My American #Burger

Indian people are very conservative especially the South Indians. We have elaborate rituals of cooking, serving and eating food during festivals. But we too have adopted to modern life style of eating on dining tables, spoon and fork have made their way into our lives as if they were always there.

What ever may be the case the south Indian in me continues to be alive. Its not that we restrict ourselves to only south Indian food, I cook north Indian food pretty well and sometimes make Chinese too.

Life is going on, we saw new food trends and joints come into the city. Chinese noodle, Italian Pizzas, Burgers... made their way into our lives. Children started going to school and now their demands have been changing.

McDonald had become a fad for every school going kid. My children were not untouched, they wanted to go out to dine at McDonald... Could any parent ever escape a child's request? I also couldn't....had no choice but to plan our dinner for a Sunday.

Sunday evening we all got ready to go to McDonald for dinner. Found a table, made ourselves comfortable. Children ordered their meals and I was feeling little uncomfortable in the noise, as we had never been to noisy places for dinners. I am that old school type, soft music and minimum noise hotels.

Self service was a new experience, brought the trays to the table. Children were very excited to see burgers with French fries and coke in front of them. Now came the time for me to eat the American #Burger.

I opened the wrapper and saw the Burger in front of me....big bun stuffed with patty, something similar to our vada pav, but with cheese, and veggies... looked  beautiful and tempting with 4" height. I looked at my children enjoying the feast, eating with both hands, mouth full and face partially smeared with cheese. Quite a sight..to see them happy.

My turn...I took hold of my  #Burger..hesitantly with both hands...opened my mouth. But it won't go in...I opened my mouth little more...same situation. I was feeling very odd, my eyes stealthily scanned the panoramic view of the outlet...no one was watching, all were busy eating their meal.

I gathered more courage and opened a wider mouth and took a dig into my Burger...first one. My eating style had changed..used both hands and opened my mouth three times larger than normal....

My American #Burger.....changed me for life...I am Loving It..

Its not that we have made this as our main course, just for a change its fun to try different cuisines and learn about different cultures and traditions. Every country has something special to offer to the world.

But I feel very proud to say that I am an Indian with so many different customs and traditional values, festivals to mark every season, celebrations to mark important occasions. The Indian food is so well balanced to give taste, energy and health.

The Indian in me always wins.....can't stop being Indian