Who needs a holiday?

 Who needs a holiday?

 It's this time of the season when schools are closed and families out on vacation. The hot summer and rising mercury makes one lethargic. I am a grandmother and my passion is cooking but I too need a holiday.

Family members, who visit us, as we two live alone expect delicacies from my kitchen, they are not wrong, it is I who have pampered them all these years, can I say no know? This is the predicament of every household and the lady of the house. She needs a holiday?  They all seem surprised. They have taken her for granted.

The family needs food but who enters the kitchen? I have never let them do that before, today I cannot complain. but I need a holiday. 

Food off the counter a big "NO NO", then diet comes in the way.

Hotel food is not for pampered tastes who prefer home cooked food, but I need a holiday. I open Facebook on my phone, various recipes from different food groups stare at me. But I want a holiday. What strikes me is that with numerous yummy Veg and Non-Veg recipes available people of North East of India are discussing "Poita Bhat" in the group "The Kitchen Affair", which means that people reserve a special place in their diet for the simplistic pleasures of  simple cooking. But I want a holiday.

It reminds me of my father's house in Konkan where this was a Breakfast meal called "Pej".

Pej:

• Its made with unpolished red rice, very healthy. Rice grains are dry roasted in a pan and then water is addedratio 1:6 1 part rice 6 parts water and then it is cooked till the rice is extra soft and turns into a soupy consistencey. 
• Salt is added as per taste. 
• The side dish that compliments it is either a roasted dry fish, roasted papad or a dry fish chutney. This breakfast is enjoyed by the farm labourers and Konkani people.

I thought I will have this today and take my holiday. 

The phone rings my elder daughter calls.....

Can I send the children over? Yes I scream in joy and rush to the kitchen to prepare the food they enjoy.

Grannies don't deserve a holiday, they have to pamper their loved ones. Yes the kitchen must open at all and any times . Its the place that gives me joy and satisfaction that earns me love and the company of loved ones whom I look forward to.

 Who needs a holiday ?