Appetizing to the eye and the palate

Whenever I have a new issue of Vanitha, my mom's women’s magazine, I turn the pages swiftly and start looking at those glossy shots of beautifully garnished dishes displayed in the cookery column, as I have a high instinctive attraction towards visually appealing food stuffs, even if they lack nutritious value.   I think food can become increasingly delectable with its incredible looks, which is why I love watching cookery programs on television, to see mouth watering and tempting dishes being prepared and served with incredible perfection. But often we give undue experience to the health benefits of food and thus undermine the relevance of color and smell.  Food can stimulate our digestive juices only with its smell and visual appeal, and I've also read that nice smelling and well garnished food can actually aid to proper digestion.

It’s Friday today, and as usual we will have that same old dinner which we call Kanji, and when translated to English can be called a kind of rice soup, rich in nutritious value, tastes average, and takes the last place in looks. To be frank, I don’t hate it, but nor do I love it. Ask me the reason and I will say it’s mainly because of the totally unappealing look and smell, which kills my hunger in no time.

Colour and smell of the food have tremendous effect on my appetite.  Those reds, yellows, and greens excite and entice me a lot, and so I am very much inclined to the food stuffs with incredible looks and smell, the reasons why Kanji fails so badly with its lackluster look and lack of alluring smell. I really don’t mean to offend any ‘Kanji’ lovers out there, but for me, Kanji is one among those dull looking foods that I would prefer when I am left with no other choices.

Be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I 'eat with my eyes first'.  This in no way means I would opt for an expensive meal, just to get a visual delight, as there are many affordable options to have a tempting and scrumptious meal, without becoming a spendthrift. If you ask me about my option for the day, I will have a lip-smacking Dosha with 2 different chutneys and Sambar. What’s different about Dosha when compared to Kanji is its enticing smell and look, and I love having it with tantalizing chutneys that are appetizing to the core.

When served with tea, Dosha would make a perfect dinner, in just thirty rupees, which I think is quite very reasonable, as I take the liberty to have this lavishness only once in a week.

Feminism is not ‘man hating’

What’s more ridiculous than people calling me a feminist when they hear that I am not yet married? They strongly feel I hate men, which they think would have made me choose to live as a spinster. How terribly wrong! I don’t hate men, but do hate the class of ‘man hating’ feminists and their stupid conclusions about men.

At times I laugh my lungs out hearing them, but many times I never bother to give any clarification, as I know it won’t make any change. This is because, feminism, to most of the people out there, is nothing but hating men and speaking ill about them, which I think is nothing worse than the height of sheer absurdity.  If they feel feminism is bearing awful vengeance against the whole male community and making hateful statements against them openly, I can never say anything but sympathize on their brainless thoughts. To be frank, I keep wondering at the reason why many of those well established feminist organisations keep mum and do nothing to educate such brainless people and stop them from spreading these ridiculous statements against a movement which has been scientifically and meticulously defined by umpteen clever women, throughout the ages.

I am not delving in to any the theoretical side of feminism, but as a woman, I think feminism is not about hating men and carrying a huge amount of awfulness, but focusing on the core issues that women face these days, and tackling them to the best of our efforts.  It’s about ending up atrocities against women, thus making sure that our country is a better place for women to live in, so that there are no more Nirbhayas & Daminis in our country. Women should be free to walk safely, should have the liberty to get proper education and decent jobs to help them stand on their own feet, and should have the right to marry on their own will. Marital rapes, child abuses, forceful marriages, and all mayhems should no more happen in our society. I think, is about giving women the chance to live life on their own will, without the fear of getting abused, neither by thugs nor by patriarchal minded males. Unfortunately, such genuine needs are not given adequate focus, and what results is nothing but petty anti-male verbal vomits and thoughtless write-ups. As I said before, I don’t hate men and I am really proud that I have male friends who can better understand me when compared to my female pals. All that I look for is living a safer life with self identity, which I think can be easily done without hating men.

We should no more turn a blind-eye to the harm that ‘man hating’ feminists are doing. They keep poisoning many minds, giving away a totally disfigured concept of feminism which would do immense harm beyond repair, tarnishing a genuine movement that the world is in need of.  The typical excuse that “Not all feminists are like that” won’t serve the purpose any more, as it’s nothing but a state of denial.  It’s high time to focus on genuine things and end up all ‘man hating’ campaigns. Hating men won’t make us safe, it won’t make a woman a true feminist, nor will it make our country a better place for women.