To family and increasing waistlines!

...

Now, we've never been one of those health conscious, athletic families. We like our food. And we like it wrapped in multiple slices of cheese.

 When my sister bought her boyfriend (now fiance) home, my parents weren't really concerned with the whole bringing home a boy aspect, what they were really concerned with was- if he was a vegetarian *oh shudder*? What exotic preparation of chicken will he like the best? Will he be effectively smothered by ten different kinds of vegetables? Will twenty blocks of butter be enough for five people!!?!!. So when he came, he understandably thought that they didn't like him very much, what with the trying to kill him by piling his plate with all that food with maniacal gleams in their eyes!.

We were never huggers or talkers. Whenever I or my sister were in the weepy, mopey moods, my mom would make endless cups of tea and dad would awkwardly wring his hands and then run away to the kitchen to whip up some kebabs. Hence we were conditioned into being happy eaters. When in doubt, eat.

Family functions would comprise of tables and tables groaning under platters and platters of food enough to feed a couple of third world countries and a cow. Even the most serious conversations are punctuated by "where are the samosas!". Each one of us is scrutinized by beady eyes ready to pounce if we looked like we'd lost some weight. My dad, when in a different country, would still make time to skype/call and tell  mom what he had to eat through the day. And then my mother would lovingly describe in detail what she was planning to make for the next meal.

Even now, when we've started cutting down on the fat, they've taken it as a challenge to break our diets. We would suspiciously find a plate of aloo ka paranthas dripping in butter next to our weakass looking health food. 

"Tea would arrive,

the cakes squatting on cushions of cream,

toast in a melting shawl of butter,

cups agleam and a faint wisp of steam rising from the teapot shawl."

— Gerald Durrell (My Family and Other Animals)