And then they said...

I once had a simple life,

And simple did I eat,

My food was cooked in an iron kadhai

And was served to me in steel.

Chapatis lay wrapped in a muslin cloth,

Always smeared with ghee,

My school tiffin box was steel too

An uncomplicated life, you see…

Then one day they said “Stop eating ghee!”

You have no idea what it’s doing to you,

No Dalda, no vanaspati

Switch to a healthy oil, you better do!

They said it could be sunflower oil

Then said make it vegetable or soya bean

Polyunsaturated, omega 3 fatty acids blah blah

Your good health is what we mean.

Rice bran oil they came up with,

Then said olive oil was the best,

Oh, olive oil? No, that’s just a fancy foreign entry

It’s truly mustard and coconut oil that beat the rest…

Then they said get rid of all the oils,

As oil can never be nice

Buy these non-stick pans they said,

So what if you have to pay a higher price?

They came to me and lured me again

With colourful plastics and melamine

Aren’t they so handy, they asked me,

Chuck the steel they said, it’s time!

They said the muslin cloth was smelly and sick,

And told me about the aluminium foil,

Food stays fresh when wrapped in it

And lasts longer too, without getting spoilt!

I threw away my iron kadhai

I threw away my steel,

I threw away the muslin cloth

I threw away the ghee.

I hoarded my house with plastic

And four types of “healthy” oil

Non-stick pots and pans et al

And a long-lasting stock of aluminium foil

Now they come and tell me,

Discard the plastic right now!

Nothing can harm you more, 

It’s killing you and how!

Else get plastic that’s BPA free…

So I looked for the BPA-free one

Then they said the BPA free had BPS

Which was as bad as the former one…

Throw away these Teflon-coated pots and pans

Now they come and say,

Switch to cast iron or regular iron for cooking

That’s the healthy way.

Ghee is so important, they tell me now

And switch to the good old copper and steel,

Look at what’s entering your body,

Through the poisonous plate in which you eat!

Foil is the worst thing to use, they tell me now,

Aluminium seeps into the food wrapped inside

And hampers your zinc absorption,

Use butter paper or muslin cloth, they confide.

So once again I am shopping for more, 

Searching for stuff they asked me to throw away…

Trying to make eating and living healthy for my family

Buying back all the things I once threw away!!

The smartphones, the pesticides, the disposables and more,

I’ll keep them for another day,

I’m afraid this ranting’s already too long

To hold your interest anyway……

P.S. Don't ask me who the 'they' are 😊!