Breakfast Wars

My friend Swati Maheshwari, blogger, photographer,traveler,environmentalist and entrepreneur, had something to say about this breakfast she recently had , and clicked, half way through, and posted on twitter.

It just occurred to me , that had this breakfast been of another variety, she wouldn't have had time to click.......

I mean it isn't a patch on some excellent idli/vada sambaar , vada paav and filter kapi, is it ? ....

In keeping with the characteristic of the breakfasts mentioned, the poem is bilingual :-)

(photograph by Swati Maheshwari)

Dame Lettuce
in her flouncy dress,
sitting with the skirt strewn around,
really trying
to overshadow
the tomato,
much cut up with this bossgiri...

As the very Propah
Lord Omelette
responds
only when approached
by the Knife
and the fork,
watched from a distance by
a butter and jam
simply yearning for some bread.

The juice,
with years of
agitated experience,
simply sighs,
and says,
 क्यूँ  यह  सब  "क्वीन"वाल्ला
लोर्ड  और लेडी  नाश्ता  ?

इतनी  दुनिया  देखी ,
इतने  ब्रेकफास्ट   के  पीछे  मै  भागी ,
लेकिन  मुझे  लगता  है
सब    को  मिलाके  बनाया  हुआ
चटनी  में  डूबा  डूबा  कर 
या  साम्बार  में
फ्रीस्टाईल करता  हुआ  ब्रेकफास्ट
और  ही  मजेदार  होता  है ....

वैसे
ब्रेड भाई      को  कभी  पूछा  क्या ,
की  उसे
कांटे  से  लाया  आमलेट  का  टुकड़ा 
और
गरम  गरम  बटाटा  वडा  /चटनी
इन  में  से
कौन  पसंद  है  ?...."

Breakfast Philosophy at 32,000 feet

Rajabhau aka my blogger and FB friend Priyadarshan Kale,is a connoiseur of traditional Maharashtrian foods, an expert on where you get the best stuff, and often posts amazing photos of the foods on FB. He mostly drives to these places.

 He recently flew Mumbai-Bengaluru on any early morning flight, possibly on an empty stomach.

 He was tormented by the inability of the breakfast trolley , which appeared to be moving at snails pace across the rows, to reach him, way at the back of the plane.

 And he desperately posted his hungry and angry status on FB.

This poem was posted in response and support ....
(Marathi and English versions side by side ....a new experiment)

अवकाशातील आसनांमधली लक्षवेधक हालचाल , सुमधुर स्मितांचे गणवेशातले हाय-फाय फवारे , ढकल गाडीच्या गुप्त पोटातून बाहेर येणारे उपमा,वडे व टोस्ट चे खमंग ट्रे. राजाभाऊ , शेवटून तिसऱ्या ओळीत खडबडून जागे होत्तात ; पोटात मिसळीला लाज वाटावी इतकी कालवाकालव , क्षणोक्षणी हवाई सुंदरीचा येणारा राग , आणि एवढ्यात फोन वाजतो (स्पैसजेट मध्ये चालतं)..... "अहो, म्हटलं नाश्ता झाला का ? जरा अर्धा तास असता तर साबुदाणा खिचडीचा डबा दिला असता ....." आणि राजाभाऊ पुनाश्च डोळे बंद करतात , पट्टा आवळतात , मग दात ओठ आवळतात , आणि मुंबईचे रस्त्यांचे खड्डे मोठे का आपल्या पोटातला खड्डा मोठा , ह्याचा विचार करत म्हणतात , "गीतेत म्हटल्या प्रमाणे आपण फक्त आपले काम करत रहावे, फलाची अपेक्षा ठेवू नये , पण काय हो, एखादा मेदुवडा तरी ?"

Interesting attractive movements high up in the sky, Sophisticated gestures with sprinkles of pre-planned smiles, and emerging from the innards of a moving trolley, servings and trays of Upma, Vadas and toast. Rajabhau, stewing in the third-last row, wakes up with a start ; Plaintive pains in an abdomen, emptily pining for Misal, and a growing anger against the airhostess. The phone rings (it works in spicejet) "Hi, hope you've had breakfast .... Could have packed you some sabudana khichadi if you had waited...." Rajabhau swallows, leans back , eyes closed; Tightens, first his seat belt, then his lips and teeth, and wonders if the emptiness in his stomach exceeds the emptiness of Mumbai's potholes; Resigned, to his hungry fate, he thinks, "I should really follow the Bhagwad Gita Philosophy; Keep doing your work, without thinking of the fruits of that labor.."; Till a small voice in his mind pipes up and asks, "Not even a small Meduwada ?".....