THE BENNE EXPERIENCE OF EVERYDAY LIFE

 


“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well,

if one has not dined well.”

Virginia Woolf

 

Yesterday was a Sunday. The night before, my wife and I decided to go out (on Sunday) and watch a good movie at a fine theatre, after that eat some delicious food somewhere, and simply spend some good time together… Importantly, together with our young son. We both knew, that we were able to make the most of this experience only if we let our young son decide on the movie and the eating place… What is best for the Prince is, always, the best for the King and the Queen, you see…

Son chose to watch a movie my wife and I had never heard of… ‘Boong’, a short Manipuri film. Apparently, this film had done well in many international film festivals. Here at the INOX/PVR auditorium of the glittering Jio world, it sounded very weird for us… We were the only three spectators till the movie started. Then, another couple joined… and, that’s it. The film was about this poor family of Manipur… two little boys, their innocent concerns… and adventure into the neighboring Myanmar… The poverty story of a Manipuri village of this movie, here, we were watching in an ultra-luxurious theatre built by rich Ambani’s. Three tickets had cost us two thousand rupees… One medium-size popcorn had cost us around six-hundred rupees… But, as I said, we had decided not to grumble and spoil the experience…





“How was the movie experience?”

“Great, Sir.”

That’s how we wanted it to be: No matter what, we wouldn’t spoil the experience of being together on a Sunday afternoon…

Which place did our Prince choose to eat?

Again, my wife and I hadn’t heard about this place. You see, our generation constantly lives under the rock. “There is this new eating place called ‘Benne - Heritage Bangalore Dosa’… They have one outlet in Juhu and one in Pali Hill, Bandra,” our son narrated. Bandra was closer to BKC, and, it was decided on Bandra one…

When our Uber stopped near this eatery, I jokingly said, “Have these people queued up for the latest i-phone?”

“No, for Siddhi Vinayak darshan,” our son added his own masala to my joke…

Imagine this: It’s a small 12 x 20-something place… You had to stand up and eat… finish and leave… so that the next few could come in… The queue outside would keep growing… We had to wait in the queue for nearly an hour before we could go in and savour the finest Benne Dosa’s - Plain, Masala, Garlic. Surprisingly, this place also had Mangalore Buns in its menu… We went for these delicacies and topped it up with glorious filter coffee…




 

“How’s the Benne experience?”

“Great, Sir.”

If you don’t want to spoil the ‘Benne experience’, at times, you should shut our eyes to the irony around the 'Benne experience’… Imagine watching the humble story of Manipur village in a palacelike setting of Ambani’s! Imagine, the four shops right next to this insanely patronized Benne eatery… For that one hour we were waiting along those four shops, we could hardly see a customer or two walking inside them!

“What an irony?” I wondered. But, we had decided not to spoil our ‘Benne experience’, you see…

There was, also, this young man, just across the road, who continuously played amazing old Hindi tunes with his flute… But, hardly anyone dropped anything in his box. But, he, too, seemed patient and did not stop playing his music for those waiting with patience on this side. I felt bad for this the young man and decided to drop a small amount when we were done with our Benne experience… Alas, by the time we were out, the young man had left that place!!

 “I should have done my bit before the Benne experience,” I regretted quietly…

But, then, as I said, the more you choose to see the ironies of life, the more you choose to spoil your so-called ‘Benne experience’ of everyday life…


“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food,” says Paul Prudhomme…


Do we?

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: Website: Benne Heritage Bangalore Dosa

Video: International Film Festival Gorinchem

 

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