Today we had a lot of things to eat

The meal was prepared with extreme care

Under the supervision of my mother

There was rice, shaak, daal, fries,

Shahee paneer, doi potol, alur dam,

Pabda jhol and chicken curry.

There was a favorite dish of every member of the family.

As I sat on the dining table

And steamed rice was served on my plate,

I kept gazing at it

At that moment, it seemed like a blessing

As I had a plate full of rice before me

A thought came to my mind

“I am having my lunch with my family now,

But there must be someone in the world,

Waiting in the queue at the temple,

To have some amount of the prasadam,

or the bhog,

or they must be searching

For a source of food

To fulfil their appetite

They may find it but would it fill their hungry stomach completely?”

Maa served me some amount of the daal,

I mixed it with rice and had it slowly,

At that moment,

The daal bhaat seemed like the best dish in the world.

The comfort daal bhaat gives in a summer meal,

The simplicity it offers to the taste buds,

The ordinary yet mandatory menu for every middle-class household,

Holds a special place on the plate

If you mix a few drops of lemon with the daal bhaat,

The smell goes straight to your lungs,

And it refreshes you right away,

Offering you a sense of contentment,

Reminding you that this is what you live for, you fight for, you aim for,

A plate full of daal bhaat,

Some moments of peaceful chatter with your dear ones,

A simple meal for your body,

And a blessing to your life.

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(This post is part of the series ‘Solace in the Mundaneness’ where I try to tell stories of the everyday things that capture a special place in my heart and they make me feel privileged to live a simple and ordinary life with contentment and peace. This post is also part of Blogchatter A to Z.)