On Bread Alone

Whenever you want to go somewhere in Mumbai, you're bound to spend a lot of time in the car. Today I clocked in 2.5 hours in traffic just to cover a combined distance of about 25 kilometres. An entire day is easily consumed with one short trip to Shopper's Stop! To pass the time, I made a little small talk with our driver while we were stuck in a horrendous traffic jam:

"So, what is your favorite Indian food?" I asked.

"My favorite food?"

"Yea, like your number one, all-time favorite thing to eat."

"Ok, it is a roti- you know, the bread?"

"Yea, yea, I've had roti." I said, leaning in and wondering what would go with the roti.

"You take a roti and put butter on it..."

"Ahuh..." Now what sort of stuff will he add, I wondered? Onions, potato, maybe some kind of chutney?

"Then you roll it up...."

Roll it up already? Maybe he's gonna dip it some sort of curry. I waited for him to finish, but he had stopped talking.

"And?" I asked, still waiting.

"And?...And you can have it with tea. If you want."

That's it?! There are only a million amazing Indian spices and vegetable purees and paneer and yummy fruits in India, and his all time favorite thing to eat is buttered bread?? Lame! That's like someone asking me what my favorite American food is, and instead of replying with an enthusiastic "Apple pie!" or "Mac 'n cheese!" answering with a flat "Toast. Toast and maybe some tea."

B-O-R-I-N-G.

He's going to bring me some from home so I can try it out. That roti and butter had better be heavenly!