“Aren’t you hungry?” is the question most wives ask, when they are about to serve dinner or lunch, and “What’s for dinner?” is the reply given by most husbands.

  ‘What’s for dinner,’ means that if the food is interesting enough then I am hungry enough to eat, and ‘are you hungry’ implies that if your hunger pangs have started then you will eat whatever is on the table.

   Quite often I come to the table, famished and eat whatever there is, my family looks surprised and my children say, “That’s a carrot dad!”

 “Tasty carrot,” I say chomping down on it, while everyone knows I don’t normally care for carrots, but then when you are hungry who’s bothered whether it’s a carrot or a cauliflower.

  I wonder what kind of cook you are?

  Are you one who waits for hunger to bring your family to the table, or are you someone who delights in making something that will start the taste buds working overtime?

  I remember buildings that housed flats thirty years back, they were solid structures, with small windows and unimaginative interiors. You stood inside the flat and knew this was enough to protect you from the rain and other vagaries of the weather, but was it attractive inside?

 “Sir, that depends how you design your furniture!” said the real estate man.

Last week I went with a friend of mine to look at a flat he wanted to purchase. I was astounded. I got the distinct feeling that there was a voice inside saying, “Come in, feel at home, relax!”

   The rooms were designed in such a way that the best view outside could be seen from all of them. The bathrooms were just out of the world, and the bathtub nearly had my friend restraining me from jumping in.

    The flooring was well matched and doors placed at spots where you didn’t have one opening onto the other. All in all a delightful experience!

    I thought about it later: Both kinds of flats, the ones constructed yesterday and the one I just saw were built for protection, but what I saw in the modern flat went a few steps ahead, went beyond just protection and brought in elegance and beauty.

    Again an instance of wanting to eat because of what is laid on the table: Here was a flat you wanted to spend time inside not because it was raining but because it was inviting.

    I walk to a beach and see people crowding a food stall, and in the next stall a few customers stand. The one having the crowd, is the one where people come for the experience of a delicious meal, and the almost empty one next door has two or three desperate ones there who can’t wait, they are hungry.

     I wonder how you cook, for that matter, I wonder how you do anything; do people come out of hunger or for a tasty experience?

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