Surangi, The Child Bride

Part 45

It was Sunday morning and Manohar had the day off from work. He volunteered to make breakfast with Madhav's help. The ingredients, which included bread bought from the neighbourhood Irani bakery, were surreptitiously smuggled into the home by Manohar, The children were sworn to secrecy to prevent them from spilling the beans.

To her horror Vidya, who had just had her cleansing bath, discovered that Manohar and Madhav were pottering about her pristine kitchen trying to boil eggs in a saucepan and grill bread on her cast iron griddle. Manohar instructed Madhav to spread the contents from the tin of Polson butter on the warm toast while he strained cups of French style filter coffee for everyone.

 "No, never! No matter how nourishing it may be, this alien food shall not pass beyond my lips!" Vidya protested, staring at the European style breakfast set before her. The children snickered in response watching the banter between husband and wife as Vidya proclaimed her protest loudly about Manohar having defiled her kitchen with such unorthodox fare.  

While Madhav eagerly bit into his piece of toast Vidya stared at the dark smear on hers. A strip of toast was even left standing up into an opened soft-boiled egg. 

"What is this dark smear upon the piece of bread? Tell me the truth, did you bring that abomination made from the meat of cows into our home? What shall I do now! Parmeshwara, my husband has been tricked into converting to the faith of those Englishmen!" Vidya sounded distressed.

"Tai, will you relax? This is not what you think. It says Marmite on this jar. What you are suspecting it to be is another English product, a beef essence called Bovril. Marmite is meat-free and is suitable for vegetarians!" Madhav explained, having  verified this with Manohar earlier.

"Is that so? Maybe it is, but why should we eat these English foods when our own meals are so wholesome?" Vidya persisted. She was not going to be convinced so easily.

"Our foods may be wholesome but your own diet has been grossly neglected ever since you returned from your parents' home. The doctor says you need to take more protein and iron to deal with your fatigue, aches and pains. He says you must incorporate eggs and fresh milk in your diet. Don't forget, Indians have eaten eggs long before the foreigners arrived to rule over us!" Manohar tried to reason with her.

"But eggs are a source of life, baby chicks hatch from them. How can we be so cruel and consume them? And why this bread? Our people have never eaten bread raised with yeast, that is the European way. And what does this black smear do? Is it meant to improve the taste like molasses does?" Vidya eyed the food suspiciously.

Manohar did not know how to explain things to Vidya. Among their people from the Konkan prejudice against leavened bread was strong. Either the Portuguese colonists or Jesuit priests introduced leavened bread known as pao to Goa and ever since it became associated with Christianity. The fear inspired by the Portuguese Inquisition was so tangible that even common commodities associated with Europeans such as bread and vinegar were viewed suspiciously by the common people of the Konkan.

"Poultry farm eggs are rarely fertilised and so cannot produce chicks. And Marmite is not sweet, rather it is salty and a bit unpleasant to taste. That's why it must be spread thinly over buttered bread to make it more palatable. But it is an ideal tonic to help you convalesce. The Parsi doctor told me that an  English scientist called Lucy Wills has recently done research among poor malnourished women in Bombay and used Marmite to treat them successfully. I think you should eat the toast and eggs in the interest of science without worrying about karma. You can sip this sweet coffee alongside so you don't have to worry about the strange taste and smell! In fact we have all agreed to be part of this practical experiment!" Manohar declared, biting into an egg and encouraging Madhav and Surangi to do the same.