AJ felt she had outdone herself.
All those hours spent watching the foodie channels and polishing off half the peas while pretending to shell them had been well worth it.
She had, in front of her, a perfect cross between Veg-Au Gratin and Malai Kofta. She called it Padma-Vijay. A blooming success it will be, she hoped.
AJ rustled up her brood and served the concoction with utter chutzpah.
As is usual, Scintillating-Sonny raised the first revolt.
“We aren’t having it! This is an affront and utterly distasteful! I demand a complete ban on this dish!”
“How do you know, that it is in bad taste and an insult to our long-cherished culinary culture without even having a spoonful?” AJ wanted to know in all earnestness.
“Well, I’m just following the normal frenzy. If a three-minute dance capsule can summarize an entire movie and be a slur to a warrior pride, why can’t my mere glance at this whitish mix, that you claim is all kosher, give away the true picture? If you don’t accede to my threat, I will go to town denouncing this. There will be trouble. I have the numbers to rabble-rouse! Jaise Karni Waise Bharni!!” Scintillating-Sonny breathed fire, mouthing pithy platitudes.
“It is just a dish. Stop dissing. I think you are mistaking the spoon for the ladle.You cannot force your dogmatic opinion down everyone’s throat. Let them taste and come to their own conclusions. We are grown-ups, not children who need protection from corrupting influences or slander! Ban the cultural terrorism.” AJ tried to mollify the tyrant.
Midway was impossible.
“How about checking with the Culinary Board of Food Certification? Our own resident Gyaani-Grannie?” AJ offered peace while threatening sound bytes were issued, shared and re-shared via WhatsApp, SnapChat and FaceTime with the fence-sitting clan following the spicy drama breathlessly.
Gyaani-Grannie passed the creation after doing away with five ingredients and suggested a new moniker. Padma-‘DAvat!
The newly minted dish was ready to be presented for consumption.
Again all hell arose with Scintillating-Sonny threatening anarchy in the refrigerator by calling in his hungry friends, who would raid the same, no-holds-barred.
The matter soon got escalated to the Supreme-Court of the house, the right honorable Hmm-Husband, who sampled the revamped creation and passed the verdict after citing the right to freedom of choice and asking to ban the ban.
Peace reigned for a couple of minutes while everyone mulled about their next furious steps.
Meanwhile, Darling_Dotty wanted to meet her friends at the suburban mall without any chaperone. Immediately, a tsunami was declared.
“Of course not! Don’t you read the papers? Start doing so immediately before you put across any ridiculous ideas! The crimes against women are skyrocketing.You want to galavant like any other normal teenager across the world would do? Seriously, there has to be a limit to your flightiness!” Hmm-Husband suddenly was a megaphone. That was that!
AJ wondered as she calmed a simpering Darling_Dotty.
Why do we always go charging at the windmills likeQuixotes when the harsh reality needs an urgent correction so that the young lotuses can bloom without fear?
A skewed moral compass!
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