WHAT IS COOKED ,TODAY?

 




“Good-old fashioned ways keep hearts sweet,

head sane and hands busy.”

Lousia May Alcott


I haven’t checked, if people still ask this, while talking to their relatives: “What is cooked, today?” – “Kya banaya aaj?” And, on a birthday or anniversary day, if they still ask this: “What is special, today?”

Today is a Sunday. A while ago, while talking to my elder brother, Franklin (who lives in our hometown), that good-old question: “Brother, what is special today?”

And, my brother went on explaining what’s special for lunch, today…

Brother, also, narrated as to where, when and how he went to buy chicken, fish and veggies, this morning…

I was smiling… A couple of my FB friends regularly post pictures of the breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, drinks etc. So, we do not have to ask them - “What is cooked, today?”, or “What is special, today?” … It has been promptly broadcast!

I was, also, smiling, as my elder brother was narrating to me where, when and how he went to buy chicken, fish and veggies. People around us just dial a number or use an App so that the goodies are quickly delivered at their doorstep…

So, people, like my elder brother and me, look like Bengal Tigers ( almost extinct), if not like Dinosaurs (completely extinct) …






Times have changed, you see… But, some of us haven’t.

Another familiar area, where people like me are ‘yet to grow’ is: finding a location. I still ask strangers and find the location… That lane, this lane, go left, go right – yes, I still use this old-fashioned google map…

The Almighty Google’s ‘Current location’, ‘Live location’ have made locating places so effortless, that some of us feel a complex while asking strangers, ‘Bayya, Ashish Talkies kidar hai?”

This is the world and the time of Multiplexes… and not Ashish or Shreyas Talkies… There are no stalls and balconies, anymore… I understand.

In my classes, when I ask what is 2 + 2, my young students’ hands mechanically reach for their calculators. Leave alone, 45,000 – 4,995.

It’s a huge load on their brains to get this: Deduct 5,000 and then add back 5 to get the answer: 40,005. There are so many ways to get this answer without using a calculator… But, then, why that ‘janjat’, Sir?

Yes, in life, change is the only constant…

Yet, as Lousia May Alcott says, there are so many good-old fashioned ways, which can keep life sweeter, mind saner and hands busier…

Agreed: Unless we step out of our comfort zones, we won’t be able to learn the new ways of doing our same-old things…





Times are changing… But, it is, also, the time to protect some ‘endangered species’!!!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s.: Pixabay

 

Video: FortuneFoods

 

 

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