Sandwiches on Monday

Parathas on Tuesday

Dosa on Wednesday

Noodles on Thursday…….

Puri Sabzi ....

…and the menu was neatly chalked out for the entire week on a timetable card and hung on the kitchen wall. Not actually in the habit of eating according to timetables, but listening to the spontaneous biddings of my tongue , I asked my sister-in-law, Sridevi, who managed of our family kitchen, what this predetermined timetable was all about.

“It’s the school lunch timetable for Vaibhavi that her class teacher made for her class” she conveyed. This came as a surprise to me.

“But isn’t it you and Vaibhavi who decide upon the lunch that she would be carrying to school on a particular day?” I asked

“Yeah, Leena. That was what it used to be. But her principal has ordered the entire primary school to carry the same lunch on a particular day, so that every lunch box has the same contents each day. This was done because some children ate up the lunch of others and some of them returned home hungry on that account.” said my sister-in-law.

Vaibhavi doesn’t eat much, nor is she very fussy foodwise, but I know that everyday she lovingly asks her mother to prepare an item of her liking for her lunch at school. Does this mean that she needs to have Dosa on Wednesday when she actually feels like having a cheese burger on that day?

I remember, lunchtime was so very special during our school days. The entire gang would wait for lunchtime. The clandestine party would start much before that. We would exchange lunch boxes from underneath the desk. My friends would lap up my irresistible onion uthapam and tomato chutney, and I in turn would eagerly devour some delicious khichodi from one of the boxes.

There were people from different communities both national and international in my class, and food was one of the best reasons to make friends and know about each other’s cultures. Some of the lunchbox friendships have endured the test of time and are going strong even to this day. My friendship with my best friend Arpita began with me exchanging my puri sabzi with her French toast, and even today we are the best of friends.

Not only this, the mums who prepared the best lunches were always praised and remembered by the kids.

But with this new rule of the entire primary school having to carry the same lunch, will they have much to look forward to during lunchtime? Of course, this rule ensures that no child eats another child’s lunch and no child returns home hungry. But have children of the present times become so cruel that they will leave some of their friends hungry? I don’t think so. Even if some children are engaging in such behavior, shouldn’t we as parents teach them the ever precious lesson of sharing and caring, or should we give them a lesson that encourages an ‘each to his own’ kind of a principle? The choice is ours…

Image Courtesy: Daily Mail