Hard to digest
The Hindu
Navigating through a South Indian wedding lunch served on a banana leaf is difficult for the uninitiated
He looks like any of us. It is only when he starts talking that his accent betrays where he his from: the U.S. It is not easy for him on this trip to India to attend a cousin’s wedding. Though he finds everything “awesome”, the culture-shock numbs him. His challenges are many, none greater than navigating through a South Indian wedding lunch served on a banana leaf. The food is now arrayed all over the banana leaf. It is a typical menu: vegetables, coloured rice, vadai, avial, poli, jaangri, payasam and the items keep coming. Without his spoon, fork and cereal bowl, our teenager is all at sea! The guest sitting next to him eggs him on. “It is easy! You pick up rice with your fingers and eat like this!” It is as if he has been suddenly thrust into the cockpit of an aeroplane and told to fly it on his own! His NRI mother sits at the next leaf. She has coached him to a point, but not for this eventuality. Gingerly, he uses his fingers to pick up one grain of rice at a time. At this rate, the next Ice Age will set in, she scolds him! He reaches out for simpler items such as “pappadam”. He grips the entire disk with both hands and takes one big bite. The crackling bits take a parabolic path, some right into a leaf three rows away! A couple of children watch this spectacle from the opposite row and giggle!More Related News