Even before i eat my dinner completely...i have this habit of asking my wife whats up for breakfast tomorrow....almost inevitably invoking her wrath.............i couldn't agree more with her....just when the lady has had enough for the day ( at least she think so) ..here is this gentlemen reminding her of the arduous task of getting ready for the next meal.......
Old habits die hard........from my child hood i was a foodie.........food and kitchen...were (are ) my favorite places......even now my wife tries to hide cashew nuts..and peanuts in the house..i am not lying ask her....why not...after all i believe we live to eat............
one day as a young man...i walked in to a married man's house (quite elder ) at break fast time.....he was getting ready and i had to give him a lift.. in my car...for a hungry bachelor i was sneakingly looking towards the kitchen...for some decent invite....for a delicious break fast....there was no sign....so i couldn't help asking..."ma'am what have you given sir in break fast"..... bread jam.....came the unfriendly answer.......i told him..sir ..if you have to eat bread as a married man...i pity you....it was a spontaneous outburst from me....poor him ..i felt
Many years later when i got married....i got a wedding card from that couple...down below...was scribbled ...."My wife wants to know what your wife cooks in break fast"....... that lady has still not pardoned me decades later...........fortunately for me.. i was lucky to get a wife who never repeats the same menu....for break fast......(except when she gets occasionally wedded to idly)....so i continue to ask her whats for break fast...
south Indians have a lot of choice for break fast.....some times i wonder if north Indians can ever think of anything other than...paratha....or double roti..... or oily poories with aloo...
when i was a small kid before i went to a boarding school there wasn't any concept of breakfast....i learnt this word in school...surely i had the privilege of studying in rural primary schools in some of the remotest villages....studying in lantern....and ..eating before sunset.....in those days there was no word called break fast
while we all children had .....chaddennam(left over rice of previous day)...occasionally my dad was served tiffin......we were six siblings ...(.i left the house for a boarding school when the seventh was born....so the figure continued to be same)....my youngest uncle and youngest aunt added to be eight ...kids to be fed in the morning...Since there was no concept of domestic helps in those days all the work shared by my mom..and some cooperative aunt....who wasn't too busy with her studies....the whole house hold wasn't any time less than 15 any time....there was much work to do for my mommy....so the break fast was made quite simple....
We had left over rice....what was called Chaddennamu...it had a unique taste of its own..first mom would inspect it if it was in order..by a simple aroma test...then ..the choice of what to eat was asked...it was the choice of pickle....we had wide range....from the traditional avakaya.magayaa....gongoora,..chinta kaya ,nimmakaya,etc....even kandi podi.(sorry for those who cant get what these are..these are tarditional andhra pickles)...with so many kids around almost....8 ...it was a difficult task to short list what to eat...somehow more often than not my choice would prevail...which was invariably..avakaya....obviously i used to make a claim for the mukka(the mango piece)....occasionally one of the younger aunts would volunteer to handle us in break fast while mom was busy dish washing the hard way....first pull water from a well..and handle those ...seemingly huge sized..brass vessels...on which were inscribed names of my maternal grand father....( i used to Wonder why..i was told much later they came with mom in marriage)...
Eight kids...eight plates to mess up and to be cleaned ....so when one of the younger aunts was handling this little entertaining break fast session...she would mix the Rice in one huge plate....and make laddoos...of the rice...each tender palm extended...and one huge ball o f rice eaten..bit by bit.....(many decades laterstill i yearn for that atmosphere).......i was the smart hog always..eating fast and out of turn..at the expense of others...This word BREAKFAST..i learnt only when i went to a boarding school.....something eaten in all solemnity...in uniforms...knives an forks clattering silently like a funeral music..it was quite a cultural shock for this...rustic boy..who was used to his CHADDENNAM.....
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