It was a writer’s block or was I gathering the wit and courage not to be repetitive this time round or perhaps a serious lack of different topics or simply the absence of a suitable metaphor….I really don’t know but wordpress tells me its been two months and I haven’t written anything!!!
Why Maggi….simply nothing else but the fact that I grew up eating tons of it….as a cadet in the academy it was a lifeline….as a soldier last recourse to any situation….as a corporate warrior & single guy in the city, the shortest way to salvation….and all said and done I could never have enough of mom’s interpretation of the two minute noodles with veggies and what not!!!
However, what hit me in the last few days was the journey of the bowl of noodles through the various stages of my life and the ways I find it as a metaphor of my existence & journey. I have repeated myself time & often drawing similes with sundry objects but Maggi beats them all. At stone throws distance from middle age, I couldn’t appreciate more, the ways in which, it has affected my life & troubles and how I relish it more than ever!!!
Scene 01 – rush hour – to school, a bowl full of Maggi by mom and some more in the tiffin, ‘Paratha’ and ‘alu-bhaja’…Ohhh!!! its so not happening
Scene 02 – exodus out of classroom, its tiffin time….c’mon if its Maggi I am sitting alone, no sharing….the box is spanking clean, not a trace of noodles or gravy, nobody needs washing it, licked it ready for the next day!!!
Scene 03 – study time, college time….for all the midnight oil burnt, so many empty yellow packets in the dustbin the next day, still famished for another two yellow packets, all the chicken flavour ones are out during the night, only masala remains….with a heavy heart I reconcile with my fate, it will be all masala flavour for the rest of the next day…did someone just say “to the grocers”??? No ways, I need time to digest the last ten packets…
Scene 04 – Chennai and the barracks….military training ain’t easy!!! the DS just left, its way past midnight & after a rogering session (touch-&-back, push ups, camel carry, front roll, cream roll, star jumps, helicopter, patti-parade….the works); all you ever need is a steel mug worth of Maggi cooked with a mini immersion water heater, masala or chicken flavour, who gives a shit!!! it tastes awesome, three packets at a time….not a sweat
Scene 05 – middle of the jungle with an AK 47, the backpacks have bullets or Maggi; soaked, braving rising waters & animals…what on earth could you possibly digest in the middle of a rain forest with leeches sucking your blood dry….yup, Maggi again, people and animals wanna kill you alike, but, always had time for two more packets…
Scene 06 – Ohhh, the vultures of the corporate world!!! didn’t find the energy to buy something, have to cook at 2200hrs….well the tried and tested Maggi does just fine. Again! masala or chicken be damned!!! just wanna gobble up two packs straight, maybe a couple of pegs from the leftover Black Dog with it eases things…
Scene 07 – times are better, have a cook at home & a mom who wants to cook anything for me out of sheer boredom….for all the veggies bought, its still gonna be guess what?….Maggi, although now I try to be sauve and uber, not the normal flour ones….ATTA or OATS NOODLES can do….
From six bucks for a gigantic one to fifteen for a tiny-winy pack, its not just about the food or the association or the memories, Maggi sort of just proved something about the will to fight within us (similes, similes & more similes!!!). No matter what they did, it keeps coming back and right on top….it evolved, diversified, had an eye on the ball, the same yellow pack stays no matter what others do….wish I take a leaf out of the book….
Really don’t give a damn about being politically correct….
HELL YA!!! I LOVE MAGGI…
MyNarrative 