Where did you have the best meal of your life? Which was your most distinct gourmet experience? A lavish all-you-can-eat buffet with a spread that was a pure gastronomical delight at the Taj? That's what you mostly hear. Well I had the best meal of my life cooked by a farmer in the middle of a rural road.
I was on my way back home after a memorable road trip with family when we stopped over for lunch in the middle of a road, at a shack selling sugarcane juice. Initially, I had reservations about having a rustic Maharashtrian meal. But once the modest steel plate was handed to me, I gorged on it. It was the most ambrosial, delectable meal my taste buds have ever experienced. The dish is traditionally eaten by farmers in Maharashtra and called pitla bhakari. It consists of a gravy made from gram flour and flat bread made from bajra (pearl millet). It was served with an appetising chutney made from garlic and chillies. We ended the meal with several glasses of sugarcane juice which trust me, is nothing short of elixir. It was one of the best moments of my life.
Turned out the farmer and his family had that everyday. So simple yet so delicious. Now coming to the philosophical side (sorry not sorry), why did those villagers look more content than us city dwellers? Is it that possessions are directly proportional to discontent? The more we own, the more dissatisfied we are. How could the farmer and his family be happy living in a house in the middle of a rural road, making their living from selling sugarcane juice and farming? Is it that possessions are directly proportional to discontent?
I was on my way back home after a memorable road trip with family when we stopped over for lunch in the middle of a road, at a shack selling sugarcane juice. Initially, I had reservations about having a rustic Maharashtrian meal. But once the modest steel plate was handed to me, I gorged on it. It was the most ambrosial, delectable meal my taste buds have ever experienced. The dish is traditionally eaten by farmers in Maharashtra and called pitla bhakari. It consists of a gravy made from gram flour and flat bread made from bajra (pearl millet). It was served with an appetising chutney made from garlic and chillies. We ended the meal with several glasses of sugarcane juice which trust me, is nothing short of elixir. It was one of the best moments of my life.
Turned out the farmer and his family had that everyday. So simple yet so delicious. Now coming to the philosophical side (sorry not sorry), why did those villagers look more content than us city dwellers? Is it that possessions are directly proportional to discontent? The more we own, the more dissatisfied we are. How could the farmer and his family be happy living in a house in the middle of a rural road, making their living from selling sugarcane juice and farming? Is it that possessions are directly proportional to discontent?
The Sugarcane Juice Shack
The Stable
The Farmer and his Wife quite readily posed for the camera
My dog slurping up sugarcane juice
P.S. - Being the glutton that I am I couldn't get a picture of the meal since I was too engrossed hogging it up.
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