The Tale of a "Speedy" Meal

Friends, here is a short story with a twist at the end. Thanks.

Monu has always been a slow eater. For him, eating food was sacred, like performing “Puja” (Hindi for “worship”).

Now, you don’t hurry through worship, do you? “Likewise,” went Monu’s logic, “I like to treat each food item as an offering to myself. This is why I like to meander over my food. This is my way of showing my respect to my food.”

Sadly, his mother did not share that sense of respect. She was, therefore, always after Monu to finish his meal fast lest ... Yes, here I have used the three dots to indicate the long list of things, apparently held up by Monu’s meandering.

Examples would include,
‘Monu, finish eating your breakfast fast lest you get late for your school bus.’
‘Monu, finish drinking your evening milk fast lest you get late for your tutor.’
‘Monu, finish eating your dinner fast lest you get late for your sleep.’
And it went on and on and on.

Well, you will think that this seven-year-old boy would feel hassled by such constant admonishment. But our Monu was made of stern stuff. He had reasoned to himself long ago that God must have granted him his two ears for a special reason. To this practical-minded boy, that reason was to receive with one ear and bid goodbye to it with the other!

His slow eating and his mother's scolding thus went in tandem in perfect harmony.

But Monu’s kid sister, Mitu, aged four, was made of even sterner stuff. For quite some time, she had observed that her brother had been turning a deaf ear to their mother’s scolding. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands.

Next morning, over breakfast, as Monu went on taking his usual long time in looking at his pair of bread toasts and nibbling them here and there, Mitu quietly put a pinch of Kashmiri chilli powder, that she had stolen from the kitchen, in his glass of milk. Mitu reasoned that her brother would not dawdle over a milk that was “super-hot” in a literal sense.

And this is exactly what happened. The moment Monu took one sip of that “super hot” milk, he shot out of his chair and rushed to the nearest wash basin to rinse off his mouth. Alas, chilli powder is not that easy to take out once ingested. Hence, the boy’s breakfast was over that day in a super-quick time of just one minute instead of at least twenty minutes he took on other days!

Later, it dawned on Monu that his naughty sister must have spiced up his milk. In red-hot anger, comparable in degree to red-hot chilli, he reported the matter to their mother, who then took the small girl to task.

But Mitu was unperturbed. She calmly announced, “For once, brother had put speed over his so-called respect in finishing his meal. Let this be a lesson for him.”

Yes, henceforth, let Monu beware and start finishing his meals fast.

Otherwise, Mitu and her chilli powder will always be at hand to speed things up!