amen.