Too much for our own good
A couple of months ago, I attended a wedding where I knew no one except the father of the bride. After giving the host a warm hug and the customary shagun, I was all by myself. I headed towards the reception area, where several food stalls had been set up. The tempting aroma of deep-fried snacks attracted guests like moths to a flame. Scores of waiters were doing their best to ensure that everyone would enjoy the snacks to their heart’s content.
Modern-day nutrition experts have coined a wonderful term — cheat day. This means that once in a while you can satisfy your cravings for the calorie-dense food without feeling guilty. Though I am a big advocate of healthy food, I decided to take the plunge under the guise of a cheat day and reached out for the piping-hot cheese pakoras dipped in green chutney. As I was about to relish them, a man, who happened to be one of my patients, emerged out of nowhere, got hold of my paper plate and said, “Leave it, doctor, this is good for nothing.”
He grabbed me by the arm and led me to the fruit stall. I had to live up to my reputation of ‘practise what you preach’ and content myself with eating cold grapes and pineapple slices on a bone-chilling evening in January. I was hardly done with the fruits that he offered a glass of fruit juice. The innocent guy thought that all doctors ate and drank healthy all the time. Perhaps this is what they call an occupational hazard.
After willy-nilly having the fruit juice, I headed towards the dinner hall to escape the biting cold. Though there was still some time for dinner to be laid, the coffee machine installed in a corner drew my attention. The man at the stall was quick to oblige me with a cup of hot coffee that provided much-needed warmth.
Later, I wandered into the kitchen area of the marriage palace where the preparations for dinner were underway. At least 20 people were deeply engrossed in their work under the watchful eyes of the head chef. Cutting, chopping, cooking and frying was in full swing. The head chef was moving around at a frenetic pace, giving instructions to his staff. I was amazed to see the huge stack of cheese wheels, mounds of vegetables, bricks of butter, cans of oil, numerous packets of spices and above all, a sackful of sugar. The enormous quantity of food under one roof perplexed me.
I wondered if all this would be gobbled up that night by the guests and whether they would need a hearty breakfast to get going the next morning. In this age of consumerism, the divide between how much we require and how much we consume is widening at an alarming pace. We are consuming more than we can digest, accumulating more than we can use and desiring more than we need. Where will this lifestyle lead us to? We need to pause and ponder.
