“Mom,just behave while you eat,for God’s sake use a spoon instead of
hand”,i shrugged as i felt embarrassed in restaurant while dining...
Mom looked at me, said nothing, and continued to eat that way...
We finished the dinner, at last i was relieved that it was over, paid
the bill and left, Mom took an auto till her home...yes we lived separately,
especially after my not so arranged love marriage with my beloved. All those
cultures, creed came into play while i showed my choice to my mother, but those
times were over, and here i was taking mom out for a sumptuous dinner just
because i wanted to give a treat for my recent appraisal at office,happiness is always shared best with your loved ones, but i
wasn’t happy for the mannerisms...
A long time after,i happened to visit Italy for a project,courtesy my
office...
Now the Italian eating patterns are distinctively different from
Italians,according to an eminent coobook author-
Italian food is "twice blessed because it is the product of
two arts, the art of cooking and the art of eating,"
Italy has only two staple diets for we Indians-Pastas and pizzas,and i
bet if you are a vegetarian you cant savour any third dish..
Being a crude mannerist, i picked a knife and a fork,while dining one
day with my foreign counterparts to have a Feast pizza which looked
delicious,This way was deemed to be the most polite way of eating a pizza,but
even after many tries i looked helpless...
I tried looking "decent" and then quickly
realized that all of the people I was trying to impress were using their
hands,and one of them retorted “give up man,you cant do that”Eat like the locals to save and savor,you cant change the culture,but
you can change the behaviour”, in his blatant
taunting accent...
i quickly remembered how i treated my
mom that day,how she would have felt,there was a day while we as a family used
to eat on “banana leaves”,on ground and ate like no one could,and was reduced
to a pile of mannerisms,behaving to please people...and something came from my
eyes ,it was a tear –it was for “for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain,
loneliness, and pride,and suddenly everything around me changed...changed for
good..!
The phrase-"While in Rome,just do as the Romans do" may not always hold good,exceptions galore..
Comments
You can also relate to the childhood days, when you showed up no manners at all at a family gathering and your mom used to give all the attention n love to you amidst the crowd....Think of it....But the good part is that you realized...and to be honest all of us do it one or the other day.....Truely a thought-provoking piece of words. Thanks.