I was a tiny little one when I used to see mom’s come to school to feed their children during lunch break. A plastic basket filled with rice, sambhar, curd, vegetables and fried poppadum's. Yes, to most it would seem preposterous but I saw it every single day during the five years I studied from 1st to the 5th standard in the 90s of Bangalore. (And yes, it will always be Bangalore for me).
At that time, I was thankful to God that my mom didn’t do the same. I felt independent. I was not a mumma’s boy. I carried my own tiffin and ate it myself too.
When after two decades, I moved on my own to study in Mumbai, I fell in love with street food. Bhel, vada pau, pau bhaji and the works. But as the months passed by, the true blue Indian son in me started poking inside.
Through STD calls made after 9pm from public telephones, I would talk to my mom back home only about food. The hostel mess was a mess, sorry for the pun. While my dad was worried about my academic progress and my pocket money, mom was worried about my health because of my gastronomical misadventures.
And one day, she mentioned that my uncle was coming to Mumbai and if I needed anything? Before I could say anything she herself mentioned a laundry list of food items she was sending.
Next morning, I woke up at 4.30am and reached Bombay Central station at sharp 4.55am to receive my uncle. As soon as he waved to me from the S1 boogie, I ran towards him. He gathered his luggage, removed my parcel and rushed to grab a kaali peeli as he had an early morning business meeting.
And what did I do? Well, I just sat on the station bench, opened the parcel and smelt mom ke haath ka khaana. I could smell the ghee in the parantha’s, the mustard in the ghar ka achar, the spice in the aloo ki sabzi.
Tears rolled down my eyes as I took the first bite. Mom ke haatho ka jadoo…this is what I was missing. And from that day, I was proud to be called a mumma’s boy.
5 comments
Dear Sir,
Our best wishes for your effort for readymade food . Yesterday , we came across the product in SS STORE, Soubhagya Nagar, Bhubaneswar and purchased three different varieties. Today we tried your Masala Upma . Batch No 025511MAUY01, Date of packaging Sep 2020. We appreciate the simple procedure to have Masala Upma in less than 10 minutes. However, the taste needs improvement as unlike Masala Upma , the sourness of the preparation was quite high. It affects the taste adversely. Further , the Suji granules may be made a bit thicker. Since it is a new product, I thought of giving the feedback to examine the contents and taste.
Thanking you.
Ajit Kumar Lenka
C/063, Cosmopolis , Dumduma, Bhubaneswar
Mob: 9879643225.
Need few products for bangalore, wen can I get the delivery as I am travelling after 10th so wanted before that
I want these products for shillong. Can you do shipping here