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March 24, 2015

Breakfast with Guptaji Ki Family




             As it's often said, 'the way to a man's heart is through his stomach'.If you have cracked that code,then life undoubtedly becomes quite easy.Now,you may be wondering why I am giving you all this gyan,all on a sudden! Well, I have no hidden agenda or anything,neither have I got a sudden brain wave or 'enlightenment' of some sort.The sudden realization actually stems from a friendly 'conversation' which I had with my friend a couple of days back.Infact rather than a casual small talk between friends,it was more or less like a counselling session(his 'marriage salvage session',to be exact!).This guy had married his college sweet heart( actually,Renu was our 'College beauty' and obviously was every XY's fantasy!)and three years after their blissful honeymoon,he had figured out that her culinary skills were non existent!(I asked him what he was eating during the first two years of togetherness,but for that he didn't give me a proper reply,Maggi and Instant Soup,I guessed!).Their marriage was on the verge of a break-up just because of her apparent inability to cook healthy food for him!After hours of my nagging and coercion,he decided to give their marriage one more chance,but on one condition-Renu should learn to cook atleast one meal,i.e. breakfast(nashta).Now,the burden of teaching her how to cook a decent nashta expectedly fell on me.What would I do? Clearly,I was screwed!On one hand,there was the danger of losing my best friend, on the other, there was the risk of his marriage falling apart? As in any precarious situations like this,I ran to my soulmate,Ranjini for help.

"Ranju,what will we do?
"Tell,me some idea"
"Renu knows to prepare nothing except instant noodles and boiling Corn-flakes"
"Nikhi,don't worry,we'll take her to Guptaji's House.They make yummy dishes just using Cornflakes"
"Is it?.We'll rush!"

But there was a problem.Neither my friend nor his wife(Renu) knew Guptaji well.What if he doesn't like them going to his house alone? Finally,I figured it out,we'll(Ranju and myself) accompany them and try out Guptaji's recipes for myself along with them.

"Ranju,we'll also go with them.So tomorrow,all of us will have breakfast from Guptaji's house"
"Okay,nikhi"
"But Ranju,what's so great about the breakfast which they make at Guptaji's house?"
"Nikhi,it's not like that.They make awesome dishes with Cornflakes.They are not only healthy but also delicious!"
"But when did you have food from their house,Ranju?"
"Last week..You remember me going to their house last Sunday?There was a function at their house, all of us(from the book club) had breakfast from there itself"
"Can you give me a brief description of what all you had?"
"That's a long list,indeed.From Cutlets to Shakes(Cornflake Date Shake,my favorite!),you name it,it was a complete meal!There was Basil Curd Dip,Veggie Oats Cutlet,Corn flakes Ladoo,Corn flakes pan cake and even a dessert made out of Corn flakes!It was definitely an out of the world experience!"
"But will the Gupta family like it,if we turn up suddenly for nashta?"
"Don't worry,Mrs.Gupta is a good friend of mine,I'll call up and tell her that we are coming for breakfast.Lady Gupta will be glad enough to teach Renu a bit about cooking too.Once Renu starts cooking all these delicious,healthy food at home,your friend's marital life will be fine!"

Tomorrow is the D-day!Renu,Raghav and myself are looking forward to the nashta at Guptaji's house.We hope our visit will be fruitful.I'm already craving for the mouthwatering Cutlet and the laddoos!And Renu firmly believes that this visit will save her marriage!

Written for Kelloggs.

-nikhimenon



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