Lunchboxes-all in the family

In all my growing years, my appetite or lack thereof has always been a major topic for discussion, amusement and dissection, not necessarily in that order. I am not sure how it happened, but I was a poor eater. I dont know if it reflects on poor cooking at home, my taste buds not developing fully or my own stunted growth or it could even be a combination of all this and more. But the fact was it was a feat to feed me. And what didnt help in this venture was I hated rice. I'd prefer to eat fancy food like samosas and kachoris, chaat and chips, icecream and so on and so forth, you get the drift!

One of my grandmother's favorite line would go "You'll never grow if you dont eat rice.". And sure enough, my height just didnt measure up and I guess it was a sore point of discussion for my mom with her own. "Why dont you do something?" would be Ajji's constant whine looking at Amma accusingly, like she had me bound in wraps so I didnt grow. My grandmother also conveniently forgot that she and my grandfather barely making the 5 foot mark wouldnt exactly produce astonishingly tall grandchildren. Be that as it may, Amma launched the "make altoid grow asap" campaign. There'd be this o-t-c concoction called Incremin(ugh!) and ferrous potent potion called Sharkoferral to make up for the iron deficiency. Doctors and quacks would be consulted for all possible solutions on this earth for this major catastrophe. This went for quite a few years until my mid-teens when my mother found other more pressing catastrophe's (like my sister missing the cleanliness gene in the dna build) to deal with. Sometimes I wonder if I hadnt gone through the campaign, if I would have turned out more vertically challenged than I already am. Hm, a real puzzler that!

But I digress, this post was intended to discuss my poor eating habits. A lot of people, family and friends included, would be appalled at the sight of ONE dosa or TWO idlis in my lunchbox at school which I'd laboriously toil to finish during the entire lunch break. I'd have to be enticed with Bisibelebath or puri/chole for dinner. And to add to the misery, my dad believed in feeding children only with idli at restaurants. That was a turn off in itself.

While in college, our not-own SLV cafeteria was my food haven. My mother would always wonder at how I'd prefer to demolish the idli swimming in chutney there and then come home and pout at the idlis she had made. Though my appetite improved considerably, it definitely wasnt anything to write home about. It appeared that I was eating, and quite regularly. And so my mother left it at that.

Now my sister, aah that is an entire story in itself. Her lunch boxes right from 1st grade would be one of those stainless steel stacked box containers. My mother would lovingly pack rotis with diverse sabjis, curd rice, pickle, a fruit, a snack and half the monthly groceries. She'd still come home famished and ready to eat us come 5pm. That gave my mother immense satisfaction, it was apparent people who cook like to be appreciated and nothing like empty stainless steel containers to vouch for the quality. My mother came close to signing up for cooking classes to hone her skills just to impress Miss. Lunch box. Fancier and fancier dishes would appear automagically and at 7am, right out of bed, my sister would be ready(with unbrushed teeth, nonetheless) to sample the wares. Instant gratification, was what it was. My mother would float back into the kitchen(with a self promoted halo) to finish up her other mundane chores(which included packing MY lunch box that could as well have been a ziploc bag.)

Since I started working, in India as well as here in the US, I have either had a cafeteria at work, or have come home for lunch. Though, mind you, being on your own, the fancy of going home for lunch soon wanes at the thought of having to heat up your own leftovers. However, and now we get to the interesting bit, since being on my own and being forced to enter the kitchen to feed the stomach, I have developed a pretty strong cooking skill that has helped improve my appetite immensely. It could as well be that since I am the ultimate victim of my own cooking experiments, I'm encouraged to cook better. Vicious circle, that! I do try to cook healthy- avoid fried foods and have never tried to enter the realm of making sweets at home. I try new recipes, new cooking methods and can safely say that I am a decent cook, all said and done.

So how is my appetite now?, you ask? In this newest job of mine, the work location is not close enough to go home for lunch. It does have a cafeteria. But guess what? I am extremely thrifty now and hence.................I get my own lunch :)

Just last month, I picked up this giant sized lunch bag. There are myriad boxes packed in them(unfortunately I cant find the stacked container lunch box from those good ol' times). Guess what it contains?

- 3 whole wheat rotis
- One sabji
- One raitha or cucumber salad
- Curd rice
- An assortment of cookies, cakes, snacks(ahem, all home made) that serve for breakfast and snack time.

I'm Miss Lunch Box resurrected!

And hence I come full circle! Have you heard that twins are bound together by this invisible bond by which when one hurts, the other senses it immediately? Or if one feels joy, the other feels it too even if they are miles apart? I think with sisters, each one grows into the traits of the other. For most part, we share the same voice. Many people have confused our voices over the phone. Maybe we will soon be exchanging other traits. For now, I cant imagine eating fried food first thing in the morning, in bed with unbrushed teeth!. Maybe that might just happen sooner, than later!

Disclaimer : Poor cooking at home wasnt the case, my mom is/was one of the best cooks ever!

Footnote : All said and done, sisters(no, I dont mean nuns!) rock! And sisters reading this post should realise its all in jest, all in the family ;)