I need breakfast.
I believe it is the very cornerstone of a good day. At work or otherwise.
Yet, I don't remember the last time I have had a good breakfast. You know, the kinds when you politely burp, lean back and say 'Ah!' afterwards. The sorts that have the ability to relegate the associated worries of a Monday to the back benches. Or make you re-evaluate the meaning of your entire existence. If only for a second.
And I don't skip it because I am on a diet. At least not for the moment. More often than not my breakfast consists of fried potato fritters that look like little yellow hand grenades (the effect on the inner lining of the stomach is somewhat similar) consumed hungrily in a moving taxi.
There are no cafes on the way to work. Those that are there are usually shut when I am on my way anyway. McDonalds is way off. We don't have a cafe in the office, or even near office, for miles. If I want to have a chicken sandwich, I will have to settle for a mass produced, poly-wrapped, stringy chicken with tasteless mayo and dodgy bread at a chain cafeteria outlet. They are unfamiliar with 'I am not satisfied with this product because it sucks' concept. Or the 'You are a customer and I am supposed to help you' concept.
One can argue, 'Make your own breakfast'. And I try. I am a good cook, they say. But the little shaft of time that is available to me in the morning to brush my teeth and shower (sometimes together) disallows me the time required to prepare more than a couple of slices of toast. I am too busy in my head. Trying to clock in by nine thirty. Thinking of path breaking advertising. Attempting to theoremise behaviour of women (like a QED version of 'I told you she will say that'). Or even contemplating how long does it take to buy the sea facing apartment with the patio. The one where you can have wonderful breakfasts, or so says the realty guy.
Every big city habitually throws a lot at us. Deadlines. Beggars. Prostitutes. Advertising people. And in our feverish attempts to bypass them and still live, chin up, we learn to make certain sacrifices.
And I too have made mine.
Illustration (c) Becky Cloonan
22 comments:
it really does make quite a difference! eating breakfast makes a day feel normal. like you're living at home. thank u laxmi bai.
it does indeed. but it's been so long that i have left home that i don't really remember what that feels like.
you can try gulping down some muesli with cold milk while you are doing that shower cum teeth cleaning...thats what i do. and if you manage a glass of juice along with it, even better!
on another note, for me a good and really satiating breakfast (am a complete breakfast person) is incomplete without a nap after it.
how can you not have a cafe in your office? unbelievable! does your company have an hr head? he or she must be sleeping on the job - no real offense intended :-)
meraj - ah. advice. will try that tomorrow. the nap will have to be in the cab. manageable i am sure.
dolphin - no hr head. no cafe. the price of being in a startup. come to think of it now, my last agency was strangely lacking in these two depts. as well. hmmmm.
I'd say there are two aspects to any meal; the food and the ceremony. You could try to balance the lack of food and time with a slight overdose of ceremony. Lay your toast and coffee out reverently. Then get rid of all distractions (TV, radio, newspapers), gently pull out the dining chair, sit with noble intention, ponder over food for 30 seconds, then eat each morsel lovingly. Won't take more than 5 minutes. I have a feeling it might help you feel less cannon-balled into the day.
charade - in order to facilitate the ceremony i might have to wake up an hour or so earlier. but i do understand what you mean. as i think about it, i realise almost all of my meals are hurried and non-comforting. i live alone and more often than not can be seen standing and eating whatever i have cooked in front of the wok itself. the very thought of taking it back to the living room and coming back and forth bores me.
on another note, this mode of communication with you is extremely one sided and in your control. i don't like it.
I adore breakfast - it is my fave meal of the
day -
some days it is large - eggs - curried potatoes -
french toast and fruit other days it is
figs and yoghurt and almonds.
you can pack up breakfast to go -
banana - yohurt - amonds - granola bar -
cheese and crackers;)
hugs!
and don't forget chai:)
maddie - granola bar is doable. have been doing it for days now. i wish there were more options available. curried potatoes are yummm. excellent for nursing wine hangovers. i really need to sort out my life now.
Actually, you won't have to get up more than 10 minutes earlier. You will find that giving your breakfast about three minutes of undivided attention will bring out the zen in you. Try it. One last attempt at saving your breakfast from becoming a martyr to the metro cause.
About the other note, you're the one who posts the articles. So it would seem that you have more control in the matter :)
charade - well, on my way back from a rather trying day at work bought some stuff. granola bars, yoghurt, muesli and sprouts. little trinklets of advice from everyone above. and i shall make an honest effort tomorrow.
yes, i do post the articles. does that put me in control, really? you know my breakfast routine. i am not even sure if you are a man, woman or ogre.
ah. I left you some really honest thoughts and yet you worry about statistics. I'd like to think I'm reasonably competent at wielding words, ergo, not ogre.
charade - true. i swayed. breakfast it will be. and spuds it will be not. and the wordplay was well beyond reasonably competent. yet.
Thank you, Phish. And speaking of breakfasts and reform movements, let me raise a toast to possibility.
charade - i have always been a firm believer in possibilities. and i had breakfast today, albeit minus the routine.
Sometimes I have 'breakfast' just so that I have food in my tummy and it doesn't go rumbling especially if I am sitting with a customer. (happened once you know and I vowed never to skip breakfast no matter how badly I made it) - but yes I do understand your predicament and that feeling of leaning back with an 'ah'
just popping in to say
I had a mango smoothie for breakfast and
dried fruit - cranberries and
pineapple and apricots -
and a chocolate bar:)
You have a great way-
I think I'll check back on you often and see what you're dishing out/up.
maddie - stop it. i can't compete with that. today i had bread and butter and a half melon. help.
videoxy - thank you. and i sure hope you do.
I agree that breakfast makes a day ok but it's seemingly the meal that's hardest to find time for. Tomorrow I will be cooking breakfast for eight hours. For other people. If you were in town I'd fry you some eggs. "If we had eggs we could have eggs and ham, if we had ham"-Unknown
Good luck nourishing yourself.
when its too much trouble, i just skip it. some chai, a smoke. and when i feel hungry later, more chai, more smoke.
sirbarrett - i wish you were. ham is good. i do it all the time.
dharmabum - that's what i have been doing pretty much. it makes me a little electric though.
Post a Comment