This year my son decided to organize a dinner for the family members numbering 14 adults plus kids on the Diwali night at our home in Sastri Nagar. As I was getting tensed up about the arrangements for the dinner, he made it clear that he would take care of everything and asked me not to worry. Being a ‘tension party’, I was worried that even at 6.30 pm there was no sign of any activity – not even laying the table with necessary crockeries required for serving the dinner. What about the menu for the evening dinner? When I asked my son he said he was waiting for all the guests to arrive and order the food of their choice on swiggy/zomato/dunzo etc. I was shocked- it was going to be a multi cuisine `A la carte` dinner for the guests. Will it work? Will all the items arrive on time?
As the guests were arriving, while my son was checking their preference for food,
my daughter in law was busy serving the guests soft drinks and ready snacks. When my siblings said that they cannot take any item with onion or garlic because it was the evening of Amavasya, he had a ready solution for them-Jain Thalis from the Agarwals. While, others had ordered for items ranging from Fried rice, Cauliflower Manchurian, Veg .Noodles , Paneer butter masala with parathas and so on my son in law & I got masala dosas from A2B ( Adyar Ananda Bhavan ). All the items were delivered by the service providers within 45 minutes of placing the order on line.
While I was wondering how these items were going to be consumed by guests, out came the disposable dinner plates and water cups. The serving spoons and table spoons from the kitchen were also out in a jiffy and the items were piled up on the dining table without any order and the guests were asked to have a go. The very senior citizens managed to squeeze some space on the table so that they could sit and eat and others picked up their items and moved to the drawing room. Though every guest got the item of their choice, it did not stop them from taking a bite or two from the items ordered by others. Every one seemed to be enjoying the dinner as most of them got what they wanted and more!
In my long working career, my wife and I have organized several dinner get togethers for guests ranging from 10 to 30 people. The tension of hosting the dinner will start from the morning and will continue till every guest left home having enjoyed a home cooked meal served with a lot of love and affection. When we tried to get outside food on a couple of occasions , we were not happy. But today`s youngsters have their own priorities. They don`t believe in wasting time and efforts on things they can get at the press of a button. Ultimately what matters is that the guests are happy. My family members, majority of whom are senior citizens seemed to have enjoyed the dinner on the Diwali night.
I realised that it is time that I learn to live with the `New Normal` while entertaining guests at home!
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