Not Without Your Laddoo

It’s the time of  the year when my phone beeps every few minutes, the message is the same, the names and publications change. No, it’s not a ‘Happy Diwali’ message; it’s a version of ‘got a minute, need to talk to you about Diwali detox’. So I will do what I have learnt to do, say what I have to, even in this column, one more time.

It is a crime, albeit a diet crime, to not eat all the home-made mithai, namkeen and goodies during Diwali. Indian culture has since time immemorial celebrated the ‘prana’ or the positive healing force behind food cooked with love, prayers and joy. The limitation of modern nutrition science is that it counts calories, reduces food to a number and places a chocolate you bought for `15 in the same category as the goond ka ladoo, karanji or badam barfi that your grandmom cooked using age-old recipes.

Science will learn, it always does. Soon, some reputed institute will conduct a study on the ‘healing’ properties of home-cooked festivities, just like the way Stanford researched and proved that squatting is the best posture when defecating. Till that time I suggest that all of us, who belong to native cultures, where food is integral to our value system and who’s eating practi­ces don’t find representation in tabloids or nutrition studies, eat like the way our elders sugges­ted—pick the best ingredients, involve the entire fam­ily in preparations, cook with laughter, share what you have prepared with dear ones and relish every bite as it melts in your mouth. In the darkness of ‘Diwali detox’, let the diya of common sense burn bright.