People usually follow some school of thought or the other. I do too, except that there isn’t any particular one that I follow. No surprises there. I get bored way too soon with anything. But there is one particular thing that I refuse to get bored of and that, my friends, is the ‘DIET’ philosophy. Don’t worry foodies… I am not one of those fitness maniacs. My ‘DIET’ philosophy is simple… It stands for ‘Did I Eat That?’. Yes I Love Food (Except Karelaa, Eggplant and a few dairy products).

Being a Punjabi, I have been pampered enough by a Mom who cooks really well. She loves experimenting and I have been a loyal tester for her all these years. You know you are a foodie when a dish makes your day or when a bag of ‘Lays’ chips just ruins it. I mean, come on… who said air was free? You pay 60 bucks for a Lays jumbo pack where 45 bucks is just for the air! The world went nuts when a Canadian company ‘Vitality Air’ shipped canned air to China to combat air pollution. The Chinese didn’t have to cross the Atlantic for that when the answer lay in a bag of chips!

I get clarion calls from my parents telling me to control on food. It’s the usual drill. You need to control your eating, you can’t spend all your money on food, you shouldn’t test how much more of you the earth can take, which prompts me into hiding food (My Mom calls me Dadiji/Auntiji). Yes I have hidden food all around the house and I have been caught enough number of times to start improvising. Like hiding my favorite dish/box of chocolates, where your parents would least look – the fridge. All you ought to do is keep the ‘interesting’ stuff carefully behind those items that are not moved often (My father will know my secret now). So you see I was home-bred in ‘Thinking Out Of The Box’. It’s not like I haven’t tried resisting. I do try to control but it only lasts till the next billboard with a dessert on it or till my eyes land on a new restaurant and the ‘DIET’ syndrome kicks in!

I like being with people. I am not one to sit alone all day. But if there is one thing I can do alone is have food. Don’t get me wrong. I love going out with people but it can be just that annoying when you have to ‘share’ food. Yes sharing may be caring but you need to leave it outside the restaurant before you enter. I generally order good food, maybe I have a nose for it or an eye for it, but I also ensure I order for others as well. You ask why? It’s simple. When you are out in a group, the share syndrome kicks in and everybody takes a bite out of each other’s plates. So I naturally treat myself well. But luck may not always be on your side and on that one fateful day, you have friends making a mess of their orders while I am out on a call and then you have everybody digging into your dish. Folks, that’s when the girl’s night turns into an episode of ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’.Food’s a sensitive topic you see. That’s why fitness apps and I don’t get along (Trust me, I have downloaded so many and deleted them quickly). The calorie counter in one app went nuts after I inputted details of all that I ate that day and another sent me an ambulance after it processed my daily intake.Now you must be thinking how I deal with my conscience. So before I sign off, here’s my secret… next time you have your conscience nagging you, just feed it a chocolate or chicken pasta… That’ll shut it up for good!

I am not one of those girls who just dream about that exotic vacation, it is that exotic dish there that gets my day going. Until next time!