Relish it ..

With tempting eyes, I have been staring at the piece of cake which my niece is holding in her butter fingers. Just as a sense of sacrifice sink inside me , I hear those magic words,

“Hey Uncle, eat this..”

  A small gesture from a child but big enough to influence any grown-up. I take it with a soft, “thank you” and pretend to eat it in a dramatic way, relishing every bite.

 “Hmmm..”

 That brings a sweet smile on her face. '' Tehee hee..''
She proceeds to eat her piece of cake. Before eating, She observes it from every angle, feels it..  I observe her.

And when she really eats it, She does not pretend to relish it.. She need not..

Ever seen children eat something that they really love? As if there is nothing more important to them than being at that moment. They are totally in it. All their senses are alive and they relish and taste every bit of it.

As children we have passed that stage, but as we grow, our mind takes over. We indulge in many things while eating as if eating is just a mechanical thing to the body.

 Watching television, thinking, talking, working, are some of the few things we do while eating.  As if there is some default belief in our system that eating cannot be a sole activity.

It might not be possible to forget everything and just focus on eating but it is very much possible to bring AWARENESS in eating.

  Well… this eating thing made me so hungry that I just took a break and had a papaya fruit.

So immersed I was, that when I finished the last bite I remembered that I had to end this note.

“So….

What are you eating next and are you *really eating?”

- Rohit Mahadev Shringare