On Growing up

Lunchtime musings While eating lunch this afternoon I decided to keep the television off and concentrate on the chewing! While growing up my mother always told me to chew my food properly – chew each mouthful ‘twenty times’ and in that way, I would digest it better and become a good strong boy. Not too sure why twenty in the first place but that was supposed to be the magic number. I did it for a few days but got fed up counting. Thus, I never quite followed those instruction and was one of those who put the food in my mouth and swallowed it after chewing it for a few seconds. I guess that is why I grew up ‘good’ but not exactly very strong. Chew your food children. Anyway, let me not digress so - back to the television. Why didn’t I put it on today? I do not know – I just decided that enough was enough, and too much television was bad in the first place. What was even worse was eating and watching television at the same time. So, for some time I stared at the blank screen contemplating my decision. The remote was nearby, but I fought off the impulse – so much for will power! I can already imagine you saying wow! Or are you laughing at my self-imposed plight? That got me thinking…… We had no Television while growing up and we got through our meals pretty well! Talking about meals and food and drink? Listen to this. You have obviously heard of a nutritious drink named ‘Complan’. Well, as a kid, I was given glasses and mugs of Complan, almost by the gallon- force fed at times . I do remember that the Banana flavour was as bad as the Strawberry but the message from mum was clear. If you want to grow nice and tall then you better drink your Complan . I winged, attempted to throw up , pretended to be asleep in vain – The Coplan had to be drunk . The result was very much the same as what happened with the chewing – I grew up ‘nice’ – at least I think so – but far from tall. Am only five foot seven and a half. I guess it was my fault. I often drank half a cup or glass and threw out the remainder when no one was watching. At times I would take a big sip- hold it in my mouth – and spit it out as soon I was out of the front door. Then there was the issue about my weight. Whenever friends or relatives came over someone or the other would comment on my weight “how thin your Michael is”. For this reason, I was always made to have a concoction called “egg flip”. For those who may never have heard of it – it is a mixture of milk, egg, sugar and nutmeg garnishing. You guessed it right – I detested it. However, no excuses were accepted and every morning, before going to school, I was made to have my “Egg flip” I usually tried to drink it in one or two large gulps so that I would not taste it . That was not all – at night I had to have a big spoon of Ferradol which was a nutritional supplement. It is like a thick liquid jam and while it does not taste too bad, I just did not like it. I believe that both, the egg flip and the Ferradol, did nothing for my weight because even in my forties I was rather skinny. However, it probably stayed dormant in my body, because, much to my dismay, the effects are showing now, and the weight is piling on. Lastly were some vegetables. I liked potatoes and onions – full stop. Tomatoes, spinach,brinjals, lady fingers, beetroot and drum stick made me gag and want to throw up . Of course there was always the justification from the elders at home – I would get red cheeks , nice teeth, strong bones , thick hair, nice skin – somehow I swallowed down the vegetables when I was forced to and binned it when I could . We also had a spaniel who loved vegetables most of the time, so that was a help. As for the red cheeks, good teeth, strong bones, thick hair and nice skin- the least said, the better. Analysing the situation now, I don’t think I was a very obedient child and as they say “some mothers do “ave em” !