Gourmets, Foodies and the Journey In-between

I like to eat. And I have ample amplitude to prove it and assumed that I was a foodie.  As per Wikipedia, foodies want to learn everything about food, both the best and the ordinary, and about the science, industry, and personalities surrounding food. Gourmets on the other hand apparently, simply want to eat the best food. I, it appears, am neither. I just like to eat - often the same things, in varied quantities, with similar set tastes.

What got me thinking on these lines was this new series I have started enjoying – My Kitchen Rules.  It is a cooking competition where teams of two compete among themselves for a 3-5 course meal. The meals are judged on various parameters other than taster- presentation, texture of teh food, the way the flavours mix together, and even how the whole menu blends with each course. It sort of opened my eyes to the fact that cooking is a science and that flavours are unique and each flavour has to be uniquely appreciated. If even on flavour is overwhelming, it makes for a bad dish

Being Indian, my palette is evidently too accustomed to spices and a single overwhelming taste of the same mixtures. Anything else is bland. 

My life story is also similar. I am used to action, I am used to activity and I am used to too many things mixing into each other.  So now I am seeking bland – appreciation and small steps towards a comprehensive menu. And, I am also changing the way I cook – which means the masalas are going down, new food is being tried and my poor husband who loves his desi palette is left wondering why I ever watched My Kitchen Rules!

Hum Of The Day

My life recipe always involved work, traffic, transport, haggling, stress, tension and a general fight for time. I assumed that how life works. Then I saw a different life, tasted a new way of living, and somehow, I am appreciating the subtle flavours - the flavour of having time; the flavour of pursuing my own interests; the flavour of learning my interests – and learning that all of this does not have to mesh into one blurred day into the other. I could turn into a lifeie. Or at least try to.

Analysis, Assessment And Choice Paralysis

Is it worth it? Just how often do so many of us ask ourselves this question on a variety of issues. And usually we try to tell ourselves that end of the day, all things considered, what we are assessing is worth it. I am beginning to think that this happens only because we want what we are assessing and are just trying to get our rational mind to give the great “OK”. Its how the trained logical mind buys itself peace.

Life isn’t perfect – in fact far from it. Usually, what we want comes attached with a lot of things we don’t want. Sometimes, it comes attached with insufficient amount of some things we want and extra amounts of what we didn’t ask for. And that’s where the whole worth assessment begins.

You like your job but don’t love it. You like your boss but he is often a pain. The current project is horrendous and you are stuck on it for a year. End of the day is it worth it? This question uncannily props up when an increment, promotion or bonus has not gone your way – or if what you believed was yours went to someone else. 

You love your spouse but marriage is hard work. He takes care of you but not in all the ways you want him to. He can be insensitive, naive and aloof. He can also be thoughtful, considerate and caring in ways you never thought of. Makes you wonder if the package of ups and downs is worth it.

The new job offer you got is great, if only they gave you that little bit more. That higher designation, that higher increment – are all the changes worth it?

Ever wondered how come we never assess if dealing with our family, siblings and friends is worth it? Why exiting from a family business and what’s your “own” is rarely a question that crops up. Those relations also have ups and downs – but why don’t we consider turning those down.  Those are always worth it aren’t they?

Then is it that we assess the worth of things we believe we have options for? Are we starting to give ourselves options for too many things? Maybe anchoring down, taking what comes our way and making the most of it is a better way to be at peace. I'm not saying don’t seek more, but creating choices in situations where there is no need for assessment is a mighty big waste of time. Perhaps taking a deep breath, rubbing your hands for energy and just getting up and dealing with what’s on the plate is what automatically makes things “worth it”. Worth after all is relative – just like beauty. You have to assess the whole package in the context of your whole life.

Hum of the Day

I read somewhere that ours is a generation that has too many choices. Not only do I agree, but I now feel that we assess and reassess when there are no real choices. Something is a choice when you can say no or if something else belongs to you. In all other situations, it’s not a choice and therefore not worth assessing. Accepting is a word we all need to slowly learn. And have faith in ourselves that when the time to really say no comes, we will know and there will be no assessment.

Doing The Right Thing

Our life is about shades of grey. I however, am one of those stubborn people that find it difficult to understand how anyone can live without certain things as a given. For me, as a blanket rule, certain things are good, certain things are bad. Certain things are fine and certain are unacceptable no matter what. To be that is what makes an individual – that is what defines and creates a character and who and what one stands for. But like I said, the world around me is blurred lines.

A son who wanted to help his family but couldn’t, chooses to walk away in frustration. To him, he couldn’t control what he wanted to so it was ok. To me, you don’t walk away no matter what. You stick through certain relationships over time and tide. Because its the right thing to do. Yet, I know, that to the do-er, walking away is equally right – he gets to live his life, they continue the way they are and life moves on. It can seem like a win-win.

At another totally disgusting extreme, a manager makes a pass at a worker in his office. He knows she is sustaining herself financially and in need of money, he knows she is unmarried, his wife is away. He can give her money, a raise and other perks – she gets security and solves her problem, and he solves his. To him I presume, it could appear like a win-win.

The cabbie on the road is stopped; he is asked how much he will charge. He sees opportunity in someone who obviously does not know the ways of the city. He doubles his rate. The person who needs to get somewhere gets there, innocent or uncaring of how much has been paid. The cabbie makes a quick extra buck – it could be a win-win for all.

Life is being increasingly viewed by tinted glasses. Seeing things the way they are no longer appears to be a requirement. The concept of right is right and wrong is wrong does not hold true for an increasing majority. What is right for me is right, and what is wrong for me is wrong is the new way of life. But where does that leave identities and what a person stands for. Perhaps, no one stands for anything anymore – the world is now probably full of chameleons – they stand for grass today and rocks tomorrow.

Hum of the Day

Shades of grey are easy. Mixing any two colours for a new one is also easy because you can choose the quantity of two very different elements and make it what you want. But human beings, humane characteristics’ and fundamental goodness of the soul is not a colour. A character with too many shades mixed together is just murky. Each one needs to stand for something or soon, no one will know where anyone stands- including themselves.

Work, Play and The Journey In Between

“Find work that feels like play”. Wise words by my latest “crush” – Richard Castle – Writer by vocation, detective my hobby/research requirement/love interests and father to a teenage girl. He is a deductive detective, an astute writer and has some keen observations on the human mind. Needless to say – for those who are uninitiated into his world – he is a fictional character on a tv series!

Me and the husband have been addicted to the show for a while now – the characters, the chemistry, the study of the human mind – murder mysteries is just a nice by-product. But what has really struck a chord with me is the passion that Castle has for what he does. The character eats sleeps and lives to write. He fights crime so he can write about it (and impress his “muse” of course). But he loves what he does. He wants to write. To make people get into the mind of his characters, to be real to understand the tiniest nuances of the human mind. That’s what writing is to me. That’s probably what I love about the series. A writer who loves story telling – and those can be mutually exclusive concepts.

I have always liked words and writing. Do I have a story in me I don’t know. But I dream that someday I will.  For now, I know that I enjoy observing people, I used to study body language and I used to wonder what makes the human mind tick. In a phase of life where I am figuring out what to do with myself given the limited life choices I have, this may be a good time to get back to basics – back to what I loved always – books, human behaviour and words.  So I am restarting my book blog, finding sites on human behaviour and hoping to blog more often. Baby steps but since I love all three who know where it could get me!

Hum of the Day

Maybe childhood is when we do what we love with the most passion. Maybe life gives us second chances to go back to what we love at our chore. Even if not as a vocation – getting back to what feels like play can only be an enjoyable experience.