Food loose: Balancing act

Managing a home and career is not as easy as it sounds, especially if you have small kids. A woman would literally need many hands to meet the demands of her family. But I always believe that women are pioneers in adapting to situations and inventing methods to suit the changing demands around them.  

When it comes to food too, creativity is inevitable. The same dosa given in a different flavour makes it all the more in demand. So I grind vegetables in turn, from carrots, to beetroots to even peas to change the color and flavour every time. Sometimes when colour isn’t just enough, it is really worth drawing upon your cooking pan to make whichever is easy for you to draw with your spoon.

Fish and flower are comparatively the easier ones for me. So I draw the same fish in variable sizes and give them all different names. So when Nemo is finished, I should give them a Dory.

Initially, I believed in the superpowers of women and tried doing it all myself until I found myself getting more tired and irritated. When things started spilling out of my hands is when I realized there is no harm in getting support systems. For most working women, waking up early is a part of their life and everyone has their own methods to ensure food is ready before everyone heads out of home. The kitchen eventually becomes your room and not surprisingly, it is the room we head to every time we return home.  

A lot of practices slip out of our hands when we are mothers — now I am alright in leaving a few unwashed dishes in the sink if it is too late. We learn to prioritize and do what is most important for the hour than going by any practices we had until then. It is always a process of learning and unlearning and I believe there is no right and wrong in this. There are mothers who freeze food for long periods and microwave them to use. There are also mothers who make meals from freshly cut and plucked vegetables. In my eyes, as long as the show goes on, every method should be respected. At the end of it, being composed and sane is the most important thing for a woman and she should be given the space to juggle her various roles and responsibilities to keep her going. After all, ‘superwomen’ is a myth and it is not worth attempting to be one.  

(The writer is a poet, techie, mother of two and a foodie)