“Want something get it soon
We deliver things even from the moon!
Instant is the trend that’s really great!
Wish you could just as soon lose your weight!”
The other day I was making a sweet called the Paladda payasam and one of the special ingredients my mother used to put was the coconut milk!
I was busy making other stuff that I completely forgot we do not have that!
Come modern tech to the rescue!
Read on!
The monthly grocery shopping was a special event in our house! Now when it was a remote posting like Missamari then it would be provided to us or we had to send a list and we would get it in a couple of days from Tezpur but in places like Bangalore or Hyderabad we used to head over to the Nilgiris departmental store!
Nilgiris shop those days was special especially for the South Indians and in Bangalore the one in the Brigade road was the most in demand! We used to park our car in Dad’s club and walk down to the shop! This is because even in those days it was difficult to get parking near the shop or for that matter any place in Brigade road!
My dad used to sometimes drop us off in the shop and if lucky get the spot and stay or he would park and come.
Meanwhile my mother would have her list with her. The list was long and old! Basically the things she wanted would not change! Only the price of stuff changed over time and the quantity! Getting the trolley and walking behind her was fun! Those days only Nilgiris had this thing called the trolley! We had never seen a departmental store so big and as we grew older, I felt even the shop grew with us! Even now my kids like to do that though the visits are more frequent and the store is not Nilgiris and the demands are more!
Those days of course the trolley did not have the baby carriage or if it did my parents did not use it since we were big! But I had always wanted to sit on that! We had to keep the stuff neatly on the trolley one by one and for our efforts we could have one item to buy! Or rather one big or two small!
So now we had a very important decision to make! Should we take that new chocolate or that new biscuit! Or my brother and me and form a team (unlikely!) and get four small stuff! Decisions! Decisions!
Now my kids normally do not have a limit! They ask and we say yes! Since both of us work, we compensate like this! Luckily even now though, a visit to a bigger store with the trolley is still a thrill for them!
Then my mother would nervously be at the billing counter hoping she was within the budget! If well within the budget then we would even have that famous cone ice cream in front and have lunch outside! Lunch would be either Kamat or Ullas restaurant! There was no option of order! It was south indian meals always!
The whole month’s grocery was done in a couple of bags and my mom’s swift calculation would ensure that the lunch and dinner menu was planned well ahead in time and there will not be any item which needed to be bought again! Grocery shopping was done only once a month! NO in shopping in between! Of course vegetables were not included in that which was a different issue! Only during special festivals or functions like the Deepawali or Ganesh Chaturthi would the visit be done in between the month! My mom’s special Mysore pak with fresh ghee was always made with Besan from the Nilgiris only! Even when we had shifted far away, come Deepawali and the Besan would be bought from Nilgiris!
A visit to the Brigade road some weeks back I was thinking of all these when we reached the departmental store and unfortunately, like my mother, it was also gone…
Anyway coming back to my Paladda! The moment I realised that I had no coconut milk, all I had to to was order via an app! In less than ten minutes, by the time my milk got boiled and Paladda were getting cooked, the delivery was done! The technology and comfort is so good now that we can start cooking without any ingredients and simply order as we cook! Only thing is that please do not ask the budget or the price! Also do not ask what price the birthday celebrity Konidela Chiranjeevi used to get when once upon a time he was one of the highest paid actors in the country!
A quick pen sketch! Not everything can be done by an app you see!
Now make a grocery list if you need anything or simply add to your app cart sleep!
Shubh ratri!
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