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When I had dinner after dinner
We have been experiencing a pleasant dilemma during Ramadan. This is because we receive a number of invitations from Muslim friends to join them over iftar, often more than one for the same evening.
- By Lalit Raizada, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 01:18 September 30, 2008
We have been experiencing a pleasant dilemma during Ramadan. This is because we receive a number of invitations from Muslim friends to join them over iftar, often more than one for the same evening.
Just as we honour their invitation, they would be no less keen to come to our place. That is how it goes on in India, the land of composite culture. As such, like us, the children in our family eagerly wait for the arrival of Ramadan, and then finally the Eid day when there is joy, love and mirth in the festive air.
Honestly speaking, while visiting our friends we like to embrace them a little longer - to enjoy the enchanting fragrance of typical oriental Indian scents (unlike the spirit-based perfumes) they would use that day. After all, for us, this opportunity comes only twice a year (on Eid Al Fitr and Eid Al Adha).
And then follows a hearty session of eating a variety of delectable pakoris, sheer qurma, kebabs, sewaiyan, and what not. It is heart warming to see the host insisting that we eat more and more. It is all right for youngsters but puts the older ones, like me, in a dilemma.
Friends' emphatic insistence on tasting every dish deserves to be respected. But it reminds me of my doctor's instructions and a near-horrifying experience that I had during my adolescence when I had two dinners, one after another!
One winter evening, I went out for a stroll after dinner. On the way, I dropped at the clinic of my doctor cousin who authoritatively told me to accompany him to a dinner at his doctor friend Dr (Mrs) K's place. He would not listen to my pleadings that I already had dinner.
I was forced to go with him. But, I was not in a mood to eat even 10 grammes of anything. No amount of imploring by her or my cousin would move me.
But suddenly I made an about-turn on seeing a big bowl of sheer qurma placed on a side table. Here I must confess that I eat a lot of sweets (of all kinds), in particular confectionary.
Well, I honestly could not resist the temptation of the delicacy. But as it had to be consumed at the end as a dessert, I had to also eat other things to 'qualify' for it. During the main course, I would often eye the delectable sheer qurma.
Opportunity
At last, I got the opportunity of devouring the entire sheer qurma because others were either too full or not interested. At this stage, I felt my tummy protesting. I realised I should not have taken 'Dinner-II'. I wanted to leave at the earliest but the host said that having dry fruits after the dessert was mandatory as a custom. I had no option.
I rushed home and slipped into my quilt. But around midnight, the 'two dinners' made me uneasy. I sat back for several minutes but that did not help. I could not have gone out of the house at that hour for a stroll, so I repeatedly went climbing up and down the stairs to the second floor to digest the food. My steps were quick but stealthy.
That woke up my grandma who suspected a burglar. Having reassured her, I returned to my bed but the problem remained where it was. The food had not budged. I slipped into the quilt once again but the food continued to threaten me. I sat up again.
As the best option available at that hour, I rested my pillow against the cold December wall and snatched some sleep in a sitting position. In the morning, I had caught a severe cold with a bad body ache, which had seeped deep into my back right to the rib cage. Ironically, now, I could not sit !
Entered my doctor cousin to examine me. He did not say anything and quietly prescribed the medicines. But the parting advice was: "No food for the next two days. Only liquids!
Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.
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